Temperament

• Constitutionally based individual differences in behavioral characteristics that are relatively consistent across situations and over time (Thompson & Goodvin, 2005)

Temperament Dimensions:

– Fearful distress/Behavioral inhibition– Irritable distress/Distress to limits– Attention span/persistence– Activity level– Positive affect

Measurement of Temperament

• Parental report (questionnaires)

• Advantages:– Parents observe children’s behavior in a variety

of situations and over time– Efficient (cost, time)

• Disadvantages:– Inaccuracy due to bias (social desirability

effects, parental personality, etc.)

• Structured Observation:

• Advantages:– Greater objectivity– Greater control over conditions of observation

• Disadvantages:– Less efficient (cost, time)– Limited in the circumstances in which children

are observed (practical, ethical)– Cannot easily observe the same temperament

dimension in different situations

Stability of Temperament

• Measures of temperament obtained neonatally or in the first months of life are only weakly or inconsistently associated with later measures of those dimensions

• Some short-term stability in some temperament dimensions after the first year (and sometimes earlier)– Ex: fearful distress/behavioral inhibition

• Research indicates longer-term associations between temperament and later behavior after the second year of life

– However, not all children show stability . . .

Temperament and Development

• Goodness-of-Fit

– Degree to which a child’s temperament is compatible with the expectations of the social environment (including the family environment)

• Poor goodness-of-fit is more likely to result in adjustment problems for children

• Emotion Regulation

– Concerns the management of emotional experiences

• Includes positive and negative emotions

• Includes attempts to increase as well as decrease emotional experiences

Measurement of Individual Differences in ER

• Parental report (questionnaires)

• Structured observations

– Often use the same types of tasks that are used to measure temperament

– Code regulatory strategies or behaviors separately from “reactivity” (e.g., negative affect)

• In general, emotion regulation skills are positively related to children’s social competence and academic achievement and negatively related to behavior problems

• Family Factors and Individual Differences in Emotion and ER

• Emotions expressed in the family are related to children’s adjustment

– High levels of positive emotions linked to better adjustment

– High levels of negative emotions (anger, sadness) linked to poorer adjustment

• Parents’ reactions to children’s emotions are also related to children’s adjustment

– Parents who criticize or dismiss children’s feelings have children who are less well adjusted

• Exs: less sympathetic toward others, less able to cope with stress, more problem behaviors

• Parents who talk to their children about emotions have children who show greater understanding of others’ emotions

Eisenberg et al. (2003)

• Examined links between parental emotional expressiveness and children’s adjustment (internalizing and externalizing behavior problems; social competence)

• Examined whether associations between parental emotional expressiveness and children’s adjustment were accounted for (mediated) by children’s self-regulation

• Participants

– N = 208 (approximately)

– T1: Mean age = 73 months (6 years, 1 month)– Assessed two years later (T2)

– Sample selected to be high or low on behavior problems

• Measures

– Maternal self-reported and observed emotional expressivity

– Children’s reported (by mothers) and observed regulation

– Children’s behavior problems and social competence (parent and teacher report)

• Results (T2)

– Mothers’ positive emotional expressivity was positively related to children’s regulation

– Mothers’ negative emotional expressivity was positively related to children’s regulation (surprise!)

– Children’s regulation was negatively related to behavior problems and positively related to social competence

– Children’s regulation accounted for (mediated) the relation between maternal positive emotional expressiveness and externalizing behavior problems and social competence (only marginally for internalizing behavior problems)

– Regulation only marginally mediated relations between maternal negative emotional expressiveness and children’s adjustment

• Findings (longitudinal):

– Controlled for stability of maternal and child measures from T1 to T2

• Maternal negative emotional expressivity was positively related to children’s regulation (at T2)– But no relation in regression analyses controlling for T1

variables

• All other findings from T2 analyses non-significant in SEM longitudinal model– But regression analyses controlling for T1 variables

replicated findings for positive maternal emotional expressiveness obtained in T2 analyses