A Meta-Analytic Multitrait Multirater Separation of Substance and Style in Social Desirability Scales.

Though unlikely virtues scales have a long history in personality, clinical, and applied psychology for detecting socially desirable responding, using such social desirability (SD) scales has generally failed to improve the validity of personality measures. We examined whether this is because (a) response distortion itself has minimal impact on personality's validity, (b) SD scales are ineffective at assessing response distortion, or (c) SD scales are conflated with substantive trait variance. We compiled a meta-analytic multitrait multimethod matrix consisting of multirater personality traits, SD scales, and performance outcomes. We examined the influence of trait factors and self-report method factors on SD scales and performance. We found that self-report method variance (a) was negatively related to performance, (b) would suppress personality-performance relationships for self-report measures, and (c) was (partially) assessed by SD scales. However, relative to the effects of self-report method variance, SD scales are even more strongly influenced by Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Agreeableness. It is not the case that SD scales are insensitive to inflated responding but that their susceptibility to personality trait variance likely outweighs their benefits. We discuss the implications of these results for using SD scales in research and practice.

Evidence of developmental continuity from birth to 1 year: sleep, temperament, problem solving, and recognition memory.

BACKGROUND: Research evidence is limited regarding developmentally appropriate care. Variations exits with respect to test procedure type, infant age at testing, and test relatedness. PURPOSE: To assess developmental continuity using multiple developmental measures from birth to 12 months in a single cohort of term infants. METHODS: A secondary analysis, longitudinal, correlational design was used to assess developmental continuity in a single cohort of infants (n 27). Measures included: sleep, using the Motility Monitoring System (first 48 hours of life); temperament, using the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ, 6 months) and the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ, 12 months); problem-solving, using the Willatts Infant Planning Test (PS, 9 and 12 months); and the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII, 6 and 9 months). RESULTS: Using Spearmen correlation, significant correlations included: (1) Sleep and ICQ: transitional sleep and "unpredictable" (r 0.455, P .017), "unadaptable" (r 0.420, P .026), and "dull" (r 0.416, P .028); (2) ICQ and FTII 6 months (r -0.512, P .008); (3) RITQ "approachability" and quiet sleep (r 0.662, P .005); (4) arousals in active sleep and PS at 9 months (r -0.528, P .016). IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Given our reported continuity between early sleep and later developmental measures, sleep-wake state should be considered in caregiving and environmental control to support sleep. Parental education on facilitating sleep-wake regulation in the home environment is essential. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: These data support the existence of continuity between early sleep and later developmental milestones warranting a larger-scale investigation. Specific focus on development of care strategies for facilitating sleep immediately following birth is warranted.

Separating method factors and higher order traits of the Big Five: a meta-analytic multitrait-multimethod approach.

Though most personality researchers now recognize that ratings of the Big Five are not orthogonal, the field has been divided about whether these trait intercorrelations are substantive (i.e., driven by higher order factors) or artifactual (i.e., driven by correlated measurement error). We used a meta-analytic multitrait-multirater study to estimate trait correlations after common method variance was controlled. Our results indicated that common method variance substantially inflates trait correlations, and, once controlled, correlations among the Big Five became relatively modest. We then evaluated whether two different theories of higher order factors could account for the pattern of Big Five trait correlations. Our results did not support Rushton and colleagues' (Rushton & Irwing, 2008; Rushton et al., 2009) proposed general factor of personality, but Digman's (1997) α and ß metatraits (relabeled by DeYoung, Peterson, and Higgins (2002) as Stability and Plasticity, respectively) produced viable fit. However, our models showed considerable overlap between Stability and Emotional Stability and between Plasticity and Extraversion, raising the question of whether these metatraits are redundant with their dominant Big Five traits. This pattern of findings was robust when we included only studies whose observers were intimately acquainted with targets. Our results underscore the importance of using a multirater approach to studying personality and the need to separate the causes and outcomes of higher order metatraits from those of the Big Five. We discussed the implications of these findings for the array of research fields in which personality is studied.