Pediatrics

The relationship of personality type at age 6 years to interpersonal violence at age 12 years was investigated. Participants from the Child Sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth with complete data measures for the three time periods were categorized into one of the three personality types at age 6: under-controlled, resilient, and over-controlled.

The relationship of childhood personality type to the timing of first sexual intercourse was investigated through survival analysis. Participants from the Child Sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were categorized into one of the three personality types at 5 or 6 years of age: under-controlled, resilient, and over-controlled. Those categorized as under-controlled at 5 or 6 years of age were more likely than those resilient or over-controlled to have sexual intercourse before the age of 16.

BACKGROUND: Sexual risk taking during adolescence such as failure to use contraception or condoms is associated with premature parenthood and high rates of sexually transmitted infection. The relation of childhood personality to sexual risk taking during adolescence has been largely unexplored. METHODS: Using data collected from participants in the Child Sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CS-NLSY) when they were 5 or 6 years of age (time 1) and 17 or 18 years of age (time 2), the relation of childhood personality to sexual risk taking during adolescence was investigated.