This study examines 5 types of personality continuity—structural, mean-level, individual-level, differ-ential, and ipsative—in a representative population (N 498) and a twin and sibling sample (N 548) of children and adolescents. Parents described their children on 2 successive occasions with a 36-monthinterval using the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (I. Mervielde & F. De Fruyt, 1999).There was evidence for structural continuity in the 2 samples, and personality was shown to be largely differentially stable. A large percentage had a stable trait profile indicative of ipsative stability, andmean-level personality changes were generally small in magnitude. Continuity findings were explainedmainly by genetic and nonshared environmental factors. Keywords: personality continuity and assessment, five-factor model, childhood, adolescence, behaviorgenetics