290 III. DEvELOPMENT
shortly, childhood measures tend to focus 
on negative expressions of assertiveness and 
social dominance and include these tenden -
cies as part of the low end of agreeableness. 
The BFI-2 and other measures originally 
developed for adults include assertiveness as 
part of extraversion; positive expressions of 
social confidence and assertiveness deserve 
greater attention in childhood because of 
their likely importance for emerging leader -
ship skills.
Childhood neuroticism  shares much in 
common with adult neuroticism, in that it 
includes predispositions toward a wide vari -
ety of negative emotions, including anxiety 
and fear, sadness, moodiness and emotional 
instability, and insecurity and vulnerabil -ity (see, e.g., Shiner & Masten, 2012). The 
nature of neuroticism changes by middle 
childhood, at least, in that it includes vari -
ous self-  evaluative emotions (e.g., insecu -
rity, sensitivity about criticism), consistent 
with the previously described rise in self- 
understanding in middle childhood. Neurot -
icism and low agreeableness seem to be more 
strongly related in childhood than in adult -
hood, and in many cases, irritability and 
frustration may be more strongly related in 
childhood to agreeableness than to neuroti -
cism (De Pauw, 2017; Tackett et al., 2012). 
In adults, moodiness, irritability, and emo -
tional volatility are more clearly an aspect of 
neuroticism (De Young, Quilty, & Peterson, 
2007; Soto & John, 2017). This discrepancy TABLE 12.1.  Facets for the Big Five Personality Traits in Three Widely Used 
Childhood  Questionnaires
HiPIC ICID BFI-2
Neuroticism Neuroticism Neuroticism
Anxiety
Self-confidenceFearful/insecure
Negative emotionality
ShyAnxiety
Depression
Volatility
Extraversion Extraversion Extraversion
Energy
Expressiveness
Optimism
Shyness
AssertivenessActivity level
Positive emotionality
Considerate/sociable
OpennessEnergy
Sociability
Imagination Openness Openness
Creativity
Intellect
CuriosityIntellect Creative imagination
Intellectual curiosity
Aesthetic sensitivity
Benevolence Agreeableness Agreeableness
Altruism
Dominance
Egocentrism
Compliance
IrritabilityStrong willed
AntagonismCompassion
Trust/forgiveness
Respect
Conscientiousness Conscientiousness Conscientiousness
Concentration
Persistence
Orderliness
AchievementDistractible
Organized
Achievement orientationProductivity
Organization
Reliability
Note.  HiPIC, Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (Mervielde, De Fruyt, & De Clerq, 
2009); ICID, Inventory of Child Individual Differences (Halverson et al., 2003); BFI-2, Big Five 
Inventory–2 (Soto & John, 2017).