CHILDHOOD PERSONALITY INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL-COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

The relation of childhood personality to the development of friendship understanding and moral judgment in adolescence was considered in a l ongitudinal study. Personality at age 7, assessed with the California Child Q-Set, was characterized in terms of ego-resiliency and ego-cont rol. IQ and social class were also measured. Friendship understanding was assessed when the participants were ages 7, 9, 12, 15, and 19, and moral judgment was elicited when the participants were 12. 15, and 19 . Ego-resiliency was found to predict social-cognitive development in adolescence, even after the effects of IQ and childhood measures of so cial-cognitive development were controlled for. Analyses indicate that the effects of ego-resiliency on social-cognitive development are lar gely unmediated by the ability to focus attention or by social partici pation.