What You Are In First Grade, Is What You'll Be For Life

A new study has confirmed that the personalities we develop as children stay with us throughout our life. "We remain recognizably the same person," Live Science quoted Christopher Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside.

"This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts."

Researchers compared teacher personality ratings of the students with videotaped interviews of 144 of those individuals 40 years later.

They examined four personality attributes - talkativeness (called verbal fluency), adaptability (cope well with new situations), impulsiveness and self-minimizing behavior (essentially being humble to the point of minimizing one's importance).

The findings show that talkative youngsters tended to show interest in intellectual matters, speak fluently, try to control situations, and exhibit a high degree of intelligence as adults.

On the other hand, those who rated low in verbal fluency were observed as adults to seek advice, give up when faced with obstacles, and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.

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Students rated as impulsive were inclined to speak loudly, display a wide range of interests and be talkative as adults. Less impulsive kids tended to be fearful or timid, kept others at a distance and expressed insecurity as adults.

Personality is "a part of us, a part of our biology," Nave said.

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Future research will "help us understand how personality is related to behavior as well as examine the extent to which we may be able to change our personality," Nave added.

The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Source-ANI