13.2: Temperament

Learning Objectives

1. Define temperament.
2. Summarize Chess and Thomas’s three types of temperament and the dimensions used to classify them.
3. Explain the concept of goodness-of-fit and how it influences caregiver-child interactions.

Perhaps you have spent time with several infants. How were they alike? How did they differ? How do you compare with your siblings or other children you have known well? You may have noticed that some seemed to be in a better mood than others and that some were more sensitive to noise or more easily distracted than others. These differences may be attributed to temperament. Temperament refers to the innate characteristics of an infant, including mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity, which are noticeable soon after birth.

In a 1956 landmark study, Chess and Thomas (1996) evaluated the temperament of 141 children based on parental interviews. Referred to as the New York Longitudinal Study, infants were assessed on 10 dimensions of temperament, including:

• activity level
• rhythmicity (regularity of biological functions)
• approach/withdrawal (how children deal with new things)
• adaptability to situations
• intensity of reactions
• threshold of responsiveness (how intense a stimulus has to be for the child to react)
• quality of mood
• distractibility
• attention span
• persistence

Based on the infants’ behavioral profiles, they were categorized into three general types of temperament:

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Types of Temperament

Type	Percentage	Description
Easy	40%	Able to quickly adapt to routine and new situations Remains calm Easy to soothe Usually positive in mood
Difficult	10%	Reacts negatively to new situations Has trouble adapting to routine Usually negative in mood Cries frequently
Slow-to-warm- up	15%	Low activity level Adjusts slowly to new situations Often negative in mood

As can be seen, the percentages do not equal 100%, as some children could not be placed neatly into one of the categories. Consider how each type of child should be approached to enhance interactions with them. An easy child requires less intervention, but still has needs that must not be overlooked. A slow-to-warm-up child may need to be given advance warning if new people or situations are going to be introduced. A child with a difficult temperament may need extra time to expend their energy.

Goodness of Fit

A caregiver's ability to work well and accurately read the child will result in a goodness-of-fit, meaning their styles match, and communication and interaction can flow smoothly. Parents who recognize each child’s temperament and accept it will have more effective interactions with the child and encourage more adaptive functioning.¹

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): This adventurous child’s parents provide a good “fit” to her temperament. Image is licensed under CC0 1.0.

Parenting is Bidirectional

Not only do parents affect their children, but children also influence their parents. A child’s characteristics, such as temperament, affect parenting behaviors and roles. For example, an infant with an easy temperament may enable parents to feel more effective, as they are easily able to soothe the child and elicit smiling and cooing. On the other hand, a cranky or fussy infant elicits fewer positive reactions from their parents and may result in parents feeling less effective in their parenting role (Eisenberg et al., 2008). Over time, parents of more difficult children may become more punitive and less patient with their children (Clark, Kochanska, & Ready, 2000; Eisenberg et al., 1999; Kiff, Lengua, & Zalewski, 2011). Parents who have a fussy or difficult child are less satisfied with their marriages and face greater challenges in balancing work and family roles (Hyde, Else-Quest, & Goldsmith, 2004). Thus, child temperament is one of the child characteristics that influences how parents behave with their children.

References, Contributors and Attributions

1. Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Clark, L. A., Kochanska, G., & Ready, R. (2000). Mothers' personality and its interaction with child temperament as predictors of parenting behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(2), 274–285. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.2.274

Eisenberg, N., Chang, L., Ma, Y., & Huang, X. (2009). Relations of parenting style to Chinese children's effortful control, ego resilience, and maladjustment. Development and Psychopathology, 21(2), 455–477. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457940900025X

Eisenberg, N., Zhou, Q., Spinrad, T. L., Valiente, C., Fabes, R. A., & Liew, J. (2005). Relations among positive parenting, children's effortful control, and externalizing problems: A three-wave longitudinal study. Child Development, 76(5), 1055–1071. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00897.x

Hyde, J. S., Else-Quest, N. M., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2004). Children's temperament and behavior problems: A longitudinal study of gender and age differences. Developmental Psychology, 40(3), 352–365. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.3.352

Kiff, C. J., Lengua, L. J., & Zalewski, M. (2011). Nature and nurturing: Parenting in the context of child temperament. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(3), 251–301. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-011-0093-4

Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. Brunner/Mazel.