DO CHILDREN USE THE BIG-5 TOO - CONTENT AND STRUCTURAL FORM IN PERSONALITY DESCRIPTION

Free personality descriptions generated by 11-year-olds in the Role Co nstruct Repertory Test (Kelly, 1955) were content-analyzed. The childr en's personality constructs were coded according to structural form (e .g., habits, preferences, traits) and ''Big Five'' personality content domain (e.g., Agreeableness, Conscientiousness). Findings showed that the children generated constructs from all of the Big Five personalit y domains. Agreeableness constructs were used most frequently, replica ting the prevalence of that domain in studies of adult trait attributi on (Peabody & Goldberg, 1989). However, in contrast to adults, less th an half of the children's Big Five constructs were expressed as person ality traits. The children's use of structural forms varied systematic ally with the personality domain they were describing. Target likabili ty and age were also found to be related to the personality domains an d structural forms of the children's constructs.