Differential stability of temperament and personality from toddlerhood to middle childhood

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Abstract

This prospective, longitudinal investigation examined differential consistency of three core dimensions of individuality from toddlerhood through middle childhood. Data came from 273 families who participated with their child at least once during three developmental periods: toddlerhood (2 years), early childhood (3–5 years), and middle childhood (6–10 years). Both mothers and fathers reported on attributes of their child using subscales from the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire, the Child Behavior Questionnaire, and the Iowa Personality Questionnaire. Reports were used as indicators of the latent “Big Three” dimensions of positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and constraint at each of the three developmental periods. Results pointed to consistency in these broad dimensions of temperament and personality from toddlerhood to middle childhood.

Introduction

Dimensions of temperament have a long history in psychology (see e.g., Clark & Watson, 2008; Rothbart & Bates, 2006) and are increasingly emphasized in contemporary descriptions of social development (e.g., Caspi et al., 2005, Caspi and Shiner, 2008, Mervielde et al., 2005, Roberts and Pomerantz, 2004, Rothbart and Bates, 2006, Sanson et al., 2004). Indeed, individual differences in temperament are thought to influence many developmental outcomes (Rothbart and Bates, 2006, Sanson et al., 2004, Shiner and Caspi, 2003). For instance, children who are high in positive emotionality and self-regulation show higher levels of social competence and growth in social support. On the other hand, children who exhibit signs of high negative emotionality and low levels of self control have more social difficulties and higher levels of externalizing behavior problems (Caspi and Shiner, 2008, Eisenberg et al., 1996, Eisenberg et al., 1997, Rothbart and Bates, 2006). In addition to social relationships, individual differences in temperament seem to play an important role in how well individuals adapt to the challenges of education and work as well as influence physical and psychological health throughout the life span (Clark and Watson, 2008, Mervielde et al., 2005, Shiner and Caspi, 2003). All in all, a complete understanding of temperament is central to understanding social development in childhood, adolescence, and beyond (Caspi et al., 2005, Rothbart et al., 2000; Shiner & Caspi, 2003). However, questions remain as to the longitudinal consistency of temperament in the early years, especially from a multi-informant and multi-wave perspective. Accordingly, the current investigation examines continuity in key dimensions of temperament across three developmental periods: toddlerhood, the early childhood years, and middle childhood.

Section snippets

The differential stability of traits of temperament and personality

In light of the contention that early temperament plays a foundational role in future personality development (e.g. Caspi and Shiner, 2008, Rothbart and Bates, 2006), there has been increasing interest in the differential stability (or consistency) of temperament (e.g., Pedlow et al., 1993, Roberts and DelVecchio, 2000). Differential stability reflects the degree to which the relative ordering of individuals on a particular dimension is consistent over time. Differential stability is also

Organizing dimensions of temperament to study differential stability from toddlerhood to middle childhood

In addition to the possibility that estimates of differential stability can reflect stability in the perceptions of children’s attributes rather than actual stability in those attributes per se, other complications affect the study of differential stability of temperament across the early years of the life span. One major concern is that the content of temperament measures often changes with the age of the child. Questions that can meaningfully measure attributes of toddlers may not be suitable

Present investigation

The goal of the present study was to consider the stability of the Big Three traits from toddlerhood to middle childhood using a multi-rater approach. Specifically, this prospective, longitudinal investigation examined the continuity of temperament at three developmental periods: toddlerhood (when the focal children were 2 years of age), early childhood (when the focal children were 3–5 year years of age), and middle childhood (when the focal children were 6–10 year years of age). The current

Participants

Data come from the Family Transitions Project (FTP), a longitudinal study of 559 target youth and their families. The FTP represents an extension of two earlier studies: The Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP) and the Iowa Single Parent Project (ISPP). In the IYFP, data from the family of origin (N = 451) were collected annually from 1989 through 1992. Participants included the target adolescent, their parents, and a sibling within 4 years of age of the target adolescent. These two-parent

Overview

Structural equation models (SEMs) were used to test study hypotheses. SEMs and zero-order correlations among latent constructs were estimated using the AMOS 17.0 with Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) estimation (Arbuckle, 1997, Arbuckle, 2003). Due to overlap in the raters at each time point, the residuals for mother-reported temperament were allowed to correlate with each other across waves. The same procedure was used for father-reported temperament. Specifying rater-specific

Discussion

Although a number of studies have found evidence for stability of personality in adults, relatively fewer studies have examined the continuity of temperament beginning in toddlerhood through middle childhood. Moreover, studies examining differential stability of temperament have most often relied on a single informant and examined stability using only two waves of data. To be sure, Caspi and Shiner (2008) emphasized the importance of using multiple raters when designing studies to assess trait

Acknowledgments

This research is currently supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of Mental Health (HD047573, HD051746, and MH051361). Support for earlier years of the study also came from multiple sources, including the National Institute of Mental Health (MH00567, MH19734, MH43270, MH59355, MH62989, and MH48165), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA05347), the National Institute of Child

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