Human personality traits are associated with individual environmental traits in male adolescents—a pilot study

• Published in: Comprehensive psychiatry Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 56 - 60
• Main Author: Nakamura-Tani, Toshiaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Juvenile Delinquency - statistics & numerical data; Male; Object Attachment; Parent-Child Relations; Parents - psychology; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Personality Disorders - epidemiology; Personality Disorders - psychology; Personality traits; Personality. Affectivity; Pilot Projects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics - methods; Risk-Taking; Social Environment; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Tropical medicine; Asia; Japan; Social environment; Affect affectivity; Parental behavior; Mental health; Sex; Environmental factor; Genetic determinism; Parent child relation; Social behavior; Affective attachment; Juvenile delinquency; Family environment; Genetics; Public health; Human; Consumption; Healthy subject; Personality; Risk taking; Tobacco; Genotype environment interaction; Sociodemographic factor; Adolescent; Predictive factor; Social behavior disorder; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0010-440X; 1532-8384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2004.07.008

The human personality seems to be formed by biological (internal) and environmental (external) factors, which function interactively. This pilot study examined the relationship between fundamental personality traits and individual environmental traits in healthy adolescents. A complex relationship between personality traits and candidate environmental traits was found in this sample. Parental smoking, one of the hypothetical environmental traits, was significantly associated with the sociability personality trait of adolescent offspring. Another hypothetical environmental trait—parent/child attachment status—was related to novelty-seeking personality. Unexpectedly, these associations were observed only in male but not in female adolescents. The present study suggested that (1) parental smoking behavior might directly or indirectly affect offspring social behavior and related personality by nongenetic transmission; (2) past and present data indicated that the triad of a poor parent/child relationship, novelty-seeking personality, and risky/delinquent behavior is closely connected. Investigations of environmental traits at a nonclinical level may lead us to understand the overall human personality, as with research on genes and biological traits that are implicated in the formation of mental activity.