TRAITS AND METATRAITS - THEIR RELIABILITY, STABILITY, AND SHARED GENETIC INFLUENCE

Metatraits measure individual differences in construct relevancy, wher eas traits measure individual differences in construct extremity. Twen ty-four traits and metatraits were examined in this study using 157 pa irs of identical twins reared together, 95 pairs of identical twins re ared apart, 211 pairs of fraternal twins reared together, and 228 pair s of fraternal twins reared apart obtained from the Swedish Adoption/T win Study of Aging (see N. L. Pedersen et al., 1991). Reliability and stability analyses of the metatraits revealed generally lower reliabil ity and stability across time compared to traits. Quantitative genetic analyses of the relationship between traits and metatraits indicated that approximately 69% of the metatrait's genetic variance is shared w ith the trait, with 31% of its genetic variance unique to the metatrai t. These results suggest that metatraits provide a useful additional v iew of personality.