RUNNING HEAD: LONG-TERM TRAJECTORIES Childhood Personality Predicts Long-Term Trajectories of Shyness and Aggressiveness in the Context of Demographic Transitions in Emerging Adulthood

In an 19-year longitudinal study, childhood personality characteristics (assessed by teachers at ages 4 to 6) were significantly related to both initial levels and changes in parental judgments of shyness and aggressiveness. Long-term stability was demonstrated by the fact that overcontrollers had constantly higher scores in shyness, and undercontrollers in aggressiveness. However, undercontrollers ’ shyness and overcontrollers ’ aggressiveness changed over time from a low to a high level. Also, both types assumed adult social roles at a later time than the resilient participants, such as leaving the parental home, establishing a first romantic relationship, and getting a part-time job. A mediation analysis indicated that under-and overcontrollers ’ increasing aggressiveness between age 17 and 23 was due to their longer latency of getting a part-time job. Together, results demonstrate the importance of considering person-environment transactions in explaining both change and stability in personality between childhood and adulthood. 145 words Long-term trajectories