Temperament

Temperament

________: individuals have a general emotional style that guides their tendency to respond in certain ways to a variety of events in their environment.

Easy child (40%)

a positive mood, quickly establishes routines, and easily adapts

Difficult child (10%)

irritable, reacts negatively and cries frequently, resists change, and shows irregular behaviors

Slow-to-warm-up child (15%)

low mood intensity, low activity level, and slow to adapt to new people and situations

Stability of temperament is

low to moderate in infancy and toddlerhood and
moderate from the preschool years on.

Heritability estimates suggest a

moderate role for genetic factors in temperament and personality, but environment is also powerful.

Temperamental
characteristics do not, however,

typically go from one extreme to another

A child’s initial approach to the world can be

intensified or lessened by experience.

Differences in early temperament may have

genetic roots but also supported by cultural beliefs and practices.

Goodness-of-fit model explains how

temperament and environment can together produce favorable outcomes

The fit between parent and child temperament is also moderated by

cultural value, parental mental health, marital happiness, and favorable economic conditions.

**The goal is not to CHANGE the child, but rather

nurture their strengths, help them feel supported, accepted, and confident when faced with new or unfamiliar situations or challenging tasks

Parents should recognize

their own temperament and styles, may be difficult to parent a child who has a temperament different than one’s own. Be aware of their own limitations, influences

Individual way of approaching the world, in turn shapes

behavior and development

NY Longitudinal Study , Thomas & Chess studied

133 infants into adulthood

Thomas and Chess asked parents about

activity level, excitability, response to novel situations and people, food, bowel, and sleep patterns, mood, sensitivity

Easy child (40%):

a positive mood, quickly establishes routines, and easily adapts.

Difficult child (10%):

irritable, reacts negatively and cries frequently, resists change, and shows irregular behaviors.

**Slow-to-warm-up child (15%):**

low mood intensity, low activity level, and slow to adapt to new people and situations

Temperament is thought to be

more hard-wired

One reason why we see change is that

the ethnicity and culture the child is growing up in may value and encourage certain child characteristics over others.

Neurobiological research has focused on

inhibited, or shy, children and uninhibited, or sociable, children (introversion and extroversion).

Heart rate higher in

shy children, speeds up further during unfamiliar events

Shy children have higher

cortisol concentration in saliva, rises more when stressed

Shy children have greater

pupil dilation, rise in blood pressure, and lower skin surface temperature when faced with novelty

Long-term prediction from early temperament is best achieved

after age 3.

An intense, reactive child may need more time to

calm down and soothe

A slow to warm child may need more preparedness for

new situations and time to adjust to transitions or new routines