Identifying early childhood personality dimensions using the California Child Q-Set and prospective associations with behavioral and psychosocial development

The present study used an empirical, " bottom-up" approach to delineate the structure of the California Child Q-Set (CCQ), a comprehensive set of personality descriptors, in a sample of 373 preschool-aged children. This approach yielded two broad trait dimensions, Adaptive Socialization (emotional stability, compliance, intelligence) and Anxious Inhibition (emotional/behavioral introversion). Results demonstrate the value of using empirical derivation to investigate the structure of personality in young children, speak to the importance of early-evident personality traits for adaptive development, and are consistent with a growing body of evidence indicating that personality structure in young children is similar, but not identical, to that in adults, suggesting a model of broad personality dimensions in childhood that evolve into narrower traits in adulthood.