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Infant temperament: stability by age, gender, birth order, term status, and socioeconomic status

Marc H Bornstein1, Diane L Putnick1, Maria A Gartstein2

  • 1Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Child Development
|April 14, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Infant temperament is stable throughout the first year, unaffected by gender, birth order, or socioeconomic status (SES). Temperament showed consistent stability across various factors and time intervals in this study.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Infant temperament is a foundational aspect of early development.
  • Understanding temperament stability informs developmental trajectories.
  • Moderating factors like gender and SES require investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the stability of infant temperament during the first year of life.
  • To investigate the influence of infant age, gender, birth order, term status, and socioeconomic status (SES) as moderators.
  • To analyze temperament stability across different interassessment intervals.

Main Methods:

  • Two complementary studies were conducted with mothers and their infants.
  • Study 1 involved 73 mothers queried at 2, 5, and 13 months.
  • Study 2 involved 335 mothers queried at 6 and 12 months, with diverse infant characteristics.

Main Results:

  • Consistent positive and negative affectivity factors were observed across all time points and studies.
  • Infant temperament demonstrated robust stability irrespective of gender, birth order, term status, and SES.
  • Stability coefficients were medium to large for intervals under 9 months and small to medium for intervals over 10 months.

Conclusions:

  • Infant temperament is a stable construct within the first year of life.
  • Key demographic and socioeconomic factors do not significantly alter temperament stability.
  • The duration of the interassessment interval influences the observed stability coefficients.

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