M. Brent Donnellan

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M. Brent Donnellan (born June 19, 1972) is a professor of psychology at Michigan State University. [1] He is known for research on social psychology and personality psychology.

Contents

Biography

M. Brent Donnellan was born June 19, 1972 in Springfield, Ohio. Donnellan completed his undergraduate career at the University of California, Davis in 1994, receiving his bachelor's degree in Psychology. [1] In 2001, he received his Ph.D. in human development from Davis. [1]

He joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at MSU [2] in 2003. Donnellan received tenure and a promotion from MSU in 2009. He currently holds the rank of professor of psychology. He previously taught at Texas A&M University, where he served as Associate Department Head from January 2016 to August 2017. Donnellan has a long-standing affiliation with the Family Transitions Project, which follows participants as they make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. [1] He is the author or co-author of 130 journal articles (out or in press), one edited book, 21 book chapters and one book under contract. [3]

Research

Donnellan's research has encompassed various areas, including personality trait development, self-esteem development, personality and romantic relationships, and various methodological issues. His primary focus of research typically focuses on the development of personality throughout the lifespan as well as how characteristics vary from environment to environment. [1]

One aspect of the adolescence-adulthood transition that Donnellan has primarily focused on is self-esteem. He researched the pros and cons of high and low global self-esteem, which reflects a person’s overall evaluation of personal value and adequacy in relation to their ideal perception of who they are as a person. [4] Individuals with high self-esteem benefit from having well-rounded coping mechanisms and display behaviors that facilitate productive achievement, such as occupational success and academic achievement. They are typically able to avoid mental and physical health problems, substance abuse and antisocial behavior. They are also more likely to have healthy social relationships, persevere during difficult situations, have a positive sense of personal well-being, and receive positive opinions by peers. [5] [6] On the other side of the spectrum, individuals with low self-esteem suffer from poorer mental and physical health, including depressive symptoms and health problems; experience worse economic prospects, occasionally illustrate antisocial behavior and tend to exhibit higher levels of criminal behavior during adolescence. [5] [6]

The research that Donnellan and his colleagues have done points to various macro factors in determining the correlation between low self-esteem and externalizing problems in a negative aspect. One suggestion is that low self-esteem weakens ties to society, thus decreasing conformity to social norms and increasing delinquency. Another suggestion is that a lack of unconditional positive self-regard, and/or low self-regard is linked with psychological problems, which includes aggression. [7] They have also taken a micro focus point of view in determining the relationship between low self-esteem and delinquent behavior. One point of view was to study the developmental processes involving person-environment transactions. It could be that an environmental or social influence forced the individual to act in certain ways, and it’s the environment that needs to be changed to have an eventual positive effect on the individual. Subsequently, there is also a parental support component that researchers have briefly looked at as a starting point for future instances of low self-esteem. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolescence</span> Human transition from puberty to adult

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood. Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier and end later. Puberty now typically begins during preadolescence, particularly in females. Physical growth and cognitive development can extend past the teens. Age provides only a rough marker of adolescence, and scholars have not agreed upon a precise definition. Some definitions start as early as 10 and end as late as 25 or 26. The World Health Organization definition officially designates an adolescent as someone between the ages of 10 and 19.

Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth or abilities. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) defined it by saying "The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it."

Conduct disorder (CD) is a mental disorder diagnosed in childhood or adolescence that presents itself through a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior that includes theft, lies, physical violence that may lead to destruction, and reckless breaking of rules, in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate norms are violated. These behaviors are often referred to as "antisocial behaviors." It is often seen as the precursor to antisocial personality disorder, which by definition cannot be diagnosed until the individual is 18 years old. Conduct disorder may result from parental rejection and neglect and can be treated with family therapy, as well as behavioral modifications and pharmacotherapy. Conduct disorder is estimated to affect 51.1 million people globally as of 2013.

Antisocial personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of disregard of, or violation of, the rights of others as well as a difficulty sustaining long-term relationships. Lack of empathy is often apparent, as well as a history of rule-breaking that can sometimes include law-breaking, a tendency towards substance abuse, and impulsive and aggressive behavior. Antisocial behaviors often have their onset before the age of 8, and in nearly 80% of ASPD cases, the subject will develop their first symptoms by age 11. The prevalence of ASPD peaks in people age 24 to 44 years old, and often decreases in people age 45 to 64 years. In the United States, the rate of antisocial personality disorder in the general population is estimated between 0.5 and 3.5 percent. In a study, a random sampling of 320 newly incarcerated offenders found ASPD was present in over 35 percent of those surveyed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juvenile delinquency</span> Illegal behavior by minors

Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person who commits a crime and is under a specific age. Most states specify a juvenile delinquent as an individual under 18 years of age while a few states have set the maximum age slightly different. In 2021, Michigan, New York, and Vermont raised the maximum age to under 19, and Vermont law was updated again in 2022 to include individuals under the age of 20. Only three states, Georgia, Texas, and Wisconsin still appropriate the age of a juvenile delinquent as someone under the age of 17. While the maximum age in some US states has increased, Japan has lowered the juvenile delinquent age from under 20 to under 18. This change occurred on April 1, 2022 when the Japanese Diet activated a law lowering the age of minor status in the country. Just as there are differences in the maximum age of a juvenile delinquent, the minimum age for a child to be considered capable of delinquency or the age of criminal responsibility varies considerably between the states. Some states that impose a minimum age have made recent amendments to raise the minimum age, but most states remain ambiguous on the minimum age for a child to be determined a juvenile delinquent. In 2021, North Carolina changed the minimum age from 6 years old to 10 years old while Connecticut moved from 7 to 10 and New York made an adjustment from 7 to 12. In some states the minimum age depends on the seriousness of the crime committed. Juvenile delinquents or juvenile offenders commit crimes ranging from status offenses such as, truancy, violating a curfew or underage drinking and smoking to more serious offenses categorized as property crimes, violent crimes, sexual offenses, and cybercrimes.

Anti-social behaviours are actions that harm or lack consideration for the mental conditioning of others. It has also been defined as any type of conduct that violates the basic rights of another person and any behaviour that is considered to be disruptive to others in society. This can be carried out in various ways, which includes, but is not limited to, intentional aggression, as well as covert and overt hostility. Anti-social behaviour also develops through social interaction within the family and community. It continuously affects a child's temperament, cognitive ability and their involvement with negative peers, dramatically affecting children's cooperative problem-solving skills. Many people also label behaviour which is deemed contrary to prevailing norms for social conduct as anti-social behaviour. However, researchers have stated that it is a difficult term to define, particularly in the United Kingdom where many acts fall into its category. The term is especially used in British English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Five personality traits</span> Personality model consisting of five broad dimensions

The Big Five personality traits is a suggested taxonomy, or grouping, for personality traits, developed from the 1980s onward in psychological trait theory.

School violence includes violence between school students as well as attacks by students on school staff. It encompasses physical violence, including student-on-student fighting, corporal punishment; psychological violence such as verbal abuse, and sexual violence, including rape and sexual harassment. It also includes many forms of bullying and carrying weapons in school. It is widely believed to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved.

Sex differences in crime are differences between men and women as the perpetrators or victims of crime. Such studies may belong to fields such as criminology, sociobiology, or feminist studies. Despite the difficulty of interpreting them, crime statistics may provide a way to investigate such a relationship from a gender differences perspective. An observable difference in crime rates between men and women might be due to social and cultural factors, crimes going unreported, or to biological factors for example, testosterone or sociobiological theories). The nature of the crime itself may also require consideration as a factor.

Personality development encompasses the dynamic construction and deconstruction of integrative characteristics that distinguish an individual in terms of interpersonal behavioral traits. Personality development is ever-changing and subject to contextual factors and life-altering experiences. Personality development is also dimensional in description and subjective in nature. That is, personality development can be seen as a continuum varying in degrees of intensity and change. It is subjective in nature because its conceptualization is rooted in social norms of expected behavior, self-expression, and personal growth. The dominant viewpoint in personality psychology indicates that personality emerges early and continues to develop across one's lifespan. Adult personality traits are believed to have a basis in infant temperament, meaning that individual differences in disposition and behavior appear early in life, potentially before language of conscious self-representation develop. The Five Factor Model of personality maps onto the dimensions of childhood temperament. This suggests that individual differences in levels of the corresponding personality traits are present from young ages.

The dark triad is a psychological theory of personality, first published by Delroy L. Paulhus and Kevin M. Williams in 2002, that describes three notably offensive, but non-pathological personality types: Machiavellianism, sub-clinical narcissism, and sub-clinical psychopathy. Each of these personality types are called dark because each is considered to contain malevolent qualities.

Personality disorders (PD) are a class of mental disorders characterized by enduring maladaptive patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experience, exhibited across many contexts and deviating from those accepted by the individual's culture. These patterns develop early, are inflexible, and are associated with significant distress or disability. The definitions vary by source and remain a matter of controversy. Official criteria for diagnosing personality disorders are listed in the sixth chapter of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Robins</span>

Lee Nelken Robins was an American professor of social science in psychiatry and a leader in psychiatric epidemiology research. She was affiliated with the Washington University in St. Louis for more than 50 years from 1954 until 2007.

Self-esteem stability refers to immediate feelings of self-esteem which, generally, will not be influenced by everyday positive or negative experiences. In contrast, unstable self-esteem refers to fragile and vulnerable feelings of self-esteem which will be influenced by internally generated, such as reflecting on one's social life, and externally received evaluative information, for example a compliment or a failed course. Rosenberg makes a distinction of baseline instability and barometric instability. Baseline instability are long term fluctuations in self-esteem that occur slowly and over an extended period of time. For example, decreases in self-esteem level are common as children transition from the relatively safe environment of elementary school to the more turbulent middle school environment, often followed by slow but steady increases in self-esteem through the high school years. Barometric instability, on the other hand, reflects short term fluctuations in one's contextually based global self-esteem. This means that someone with an unstable self-esteem will value him/herself positively on one day, but negatively on the other, this can even vary with every situation. One important feature of individuals with unstable self-esteem is how they can react very strongly on experiences that they view as relevant for their self-esteem, within this they can even see relevance for their self-esteem when there is not. Unstable self-esteem may take numerous forms. Some people may experience dramatic shifts from feeling very positively to very negatively about themselves, others may primarily fluctuate in the extent to which they feel positively or negatively about themselves. Another distinction made in the research on stability of self-esteem is between fragile and secure high self-esteem. Secure high self-esteem reflects positive feelings of self-worth that are well anchored and secure and that are positively associated with a wide range of psychological health and well-being indices. Fragile high self-esteem, however, reflects positive feelings of self-worth that are vulnerable to threat, as they require continual bolstering, protection, and validation through various self-protective or self-enhancement strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biosocial criminology</span> Psychosocial examination of crime

Biosocial criminology is an interdisciplinary field that aims to explain crime and antisocial behavior by exploring biocultural factors. While contemporary criminology has been dominated by sociological theories, biosocial criminology also recognizes the potential contributions of fields such as behavioral genetics, neuropsychology, and evolutionary psychology.

Unpopularity is the opposite of popularity. Therefore, it is the quality of lacking acceptance or approval by one's peers or society as a whole.

Peer victimization is the experience among children of being a target of the aggressive behavior of other children, who are not siblings and not necessarily age-mates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Developmental theory of crime</span>

In 1993, American psychologist Terrie Moffitt described a dual taxonomy of offending behavior in an attempt to explain the developmental processes that lead to the distinctive shape of the age crime curve. Moffitt proposed that there are two main types of antisocial offenders in society: The adolescence-limited offenders, who exhibit antisocial behavior only during adolescence, and the life-course-persistent offenders, who begin to behave antisocially early in childhood and continue this behavior into adulthood. This theory is used with respect to antisocial behavior instead of crime due to the differing definitions of 'crime' among cultures. Due to similar characteristics and trajectories, this theory can be applied to both females and males.

Personality Changes: Originally thought to be concrete and unchanging, recent studies have found evidence that personality can change throughout a person's life.

Terrie Edith Moffitt is an American clinical psychologist who is best known for her pioneering research on the development of antisocial behavior and for her collaboration with colleague and partner Avshalom Caspi in research on gene-environment interactions in mental disorders.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Department Chair and Professor". Michigan State University. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  2. ↑ , Michigan State University.
  3. ↑ "Donnellan CV Sept 2014" (PDF). Department of Psychology - TAMU. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-07. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
  4. ↑ Donnellan, M.B., Kenny, D. A., Trzesniewski, K. H., Lucas, R. E., & Conger, R. D. (2012). Using trait-state models to evaluate the longitudinal consistency of global self esteem from adolescence to adulthood. "Journal of Research in Personality, 46", 634-645.
  5. 1 2 3 Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M.B., Moffitt, T. E., Robins, R. W., Poulton, R., & Caspi, A. (2006). Low Self-Esteem During Adolescence Predicts Poor Health, Criminal Behavior, and Limited Economic Prospects During Adulthood. "Developmental Psychology, 42" (2), 381-390.
  6. 1 2 Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M.B., & Robins, R. W. (2003). Stability of Self-Esteem Across the Life Span. "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84" (1), 205-220.
  7. ↑ Donnellan, M.B., Trzesniewski, K. H., Robins, R. W., Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. (2005). Low Self-Esteem Is Related to Aggression, Antisocial Behavior, and Delinquency. "Psychological Science, 16" (4), 328-335.
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