Temperament Constitutionally based individual differences in behavioral characteristics

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) – T 1: Mean age = 73 months (6 years, 1 month) – Assessed two years later (T 2) – 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 (T 2) – 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 T 1 to T 2 • Maternal negative emotional expressivity was positively related to children’s regulation (at T 2) – But no relation in regression analyses controlling for T 1 variables • All other findings from T 2 analyses non-significant in SEM longitudinal model – But regression analyses controlling for T 1 variables replicated findings for positive maternal emotional expressiveness obtained in T 2 analyses