[INTJMom]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

Are you born with your enneagram type or does it develop in response to your environment when growing up?

Have studies been done on this?

I have a hard time seeing it as something that you are 100% born with because of my own personal situation. There was a clear point in time in which my four tendancies began to develop heavily and I can pinpoint events that triggered my extreme concern with identity.

According to this site:
The Enneagram Type Test
"While each of us will identify with certain behaviors from each Enneagram type, everyone has only one type that subconsciously motivates his/her behavior throughout his/her entire life. ... The basic premise of the Enneagram is that each of us developed one of nine perceptual filters (Enneagram types) in infancy to protect a specific aspect of our Essential Nature (higher, or divine, self) which felt particularly vulnerable or threatened. Depending upon the temperament of the infant and its relationship to the environment, it became so focused on protecting one of the nine specific aspects of our Essential Nature that an imbalanced, habitual focus of attention was developed."