Do HEXACO Facets Predict Better Self or Observer Report Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors in Adolescents?

The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate whether and which HEXACO (an acronym for the following six personality traits: Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) facets were related to self-or observer-report Internalizing and Externalizing behaviors in adolescents; (2) to investigate whether the self-report HEXACO facets better predicted self-or observer-report Internalizing and Externalizing behaviors. The study involved 125 middle school adolescents and a parent for each of them. Basic information was gathered from both adolescents and their parents. Moreover, adolescents were administered a preliminary version of HEXACO-MSI-E to assess the HEXACO facets and the five subscales of the Youth Self Report to measure Internalizing and Externalizing behaviors. Parents completed the same subscales from the Youth Self Report, worded in the third person, regarding the adolescent. The results showed that some facets of Extraversion and Agreeableness were the most important predictors of emotional and behavioral problems. Furthermore, HEXACO facets better predicted self-report Internalizing and Externalizing behaviors compared to their observer counterpart. This study, by establishing a link between specific facets and emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence, opens the field to many potential applications, including interventions targeting adolescents’ specific personality facets, particularly in terms of prevention.