Temperament Constitutionally based individual differences in behavioral characteristics that are relatively consistent across situations and over time.
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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
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