PERSONALITY AND GENDER: WHAT DO THEY TELL US ABOUT ADOLESCENT ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR?

Abstract

Abstract:Personality refers to a set of relatively stable traits that determine a characteristic style of interaction between the individual and the environment. Nevertheless, during adolescence and early adulthood there may be some changes in personality associated with psychosocial development, influencing the involvement of individuals in different social interactions. The role of personality traits on antisocial behaviours is well acknowledged as well as the existence of important differences between boys and girls in what concerns the frequency and severity of antisocial manifestations. The presented research was conducted in order to provide a more complete understanding of gender differences on adolescent antisocial behaviour and to verify what personality characteristics may facilitate antisocial tendencies in boys and girls during this developmental stage. For that purpose, we gathered a sample of 489 students between the 5th and the 12th grades, attending schools in the region of Coimbra. They filled collectively, in classroom, the Portuguese versions of the Youth SelfReport’s “antisocial” factor (Achenbach, 1991; Fonseca et al., 1999) and the Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire for Children (Fonseca, & Eysenck, 1989), while their parents were asked to fill the Portuguese version of Child Behaviour Checklist’s “opposition/immaturity” and “aggressive behaviour” factors (Achenbach, 1991; Fonseca et al., 1994). Our results confirm the existence of significant differences between boys and girls in personality and antisocial tendencies, and show differences in personality between individuals with lower and higher antisocial tendencies. The role of psychoticism on antisocial behaviour was also evident, indicating a possible mediating effect of impulsivity on the relation between gender and antisocial behaviour in adolescence.Keywords: personality, gender, differences, antisocial, behaviour