Abstract
The relation between adolescents' personality, various competence indices, and the mutuality of their self-descriptions and descriptions of them provided by important interaction partners was studied in two samples of adolescents (12- and 14-years-old). Mutuality (a Q-correlation, reflecting self-other agreement between a self-description and a description provided by an important other) increased with age and was higher for girls. Extraversion and Emotional Stability were not related to mutuality, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were related to mutuality at age 12, and Openness was related to mutuality at both ages. Mutuality was further related to competence indices at both ages. Mutuality with the main interaction partner in a setting was the most important for competence in that specific setting. These results illustrate the important role for the development of competence of the communication with significant interaction partners and of the adolescent's embeddedness in a social network.
