Characterizing the Nature and Structure of Child Temperament via Observational Laboratory Tasks
Abstract
Early emerging individual differences in emotionality and regulation are linked to diverse forms of psychopathology. However, in contrast to the voluminous research on the structure of adult individual differences, less is known about the structure of children’s temperament. Additionally, most relevant past work on child temperament has relied on parent-report measures. We examined the structure of children’s observed temperament and its associations with psychopathology symptoms. Participants were 394 five-year-old children who completed a battery of standardized laboratory tasks designed to elicit individual differences in emotionality and behaviour. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure of children’s temperament: sociability, positive affectivity/interest, impulsivity versus constraint, dysphoria, and fear-inhibition. Toward examining the predictive utility of these factors, associations between the five factors and parent-reported psychopathology were assessed; some trait-symptom associations were aligned with theory and similar to those found in past work, providing initial support for the validity of the observed temperament structure.