Relationships: commentary. Personality, relationships, and behavior problems: it's hard to be disagreeable.

Low agreeableness is defined and discussed. Disagreeable youth are antagonistic, disputatious, and uncooperative. The low agreeable share two common problems: behavior troubles and interpersonal troubles. A cascade model is suggested whereby initial modest difficulties follow a progressively accelerating trajectory. The cascade begins with temperamental difficultness, manifest in uncooperativeness and poor self-control. These traits elicit negativity, giving rise to relationship troubles that interfere with socialization and isolate these children from good-tempered peers. Behavior problems and coercive interaction strategies combine to exacerbate disagreeable inclinations that tend to worsen adjustment and interpersonal difficulties.