Personality development and its associations with the bifactor model of psychopathology in adolescence

Although personality is closely related to the psychopathology structure, to our knowledge no study has explored the associations between the Five-Factor traits and a bifactor psychopathology model within a personality developmental framework. Consequently, this study aims to explore intercept and growth of personality traits across three assessments in a 2-year period and their associations with psychopathology in a nonclinical sample of 551 adolescents (51.5% girls; Mage = 13.77, SD = 1.29). Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the bifactor structure of psychopathology. Latent growth curve modeling showed a slightly declining trend in neuroticism and conscientiousness. Individual differences in starting point and change in personality independently predicted later psychopathology. This highlights the importance of these parameters as risk or protective factors, when developing prevention programs.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume