Personality development: relationship with anxiety sensitivity, stiffness and regulation verbal

The aim of this study is to analyze the correlation between sensibility to the anxiety, perfectionism (rigidity vs. flexibility pattern), and verbal regulation in children with certain dysfunctional personality patterns. The sample consisted of 123 participants (53% girls and 47% boys), aged between 12 and 15 years at the time of the study, who were enrolled in two schools. Strong to moderate relationships between psychological variables and scales measures, as well as with clinical syndromes were found. Specifically a clear relation is observed between sensitivity to anxiety and perfectionism, as well as a significant relation between the instructional tendency of the participants and variability in the tests of personality. The study confirmed that the inflexibility variable presents the highest predictive value in the variability in personality tests. These results point toward some guidelines for the development of programs of prevention for problems of dysfunctional personality in children and youth population.