The relationship between personality types and prosocial behavior and aggression in Chinese adolescents

Abstract

Research on personality types has recently received increasing attention in the field of personality and social psychology. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between adolescents' personality types and prosocial/aggressive behavior. A sample of 1644 Chinese adolescents was recruited to complete the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Children's Behavior Inventory. Results revealed that there were four personality types in Chinese adolescents: Resilients, Withdrawn, Undercontrollers, and Ordinary. Results of ANOVA showed that resilient adolescents had the highest scores whereas withdrawn adolescents had the lowest scores on the measure of prosocial behavior. Both withdrawn and undercontrolled adolescents had the highest scores and resilient adolescents had the lowest scores on the measure of aggression. This is the first study of Chinese adolescents' personality types and the relationship between Chinese adolescents' personality types and prosocial behavior and aggression. The results have implications for understanding western notions of personality in the Chinese population.