William B. Carey

A simplified method for measuring infant temperament

A questionnaire has been developed for assessing temperamental characteristics of babies in the 4 to 8 month range and has been initially standardized on 101 babies in a single private practice. It is based directly on the research interview technique of Thomas and associates 1 and yields similar results, but it can be completed by the mother in about 20 minutes and scored in less than 10. Its principal value is in determining the presence of the characteristics of the difficult baby syndrome, which may be inadequately differentiated in the mothers general description. There are other possible applications in practice, teaching, and research.

Night waking and temperament in infancy

In a randomly selected series of 60 infants in a single private practice, 15 (25 per cent) had the sleep disturbance of night waking between 6 and 12 months of age. There was a significant correlation (p

The Early Infancy Temperament Questionnaire.

Although there are several scales routinely used for assessment of temperament during the first year of life, none of them is well suited to the infant younger than 4 months old. The Early Infancy Temperament Questionnaire (EITQ) was designed to meet this need. The EITQ is a 76-item parent questionnaire for assessing the nine New York Longitudinal Study temperament characteristics in 1 - to 4-month-old infants. The majority of the items were adapted from the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire to be developmentally appropriate for the very young infant. The standardization population consisted of 404 infants from one pediatric practice. Means for the nine categories were calculated separately for infants from 1 to 2 months and 3 to 4 months old. Intermal consistency for the nine categories ranged from .42 to .76. Test-retest scores, completed between 2 to 3 weeks after the first rating, ranged from .43 to .87, with generally increasing retest levels in the older age group. None of the categories showed significant differences between male and female infants. This newly developed instrument should enhance the ability of both researchers and clinicians to assess temperament reliably and to understand better its contribution to clinical problems in the very young child.J Dev Behav Pediatr 14:230–235, 1993. Index terms:temperament, measurement of temperament, early infancy.

Clinical applications of infant temperament measurements

Clinical experience with 200 infants, whose temperaments have been determined by a questionnaire method, shows correlations between certain categories of temperament and (1) colic—more difficult temperament and/or low sensory threshold, (2) development—very active babies walked more and very persistent ones talked more at one year, and (3) injuries—difficult babies had more lacerations requiring sutures. Clinical management of these infants has been facilitated by these measurements. They provide a picture of the infant that is often less biased than the mothers general description.

The middle childhood temperament questionnaire.

The Middle Childhood Temperament Questionnaire is a 99-item parent questionnaire for assessing the New York Longitudinal Study temperament traits in 8− to 12-year-old children. The nine characteristics measured are the same except that biological rhythmicity has been replaced by predictability. The scale was standardized on 506 children in a pediatric practice and a school district. Internal consistency and retest reliability are satisfactory, respectively 0.81 and 0.88 for median category values. Together with the Infant Temperament Questionnaire, the Toddler Temperament Scale, and the Behavioral Style Questionnaire this completes a series of scales for gathering more objective and organized temperament data from 4 months to 12 years.

Temperament and increased weight gain in infants.

The role of temperamental characteristics in accelerated and decelerated weight gain in normal infants has not been investigated previously except for differences in activity. The present study drew a random sample of 200 normal infants from a largely middle-class private practice. It found 24 infants who gained 30 or more percentile points in weight for length determinations between 6 and 12 months of age and 25 who lost 20 percentile points or more. These growth data were compared with contemporaneous findings on the Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Those gaining the most had significantly more difficult temperament ratings (p < 0.05) and were perceived by their mothers as “more difficult than average” (p < 0.001). Infants with the most decelerated growth were not temperamentally different from the general sample. Negative mood rather than low activity was the specific characteristic distinguishing the infants gaining the most (p = 0.006). Clinical experience would suggest that fussy infants are fed more to quiet them.

Stability and Change in Individual Temperament Diagnoses from Infancy to Early Childhood

Abstract This study compares the individual temperament cluster diagnoses of 187 children in infancy (4 to 8 months) with similar ratings in early childhood (3 to 7 years). Stability is demonstrated in the tendency of the more difficult children to remain more difficult, but change is evident in the tendency of individuals at the extremes of difficulty and easiness to become less difficult and easy. The characteristics of activity, mood, and approach in the infant profiles predicted which individuals were likely to change. Implications for management of difficult temperament and its confusion with “minimal brain dysfunction” are discussed.

Temperamental factors associated with rapid weight gain and obesity in middle childhood.

Studies of the perplexing problem of childhood obesity have considered etiological factors in the child and environment, but have largely ignored the childs temperament or style of interaction with the environment. In this report, a significant relationship is demonstrated between temperament and both rapid weight gain and actual obesity in middle childhood. In a longitudinal study of 138 children, weight-for-height percentile gains between 4 to 5 years and 8 to 9 years were significantly correlated with eight of nine difficult temperament characteristics and with a cumulative “index of difficulty.” A separate cross-sectional study of 21 obese (

Differentiating minimal brain dysfunction and temperament.

the 95th percentile weight for height) 6− to 12-year-old children found them to be significantly less rhythmical/predictable and lower in persistence/attention span than matched controls. These normal behavioral style characteristics, interacting with metabolic, dietary, and environmental factors, may predispose some children to inappropriate eating habits or make it harder to maintain a dietary plan to remedy the problem. J Dev Behav Pediatr 9:194–198, 1988. Index terms: temperament, obesity, middle childhood.