DOI: 10.6129/CJP.20141105
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2015, Vol.57, No. 1, 1-25

Effects of Effortful Contorl and HEXACO Personality Traits on Adolescents’ Internalizing and Externalizing Problem Behaviors

Kung-Yu Hsu（Department of Psychology, National Chung-Chung University）；Yu-Ling Chang（Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University）

Abstract

This study examined the direct and moderated effects of effortful control (EC) and HEXACO personality traits on internalizing problem behaviors (IPB) and externalizing problem behaviors (EPBs) in Taiwanese adolescents. This study investigated two concrete research questions: Do EC and HEXACO personality traits have any direct effects on IPBs and EPBs? Does EC moderate the influence of HEXACO personality t raits on IPBs and EPBs?
Two-year follow-up research was conducted with 1,375 adolescents, ages 13 and 16. In the first year (T1), the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire and HEXACO-PI-R were the main instruments used to measure
adolescents’ EC and personality dimensions. In the first and second years (T1 and T2), the Youth Self-Report was employed to measure adolescents’ IPBs and EPBs. All the research predictions were tested through correlation analyses and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results showed that emotionality and extraversion directly affected the IPBs, while honesty/humility, agreeableness, and EC directly affected EPBs. EC moderated the impact of extraversion and emotionality on T1 anxiety and of honesty/humility on T1 aggression and T1 rule breaking. The psychopathological and practical implications of EC and HEXACO personality traits are discussed.

Keywords: internalizing problem behavior, externalizing problem behavior, adolescence, effortful control, HEXACO model