Trait stability and continuity in childhood: Relating sociability and hostility to the Five-Factor model of personality

We investigated the continuity of personality constructs in the Oregon Youth Substance Use Project, a cohort-sequential study encompassing development from early childhood to adolescence with five annual or biennial assessments. Sociability and hostility, assessed by teachers’ ratings of children’s behaviors at each assessment, were related to the traits comprising the Five-Factor model assessed by teachers’ ratings at the fifth assessment. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that sociability and hostility were reliably measured at each assessment, and these constructs were relatively stable over time (mean rank-order stability coefficients over intervals of 1–5 years were .50 and .43, respectively). Sociability was most strongly associated (positively) with extraversion, and hostility was most strongly associated (negatively) with conscientiousness and emotional stability. No differences were found for younger versus older children. Implications for measuring childhood personality traits using teachers’ reports of early childhood behavior are discussed.