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Differences in personality traits in children and adult bilinguals: A pilot study in a bilingual Friulian–Italian context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2019

Anastasia Fabbro ,
Cristiano Crescentini ,
Eric Pascoli ,
Simona Screm ,
Damiano Cantone  and
Franco Fabbro
Anastasia Fabbro*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Cristiano Crescentini
Affiliation:
Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
Eric Pascoli
Affiliation:
Degree Course in Medicine And Surgery, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
Simona Screm
Affiliation:
Degree in Primary Teacher Education, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
Damiano Cantone
Affiliation:
Industrial Technical Institute “A. Malignani”, Udine, Italy
Franco Fabbro
Affiliation:
Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy PERCRO Perceptual Robotics Laboratory, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
*
Address for correspondence: Anastasia Fabbro, Email: anastasia.fabbro@gmail.com
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Abstract

We investigated changes in self-representation depending on language in Friulian–Italian bilinguals. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Junior-TCI were administered respectively to 24 adults and 25 children, both in Friulian and in Italian, at a distance of two weeks from each other. Variations in TCI were detected: both adults and children scored higher in Self-Directedness (a character trait) when using Italian than Friulian. Similar findings were observed for Novelty-Seeking (a temperament trait) in children and Cooperativeness (another character trait) in adults. Results are discussed considering previous studies on bilingualism and within the frame of the Friulian sociolinguistic context.

Keywords

temperament and charactervariation in self-representationbilingualismminority language
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , May 2020 , pp. 631 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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