OBJECTIVE To investigate whether genetic contributions to major depressive disorder and conduct disorder comorbidity are shared with genetic influences on negative emotionality. METHOD Primary caregivers of 2,022 same- and opposite-sex twin pairs 6 to 18 years of age comprised a population-based sample. Participants were randomly selected across five regions in Tennessee, with stratification ...

A key component of temperament models is the presumed temporal stability of temperament traits. Although a substantial literature using parent report measures has addressed this claim, very few investigations have examined the stability of temperament using alternative measurement strategies, particularly those that involve direct assessment of emotional expressions. This study reports on the r...

Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSAREST) indexes important aspects of individual differences in emotionality. In the present investigation, the authors address whether RSAREST is associated with tonic positive or negative emotionality, and whether RSAREST relates to phasic emotional responding to discrete positive emotion-eliciting stimuli. Across an 8-month, multiassessment study of firs...

In this meta-analytic review, Hans J. Eysenck’s theory of criminality (Eysenck, 1964, 1977) serves as a theoretical framework for examining the relations between higher order personality dimensions and antisocial behavior (ASB). The three higher order dimensions examined are referred to as extraversion/sociability, neuroticism/emotionality, and impulsivity/disinhibition (see Sher & Trull, 1994)...

Personality has been implicated in romantic and sexual relationships, but its association with childbearing is poorly understood. The authors assessed whether 3 personality traits--sociability, emotionality, and activity--predicted the probability of having children and whether having children predicted personality change. The participants were women and men from the Cardiovascular Risk in Youn...

The time-course of changes in vividness and emotionality of unpleasant autobiographical memories associated with making eye movements (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, EMDR) was investigated. Participants retrieved unpleasant autobiographical memories and rated their vividness and emotionality prior to and following 96 seconds of making eye movements (EM) or keeping eyes stationar...

Data regarding individual differences in children's regulation, emotionality, quality of socioemotional functioning, and shyness were obtained from teachers and peers for 112 Indonesian 6th graders. Similar data (plus parents' reports) also were collected when these children were in 3rd grade. For boys, regulation and low negative emotionality generally predicted positive socioemotional functio...

The current study examines the interplay between parental overreactivity and children's genetic backgrounds as inferred from birth parent characteristics on the development of negative emotionality during infancy, and in turn, to individual differences in externalizing problems in toddlerhood. The sample included 361 families linked through adoption (birth parents and adoptive families). Data w...

The current longitudinal study examined trajectories of child negative emotionality, parenting efficacy, and overreactive parenting among 382 adoptive families during infancy and toddlerhood. Data were collected from adoptive parents when the children were 9-, 18-, and 27-month-old. Latent growth curve modeling indicated age-related increases in child negative emotionality and overreactive pare...