Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents' personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

College of Social Science and Humanities Koç University

Département de Sciences Psychologiques Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense

Department of Developmental Personality and Social Psychology

Department of Education Pusan National University

Department of Geriatrics Florida State University College of Medicine

Department of Human Development Cornell University

Department of Human Studies Bunkyo Gakuin University

Department of Philosophy Religion and Classical Studies Susquehanna University

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Duke University School of Medicine

Department of Psychology Belgrade University

Department of Psychology College of New Jersey

Department of Psychology Ewha Womans University

Department of Psychology John Paul 2 Catholic University of Lublin

Department of Psychology Peking University

Department of Psychology Rutgers University

Department of Psychology Srinakharinwirot University

Department of Psychology Tarbiat Modares University

Department of Psychology The John Paul 2 Catholic University of Lublin

Department of Psychology Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

Department of Psychology University of Maryland

Department of Psychology University of Tartu

Department of Psychology University of Zagreb

Division of Social Science Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Escuela de Psicologia Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Faculty of Social Welfare Tokyo University of Social Welfare

Foster School of Business University of Washington

Graduate School of Professional Psychology University of St Thomas

Independent Practice

Institute for Social Research in Zagreb

Institute of Experimental Psychology Slovak Academy of Sciences

Institute of Psychology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Institute of Psychology Jagiellonian University

Institute of Psychology Makerere University

Instituto de Medicina Genetica Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

Research Centre of the Study and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention University of Coimbra

Research Institute Department of Psychology University of Buenos Aires

School of Cognitive Science Hampshire College

School of Psychology and Counselling Queensland University of Technology

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

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