Description

The Child and Adolescent Personality Dimensions Questionnaire for Ages 11–13 (CAPDQ-12) is a parent-report psychometric instrument designed to assess personality characteristics of children and early adolescents aged 11–13 years.

The questionnaire evaluates parents’ perceptions of their child’s personality and behavioural characteristics. It consists of 99 statements, which parents rate according to the degree to which each statement corresponds to their child’s typical behaviour.

Responses are provided using a five-point Likert scale, allowing the systematic assessment of individual differences in personality characteristics.

The CAPDQ-12 is based on the Five-Factor Model of Personality (Big Five) and examines broad personality dimensions as well as more specific sub-dimensions.

Objective

The main objective of the CAPDQ-12 is to assess children’s personality characteristics from the perspective of their parents.

The questionnaire aims to:

identify personality traits during late childhood and early adolescence,

examine individual differences in behavioural and emotional characteristics,

provide a structured profile of personality development,

support research and clinical assessment of personality characteristics in children.

Structure and Content

The CAPDQ-12 evaluates personality through general factors and specific sub-dimensions derived from the Five-Factor Model framework.

The instrument examines broad areas of personality functioning, allowing assessment of characteristics related to:

emotional functioning,

social behaviour,

interpersonal characteristics,

behavioural tendencies,

individual differences in personality expression.

The parent-report format allows the evaluation of children’s everyday behaviour across different contexts.

Scoring Method

Scoring is based on calculating the mean score for each general personality factor and specific sub-dimension.

Before analysis, certain negatively worded statements are reverse-scored to ensure that all scores are interpreted in the same direction.

Higher mean scores indicate a stronger presence of the corresponding personality characteristic.

The resulting profile provides information about the relative strength of different personality dimensions in the child.

Data Analysis and Use

The CAPDQ-12 allows the analysis of personality characteristics according to:

individual personality profiles,

age differences,

gender comparisons,

relationships between personality dimensions and other psychological variables.

Research findings indicate that the questionnaire can be used to examine personality development and behavioural characteristics in children and adolescents.

The instrument is suitable for:

developmental psychology research,

educational psychology,

child and adolescent psychological assessment,

clinical evaluation as a complementary assessment tool.

Validity

The development of the CAPDQ-12 was based on parent-generated descriptions of children’s personality characteristics, contributing to high ecological validity.

The validity of the questionnaire is further supported through comparisons with other psychometric measures and previous research findings.

The structure of the questionnaire reflects theoretically defined personality dimensions consistent with the Five-Factor Model of personality.

Reliability

The CAPDQ-12 demonstrates high internal consistency reliability.

Cronbach’s alpha coefficients are reported as:

0.87–0.93 for the general personality factors,

0.67–0.89 for the specific sub-dimensions.

Test–retest reliability correlations reach values of up to 0.70, indicating satisfactory stability of measurements over time.

Applications

The Child and Adolescent Personality Dimensions Questionnaire for Ages 11–13 can be applied in:

developmental psychology research,

educational assessment,

child and adolescent personality studies,

family and parenting research,

clinical psychological evaluation.

It is particularly useful for understanding personality development during the transition from childhood to adolescence through systematic parental observation.

References

Besevegis, E., & Pavlopoulos, V. (1999). Personality structure in infancy and childhood: Developmental trends and relation to the Big Five.

Bezevegis, H., & Pavlopoulos, V. (1998). Parental perceptions of their children’s personality.