@article{BrandtBeckerTetzneretal.2018, author = {Brandt, Naemi D. and Becker, Michael and Tetzner, Julia and Brunner, Martin and Kuhl, Poldi and Maaz, Kai}, title = {Personality across the lifespan exploring measurement invariance of a short Big Five Inventory from ages 11 to 84}, series = {European journal of psychological assessment}, volume = {36}, journal = {European journal of psychological assessment}, number = {1}, publisher = {Hogrefe}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1015-5759}, doi = {10.1027/1015-5759/a000490}, pages = {162 -- 173}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Personality is a relevant predictor for important life outcomes across the entire lifespan. Although previous studies have suggested the comparability of the measurement of the Big Five personality traits across adulthood, the generalizability to childhood is largely unknown. The present study investigated the structure of the Big Five personality traits assessed with the Big Five Inventory-SOEP Version (BFI-S; SOEP = Socio-Economic Panel) across a broad age range spanning 11-84 years. We used two samples of N = 1,090 children (52\% female, M-age = 11.87) and N = 18,789 adults (53\% female, M-age = 51.09), estimating a multigroup CFA analysis across four age groups (late childhood: 11-14 years; early adulthood: 17-30 years; middle adulthood: 31-60 years; late adulthood: 61-84 years). Our results indicated the comparability of the personality trait metric in terms of general factor structure, loading patterns, and the majority of intercepts across all age groups. Therefore, the findings suggest both a reliable assessment of the Big Five personality traits with the BFI-S even in late childhood and a vastly comparable metric across age groups.}, language = {en} } @article{BeckerNeumannTetzneretal.2014, author = {Becker, Michael and Neumann, Marko and Tetzner, Julia and B{\"o}se, Susanne and Knoppick, Henrike and Maaz, Kai and Baumert, J{\"u}rgen and Lehmann, Rainer}, title = {Development? Effects of the transition into academically selective schools}, series = {The journal of educational psychology}, volume = {106}, journal = {The journal of educational psychology}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Psychological Association}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0022-0663}, doi = {10.1037/a0035425}, pages = {555 -- 568}, year = {2014}, abstract = {The present study investigates school context effects on psychosocial characteristics (academic self-concept, peer relations, school satisfaction, and school anxiety) of high-achieving and gifted students. Students who did or did not make an early transition from elementary to secondary schools for high-achieving and gifted students in 5th grade in Berlin, Germany, are compared in their psychosocial development. The sample comprises 155 early-entry students who moved to an academically selective secondary school (Gymnasium) and 3,169 regular students who remained in elementary school until the end of 6th grade. Overall, a complex pattern of psychosocial development emerged for all students, with both positive and negative outcomes being observed. Specifically, the transition into academically selective learning environments seemed to come at some cost for psychosocial development. Propensity score matching analysis isolating the effects of selective school intake and the school context effect itself revealed negative contextual effects of early transition to Gymnasium on academic self-concept and school anxiety; additionally, the positive trend in peer relations observed among regular students was not discernible among early-entry students.}, language = {en} } @article{TetznerBecker2015, author = {Tetzner, Julia and Becker, Michael}, title = {How Being an Optimist Makes a Difference: The Protective Role of Optimism in Adolescents' Adjustment to Parental Separation}, series = {Social psychological and personality science}, volume = {6}, journal = {Social psychological and personality science}, number = {3}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {Thousand Oaks}, issn = {1948-5506}, doi = {10.1177/1948550614559605}, pages = {325 -- 333}, year = {2015}, abstract = {This longitudinal study of N = 1,566 adolescents investigated the protective role of optimism in adjustment to parental separation, focusing on two salient challenges faced by adolescents, namely academic achievement and self-esteem. Based on latent change models, the results indicated associations between parental separation and short-term declines in academic achievement as well as short-term and longer term declines in self-esteem. Although optimism in general showed positive associations with academic achievement and self-esteem, its role as a protective factor proved to be particularly important for academic achievement in adjustment following parental separation.}, language = {en} } @misc{TetznerBecker2015, author = {Tetzner, Julia and Becker, Michael}, title = {How being an optimist makes a difference}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {396}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-404537}, pages = {9}, year = {2015}, abstract = {This longitudinal study of N = 1,566 adolescents investigated the protective role of optimism in adjustment to parental separation, focusing on two salient challenges faced by adolescents, namely academic achievement and self-esteem. Based on latent change models, the results indicated associations between parental separation and short-term declines in academic achievement as well as short-term and longer term declines in self-esteem. Although optimism in general showed positive associations with academic achievement and self-esteem, its role as a protective factor proved to be particularly important for academic achievement in adjustment following parental separation.}, language = {en} }