CHILDHOOD ANTECEDENTS OF YOUNG-ADULT JUDGABILITY

Research has recently demonstrated that the personalities of some indi viduals are more accurately judged than others, and that these ''judga ble'' persons possess a coherent and identifiable personality structur e (Colvin, 1993). In this article, four indices of judgability, based on personality descriptions provided by trained examiners, friends, an d self, were derived when subjects were 18 and 23 years of age. A reli able composite of the four indices was related to adolescent and child hood personality ratings. The results reveal (a) rank-order stability of judgability from age 18 to age 23, (b) that adolescent ego resilien cy predicts judgability in early adulthood, and (c) that adolescent eg o resiliency mediates the relationship between childhood personality a nd young-adult judgability, but only for men. Observed gender differen ces and similarities are discussed. Overall, the convergence between t he results from this study and previous research provides evidence for the construct validity of judgability.