Child temperament and parental personality: continuity and ... - Doria
Child temperament and parental personality: continuity and ... - Doria
Child temperament and parental personality: continuity and ... - Doria
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<strong>Child</strong> <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong>:<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> <strong>and</strong> transactional change<br />
Niina Komsi<br />
Department of Psychology<br />
University of Helsinki, Finl<strong>and</strong><br />
Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed,<br />
by due permission of the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences<br />
at the University of Helsinki in Auditorium XIII, Unioninkatu 34,<br />
on the 5 th of June, 2009, at 12 o’clock<br />
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI<br />
Department of Psychology<br />
Studies 60: 2009
Supervisor:<br />
Professor Katri Räikkönen-Talvitie<br />
Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finl<strong>and</strong><br />
Reviewers:<br />
Professor Sam Putnam<br />
Psychology Department, Bowdoin College, USA<br />
Professor Maria A. Gartstein<br />
Department of Psychology, Washington State University, USA<br />
Opponent:<br />
Professor Franz J. Neyer<br />
Institut für Psychologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany<br />
ISSN 0781-8254<br />
ISBN 978-952-10-5593-5 (pbk.)<br />
ISBN 978-952-10-5594-2 (PDF)<br />
http://www.ethesis.helsinki.fi<br />
Helsinki University Printing House<br />
Helsinki 2009<br />
2
CONTENTS<br />
ABSTRACT 5<br />
TIIVISTELMÄ 7<br />
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9<br />
LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS 10<br />
1 INTRODUCTION<br />
1.1 Temperament dimensions <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits: theoretically,<br />
11<br />
temporally <strong>and</strong> practically related constructs<br />
1.2 Temperament in childhood within the developmental framework of Mary<br />
11<br />
K. Rothbart<br />
1.2.1 Continuity of <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy onwards 13<br />
1.2.2 Mothers <strong>and</strong> fathers as informants of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> 16<br />
1.3 Personality traits in adulthood 18<br />
1.3.1 Stability <strong>and</strong> change in <strong>personality</strong> traits<br />
1.3.2 Personality traits of extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism during<br />
18<br />
adulthood<br />
1.4 Transactional development of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> child<br />
20<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
1.4.1 Implications of child <strong>temperament</strong> for <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
21<br />
neuroticism<br />
1.4.2 Implications of <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism for child<br />
24<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
1.4.3 <strong>Child</strong> <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> situational factors: the case of<br />
25<br />
<strong>parental</strong> stress<br />
1.4.3.1 Implications of child <strong>temperament</strong> for <strong>parental</strong> stress 28<br />
1.4.3.2 Implications of <strong>parental</strong> stress for child <strong>temperament</strong> 30<br />
1.5 Aims of the study 31<br />
1.5.1 Continuity of <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle childhood 32<br />
1.5.1.1 Study I. Continuity of mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong> 32<br />
1.5.1.2 Study II. Continuity of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong><br />
1.5.2 Transactional development of parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics<br />
34<br />
from infancy to middle childhood<br />
1.5.2.1 Study III. Parental <strong>personality</strong> traits of extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
34<br />
neuroticism <strong>and</strong> infant/child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
1.5.2.2 Study IV. Mother’s overall stress <strong>and</strong> infant/child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
2 METHODS 37<br />
2.1 Outline of the study 37<br />
2.2 Participants 37<br />
2.3 Measures 38<br />
2.3.1 Infant <strong>temperament</strong> 38<br />
2.3.2 <strong>Child</strong> <strong>temperament</strong> 40<br />
2.3.3 Parental <strong>personality</strong> traits 41<br />
2.3.4 Perceived stress 41<br />
2.4 Statistical analyses 42<br />
3<br />
12<br />
27<br />
34<br />
35
3 RESULTS<br />
3.1 Study I. Continuity of mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle<br />
44<br />
childhood<br />
44<br />
3.1.1 Continuity of <strong>temperament</strong> subscales <strong>and</strong> superconstructs 44<br />
3.1.2 Person-level <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong>: “<strong>temperament</strong> types”<br />
3.2 Study II. Continuity of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> congruence<br />
47<br />
between mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>continuity</strong><br />
3.2.1 Continuity of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> subscales <strong>and</strong><br />
49<br />
superconstructs<br />
3.2.2 Congruence between mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>continuity</strong> of<br />
49<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
3.3 Study III. Transaction between <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong> child<br />
52<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
54<br />
3.4 Study IV. Transaction between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
3.4.1 Transaction between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> individual<br />
57<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> subscales<br />
3.4.2 Transaction between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> latent <strong>temperament</strong><br />
57<br />
superconstructs<br />
58<br />
4 DISCUSSION<br />
4.1 Continuity of parent-rated <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle<br />
59<br />
childhood<br />
59<br />
4.2 Developmental transaction between parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics<br />
4.2.1 Transactional development of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong><br />
65<br />
child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
4.2.2 Transactional development of maternal stress <strong>and</strong> child<br />
65<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
71<br />
4.3 General conclusions 73<br />
4.4 Weaknesses <strong>and</strong> strengths of the study 74<br />
4.5 Theoretical <strong>and</strong> clinical implications 76<br />
REFERENCES 81<br />
4
Abstract<br />
Studying the <strong>continuity</strong> <strong>and</strong> underlying mechanisms of <strong>temperament</strong> change from early<br />
childhood through adulthood is clinically <strong>and</strong> theoretically relevant. Knowledge of the<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> <strong>and</strong> change of <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy onwards, especially as perceived by<br />
both parents is, however, still scanty. Only in recent years have researchers become<br />
aware that <strong>personality</strong>, long considered as stable in adulthood, may also change.<br />
Further, studies that focus on the transactional change of child <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> also seem to be lacking, as are studies focusing on transactions<br />
between child <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> more transient <strong>parental</strong> characteristics, like <strong>parental</strong><br />
stress. Therefore, this longitudinal study examined the degree of <strong>continuity</strong> of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> over five years from the infant’s age of six months to the child’s age of<br />
five <strong>and</strong> a half years, as perceived by both biological parents, <strong>and</strong> also investigated the<br />
bidirectional effects between child <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> parents’ <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong><br />
overall stress experienced during that time.<br />
First, moderate to high levels of <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle<br />
childhood were shown, depicting the developmental links between affectively positive<br />
<strong>and</strong> well-adjusted <strong>temperament</strong> characteristics, <strong>and</strong> between characteristics of early <strong>and</strong><br />
later negative affectivity. The <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong> was quantitatively <strong>and</strong><br />
qualitatively similar in both parents’ ratings. The findings also demonstrate that infant<br />
<strong>and</strong> childhood <strong>temperament</strong> characteristics cluster to form <strong>temperament</strong> types that<br />
resemble <strong>personality</strong> types shown in child <strong>and</strong> adult <strong>personality</strong> studies.<br />
Second, the <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits of extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism were shown<br />
to be highly stable over five years, but evidence of change in relation to parents’ views<br />
of their child’s <strong>temperament</strong> was also shown: an infant’s higher positive affectivity<br />
predicted an increase in <strong>parental</strong> extraversion, while the infant’s higher activity level<br />
predicted a decrease in <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism over five years. Furthermore, initially<br />
higher <strong>parental</strong> extraversion predicted higher ratings of the child’s effortful control,<br />
while initially higher <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism predicted the child’s higher negative<br />
affectivity. In terms of changes in <strong>parental</strong> stress, the infant’s higher activity level<br />
predicted a decrease in maternal overall stress, while initially higher maternal stress<br />
predicted a higher level of child negative affectivity in middle childhood.<br />
5
Together, the results demonstrate that the mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> of<br />
the child shows <strong>continuity</strong> during the early years of life, but also support the view that<br />
the development of <strong>temperament</strong> is sensitive to important contextual factors such as<br />
<strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> overall stress. While <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> experienced<br />
stress were shown to have an effect on the child’s developing <strong>temperament</strong>, the reverse<br />
was also true: the parents’ own <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong> perceived stress seemed to be<br />
highly stable, but also susceptible to their experiences of their child’s <strong>temperament</strong>.<br />
6
Tiivistelmä<br />
Temperamentin ja persoonallisuuden pysyvyyden, sekä niiden muuttumiseen<br />
vaikuttavien mekanismien selvittäminen varhaisvuosien ja aikuisuuden aikana on sekä<br />
teoreettisesti että kliinisesti merkityksellistä. Tieto <strong>temperament</strong>in pysyvyydestä ja<br />
muuttumisesta vauvaiästä eteenpäin, erityisesti molempien vanhempien arvioimana on<br />
kuitenkin yhä vähäistä. Vasta viime vuosina tutkijat ovat tulleet tietoisiksi siitä, että<br />
myös aikuisiässä pysyvänä pidetty persoonallisuus saattaa muuttua. Vielä ei kuitenkaan<br />
ole tutkittu sitä miten lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>ti ja vanhemman persoonallisuus vaikuttavat<br />
toisiinsa ajan myötä. Vanhemman tilannekohtaisempien ominaisuuksien, kuten stressin<br />
määrän, ja lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>in vastavuoroisia vaikutuksia ei myöskään ole vielä<br />
riittävästi tutkittu. Tässä pitkittäistutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>in<br />
pysyvyyttä kuuden kuukauden iästä viiden ja puolen vuoden ikään, lapsen molempien<br />
biologisten vanhempien arvioimana. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin kaksisuuntaista vaikutusta<br />
lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>in ja vanhemman persoonallisuuden ja stressitason välillä näiden<br />
viiden vuoden aikana.<br />
Tulokset osoittivat lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>tiominaisuuksilla olevan kohtalainen tai<br />
vahva pysyvyys vauvaiästä viiden ja puolen vuoden ikään. Kehityksellisiä yhteyksiä<br />
löydettiin sekä myönteiseen affektiivisuuteen ja sopeutuvuuteen liittyvien<br />
ominaisuuksien välillä, että negatiiviseen affektiivisuuteen liittyvien ominaisuuksien<br />
välillä. Temperamentin pysyvyys näyttäytyi samanlaisena molempien vanhempien<br />
arvioissa. Tutkimus osoitti myös miten <strong>temperament</strong>tipiirteet vauvaiästä lähtien<br />
yhdistyvät persoonallisuustutkimuksessa vakiintuneita lasten ja aikuisten<br />
persoonallisuustyyppejä vastaaviksi <strong>temperament</strong>tityypeiksi.<br />
Vanhempien ekstraversio- ja neurotisismi –persoonallisuuspiirteet olivat varsin<br />
pysyviä viiden vuoden aikana, mutta tutkimus osoitti myös piirteiden muuttumisen<br />
suhteessa vanhemman näkemykseen lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>ista: vauvan korkeammalle<br />
arvioitu positiivinen affektiivisuus ennusti vanhemman korkeampaa ekstraversiota, ja<br />
vauvan korkeampi aktiivisuustaso ennusti vanhemman alempaa neurotisismin tasoa<br />
viiden vuoden jälkeen. Samaan aikaan, vanhemman alun perin korkeampi ekstraversion<br />
taso ennusti lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>in korkeampaa tahdonalaista itsesäätelyä, kun taas alun<br />
alkaen korkeampi vanhemman neurotisismi ennusti lapsen korkeampaa negatiivista<br />
affektiivisuutta viiden vuoden jälkeen. Vanhemman näkemys vauvasta aktiivisempana<br />
7
ennusti myös äidin vähäisempää stressiä viiden vuoden jälkeen, ja äidin alun alkaen<br />
korkeampi stressitaso ennusti lapsen kasvavaa negatiivista affektiivisuutta viiden<br />
vuoden jälkeen.<br />
Kokonaisuudessaan tutkimus osoittaa lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>in pysyvyyden<br />
ensimmäisten viiden vuoden aikana, sekä äidin että isän arvioimana, mutta tukee myös<br />
käsitystä <strong>temperament</strong>in kehityksen alttiudesta tärkeille ympäristötekijöille, kuten<br />
vanhempien persoonallisuuspiirteille ja vanhemman stressin määrälle. Samalla kun<br />
vanhemman persoonallisuus ja koetun stressin määrä vaikuttivat lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>in<br />
kehitykseen, nämä vanhemman sinänsä varsin pysyviksi osoittautuneet ominaisuudet<br />
olivat myös alttiita lapsen <strong>temperament</strong>tiominaisuuksien vaikutukselle.<br />
8
Acknowledgements<br />
I would like to thank several people who have contributed to <strong>and</strong> supported me in this<br />
endeavour.<br />
My deepest gratitude I owe to my supervisor Professor Katri Räikkönen-Talvitie for<br />
offering me the opportunity to undertake this task. Without her research expertise,<br />
dedication <strong>and</strong> clarity of thought, along with her exceptional ability to solve the most<br />
insoluble problems, this work would not have been possible.<br />
I wish to thank the reviewers of this thesis, Professor Maria A. Gartstein <strong>and</strong><br />
Professor Sam Putnam, for their valuable comments that helped me improve this work.<br />
I also thank my co-authors, Docent Anna-Liisa Järvenpää <strong>and</strong> Professor Timo E.<br />
Str<strong>and</strong>berg, for their supportive collaboration in the Glaku- project.<br />
I am deeply indebted to the whole Developmental Psychology research group, <strong>and</strong><br />
especially Docent Kati Heinonen-Tuomaala <strong>and</strong> Docent Anu-Katriina Pesonen, for their<br />
unforgettable helpfulness <strong>and</strong> never-ending support. Sharing the joys <strong>and</strong> difficulties of<br />
this work with them has been a privilege. I am also deeply grateful to Researcher Pertti<br />
Keskivaara for his enthusiasm for solving statistical problems with me.<br />
This work was carried out in the Department of Psychology at the University of<br />
Helsinki, <strong>and</strong> was made financially possible by the Finnish Graduate School of<br />
Psyhcology, the Academy of Finl<strong>and</strong>, the University of Helsinki <strong>and</strong> the Signe <strong>and</strong> Ane<br />
Gyllenberg, Jahnsson <strong>and</strong> Juho Vainio foundations, which I gratefully acknowledge.<br />
I offer my heartfelt thanks to my mother Irja <strong>and</strong> my father Mauri, who have always<br />
been there for me <strong>and</strong> have had faith in me in all my endeavours. And finally, I need to<br />
express my love <strong>and</strong> gratitude to my husb<strong>and</strong> Oki, who has been the best companion I<br />
could ever dream of. He is also the most caring <strong>and</strong> trustworthy father to our children<br />
Joel <strong>and</strong> Annina. Whatever I do, they are my greatest source of happiness <strong>and</strong><br />
inspiration, <strong>and</strong> to them I dedicate this work.<br />
Helsinki, May 2009<br />
Niina Komsi<br />
9
LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS<br />
I Komsi, N, Räikkönen, K., Pesonen, A-K., Heinonen, K., Keskivaara, P.,<br />
Järvenpää, A-L., & Str<strong>and</strong>berg, T.E. (2006). Continuity of <strong>temperament</strong> from<br />
infancy to middle childhood. Infant Behavior & Development, 29, 494-508.<br />
II Komsi, N., Räikkönen, K., Heinonen, K., Pesonen, A-K., Keskivaara, P.,<br />
Järvenpää, A-L., & Str<strong>and</strong>berg, T.E. (2008). Continuity of father-rated<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle childhood. Infant Behavior & Development,<br />
31, 239-254.<br />
III Komsi, N., Räikkönen, K., Heinonen, K., Pesonen, A-K., Keskivaara, P.,<br />
Järvenpää, A-L., & Str<strong>and</strong>berg, T.E. (2008). Transactional development of parent<br />
<strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong>. European Journal of Personality, 22, 553–<br />
573.<br />
IV Pesonen, A-K., Räikkönen, K., Heinonen, K., Komsi, N., Järvenpää, A-L., &<br />
Str<strong>and</strong>berg, T.E. (2008). A transactional model of <strong>temperament</strong>al development:<br />
evidence of a relationship between child <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> maternal stress over<br />
five years. Social Development, 17, 326-340.<br />
10
1 INTRODUCTION<br />
1.1 Temperament dimensions <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits:<br />
theoretically, temporally <strong>and</strong> practically related constructs<br />
The main assumption in <strong>personality</strong> trait theory is that traits represent partly heritable,<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> -based individual predispositions, which show consistency across time <strong>and</strong><br />
situations (McCrae et al., 2000). In other words, the structure of adult <strong>personality</strong> is<br />
presumed to emerge from early <strong>temperament</strong> that serves as a substrate for <strong>personality</strong><br />
development (Costa & McCrae, 2000). In recent literature, the phenomena described by<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> constructs have been concluded to be more alike than<br />
different (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005; Mervielde, De Clercq, De Fruyt, & Van<br />
Leeuwen, 2005), <strong>and</strong> even in the <strong>temperament</strong> dimensions emerging from infancy<br />
research, similarities with the higher order factor structures extracted from adult studies<br />
of <strong>personality</strong> can be seen (Rothbart & Ahadi, 1994; Rothbart, Ahadi, & Evans, 2000a).<br />
Therefore, it is not surprising that research on <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> has<br />
increasingly concentrated on questions of development.<br />
Temperament in childhood has generally been described as the constellation of<br />
inborn traits that determines a child’s unique behavioral style <strong>and</strong> the way he or she<br />
experiences <strong>and</strong> reacts to the world (Goldsmith et al., 1987; Rothbart & Bates, 2006).<br />
There is general agreement between different <strong>temperament</strong> theorists on the biologically-<br />
based individual differences that show modest to moderate degrees of <strong>continuity</strong> during<br />
infancy <strong>and</strong> from early childhood onwards (Lemery, Goldsmith, Klinnert, & Mrazek,<br />
1999; Goldsmith et al., 1987; Rothbart & Bates, 2006): <strong>temperament</strong> is thus thought to<br />
describe those aspects of behavioral response that are not due to interactions with<br />
caregivers or other environmental influences, but rather those aspects that are present<br />
from birth <strong>and</strong> biologically based. Further, although <strong>temperament</strong> is traditionally<br />
viewed as consisting of these biologically-based behavioral traits, its manifestation in<br />
behavioral patterns is of interest: it is such patterns that influence children’s interactions<br />
in the world, <strong>and</strong> to which parents, teachers, <strong>and</strong> peers respond (Calkins, Bl<strong>and</strong>on,<br />
Williford, & Keane, 2007).<br />
In developmental research, the study of the underlying mechanisms that account for<br />
stability <strong>and</strong>/or change in <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> from the early years onwards<br />
<strong>and</strong> during adulthood bears great theoretical as well as clinical relevance. From a<br />
11
theoretical point of view, research on temporal stability <strong>and</strong> change <strong>and</strong> its correlates<br />
can shed light on the relative influence of maturational <strong>and</strong> environmental factors on<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> development. In order to be able to examine the dynamics<br />
<strong>and</strong> correlates of developmental stability <strong>and</strong> change, the researchers are, however, first<br />
challenged to detect <strong>and</strong> establish the degree of <strong>continuity</strong> <strong>and</strong> developmental courses of<br />
the manifestations of <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> from the very early stages onwards<br />
(Caspi & Roberts, 1999; Goldsmith, 1996; Rothbart, 1989; Rothbart & Bates, 2006).<br />
From a practical or clinical point of view, a better underst<strong>and</strong>ing of temporal stability<br />
<strong>and</strong> change in <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> characteristics can inform therapeutic<br />
approaches to <strong>personality</strong>-related psychological problems <strong>and</strong> help to develop<br />
interventions tailored to the needs of individual clients (Widiger, Costa, & McCrae,<br />
2002). Given the importance of such questions, it is no wonder that recent years have<br />
seen a surge in meta-analyses examining longitudinal stability <strong>and</strong> change in <strong>personality</strong><br />
traits during adulthood (see Ardelt, 2000; Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000; Roberts,<br />
Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006), along with increasing evidence of <strong>temperament</strong>- <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>personality</strong>-related antecedents <strong>and</strong> correlates of health <strong>and</strong> adjustment at all age stages<br />
(Nigg, 2006; Hampson, 2008; Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007;<br />
Shipley, Weiss, Der, Taylor, & Deary, 2007). However, generalizations from previous<br />
studies on <strong>personality</strong> development are still limited. Our knowledge of the development<br />
of early <strong>temperament</strong> in itself is also still scanty, as is our knowledge of individual<br />
differences in change <strong>and</strong> its predictors in adult <strong>personality</strong>.<br />
1.2 Temperament in childhood within the developmental<br />
framework of Mary K. Rothbart<br />
According to Mary K. Rothbart <strong>and</strong> her colleagues, <strong>temperament</strong> refers to<br />
constitutionally-based individual differences in reactivity <strong>and</strong> self-regulation (Rothbart<br />
& Bates, 2006). Constitutional in this sense (Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981) refers to the<br />
biological basis of <strong>temperament</strong>, which becomes influenced over time by heredity,<br />
maturation, <strong>and</strong> experience. The general factor of reactivity is seen as being directly<br />
related to the responsivity of the nervous system to sensory stimulation, referring to the<br />
excitability, responsivity or arousability of the physiological <strong>and</strong> behavioral systems.<br />
12
Self-regulation, in turn, refers to the neural <strong>and</strong> behavioral processes functioning to<br />
modulate this reactivity (Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981).<br />
In Rothbart’s conceptualization, <strong>temperament</strong> in infancy refers to early differences in<br />
motor activity, smile-proneness, soothability, attention span, anger-proneness <strong>and</strong><br />
fearful distress, operationalized either in a laboratory observation (Goldsmith &<br />
Rothbart, 1991, 1996), or in parent reports (Rothbart, 1981). The subscales further form<br />
two latent superconstructs, labeled positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity. Not all of these<br />
infant <strong>temperament</strong> characteristics are present at birth (smile, fear), or are not<br />
sufficiently matured to function as valid predictors of later <strong>temperament</strong>al development.<br />
Therefore, <strong>temperament</strong>al <strong>continuity</strong> measured either through distinct behavioral<br />
characteristics or through positive/negative affectivity superconstructs, is assumed to<br />
become apparent only after the early months of infancy.<br />
In childhood, the central concepts of <strong>temperament</strong>, such as reactivity, arousability,<br />
<strong>and</strong> self regulation remain, but it is the individual differences in the ability to utilize<br />
inhibitory <strong>and</strong> attentional mechanisms in the service of regulation that begin to<br />
characterize childhood <strong>temperament</strong> (Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981). By the third year<br />
of life, initial reactivity as the dominant developmental theme is replaced by behavior<br />
regulation (Rothbart, Derryberry, & Posner, 1994). That is, as the child develops, initial<br />
reactivity <strong>and</strong> early efforts to regulate the reactivity will be supplemented by an<br />
increasing capacity for voluntary forms of control (Rothbart & Bates, 2006).<br />
<strong>Child</strong>hood <strong>temperament</strong> can be depicted by the individual domains of activity level,<br />
anger-proneness, positive anticipation, attentional focusing, discomfort related to<br />
sensory qualities of stimulation, soothability, fear, the amount of pleasure related to<br />
high or low stimulus intensity, impulsivity, inhibitory control, low intensity pleasure,<br />
perceptual sensitivity, sadness, shyness, <strong>and</strong> the amount of smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter<br />
(Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001). These domains can be further combined<br />
into the distinct superconstructs of extraversion, effortful control <strong>and</strong> negative<br />
affectivity (Rothbart et al., 2001).<br />
1.2.1 Continuity of <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy onwards<br />
The <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics over time <strong>and</strong> in different contexts is,<br />
by definition, among the hallmarks of Rothbart’s theory, <strong>and</strong> the early appearing<br />
13
<strong>temperament</strong>al differences are assumed to provide a foundation for later emotional <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>personality</strong> development (Derryberry & Rothbart, 1997). Within this framework, the<br />
developmental dis<strong>continuity</strong> or lawful change (Caspi & Roberts, 1999; Kagan, 1971;<br />
Rothbart & Bates, 2006) in early <strong>temperament</strong> can also be theoretically defined <strong>and</strong><br />
understood. As a developing entity with increasing <strong>and</strong> differentiating manifestations<br />
from infancy onwards (Rothbart & Bates, 2006), <strong>temperament</strong> can thus be defined in<br />
terms of both homotypic <strong>and</strong> heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> over time. Further, also dynamic<br />
relations between genetically unrelated traits are acknowledged, i.e. the development of<br />
one trait can implicate changes in the development of another, genetically unrelated trait<br />
(Putnam et al., 2008).<br />
By the concept homotypic <strong>continuity</strong>, the literal <strong>continuity</strong>, or stability over time of a<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> characteristic is indicated, whereas heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> refers to the<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> between phenotypically different, but genotypically related attributes of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> (see Caspi & Roberts, 1999). To be interpreted as heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong>,<br />
or coherence, as it has also been called, <strong>temperament</strong>al <strong>continuity</strong> has to be theoretically<br />
defined a priori: the models of <strong>continuity</strong> require theoretically derived predictions<br />
relating certain types of infant <strong>temperament</strong> to specific behaviors in childhood; these<br />
predictions ought to be based upon theories of development that allow one to predict<br />
age-appropriate changes in the phenotypic expression of a common genotype (Caspi &<br />
Roberts, 1999). For example, one might predict that the same pattern of fear responses<br />
to novelty observed in infancy would be found in later childhood, depicting homotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong>, while heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> would refer to relations between earlier <strong>and</strong><br />
later fearful behavior that are based upon age-appropriate <strong>and</strong> logical associations rather<br />
than similarities in exact behaviors. That is, although infant negative affectivity can be<br />
composed of fear <strong>and</strong> anger, the manifestations of negative affectivity in later childhood<br />
are proposed to encompass more behavioral characteristics, such as proneness to<br />
discomfort <strong>and</strong> expressions of sadness.<br />
As the measures for infant <strong>and</strong> childhood <strong>temperament</strong> conceptualize <strong>temperament</strong><br />
similarly, but differ in the number of dimensions, the structural <strong>continuity</strong> of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> in this work is also not explored as defined by Caspi, i.e., the persistence<br />
of correlational patterns among a set of variables across time (Caspi & Roberts, 1999),<br />
but will rather describe associations across time between <strong>temperament</strong> constructs that<br />
14
are based on individual dimensions of <strong>temperament</strong> in infancy <strong>and</strong> on individual<br />
dimensions of <strong>temperament</strong> in childhood.<br />
Furthermore, these descriptions of variable-level <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong> do not,<br />
however, mirror <strong>continuity</strong> at the person (within-subject) level. While the research<br />
focusing on <strong>temperament</strong>-variables assesses their interpersonal correlational structure,<br />
utilizing the above-mentioned concepts, the person-centered approach examines typical<br />
within-person configurations (Asendorpf & van Aken, 1999; Bergman & Magnusson,<br />
2001; see also Robins & Tracy, 2003), <strong>and</strong> suggests yet another type of <strong>continuity</strong>, i.e.,<br />
ipsative <strong>continuity</strong> (Caspi & Roberts, 1999). Essentially, ipsative <strong>continuity</strong> is<br />
equivalent to structural <strong>continuity</strong> except it is considered at the level of the individual<br />
rather than a group or population. The person-centered approach thus depicts the<br />
development of <strong>temperament</strong> by individual <strong>temperament</strong> types or profiles, where each<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> dimension derives its meaning from its relations to the other dimensions<br />
within the individual.<br />
All in all, given the fact that Rothbart’s theory is among the most prominent current<br />
theories of <strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>and</strong> that research activity emphasizing this particular approach<br />
is intensifying, studies focusing on the <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong> within Rothbart’s<br />
psychobiological framework are still surprisingly scarce. Rothbart’s conceptual <strong>and</strong><br />
operational definitions have been used in studying <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong> within<br />
developmental phases, i.e., during infancy (Carnicero, Pérez-López, Salinas, &<br />
Martinéz-Fuentes, 2000; Denham, Lehman, Moser, & Reeves, 1995; Gartstein et al.,<br />
2006; Lemery et al., 1999; Rothbart, 1981, 1986; Stifter, Willoughby, & Towe-<br />
Goodman, 2008), toddlerhood (Putnam, Gartstein, & Rothbart, 2006) <strong>and</strong> childhood<br />
(Kochanska & Knaack, 2003; Majd<strong>and</strong>zic & van den Boom, 2008; Rothbart et al.,<br />
2001), but to my knowledge, only three studies have extended the scope across different<br />
developmental phases from infancy to childhood (Aksan et al., 1999; Putnam, Rothbart,<br />
& Gartstein, 2008; Rothbart, Derryberry, & Hershey, 2000b).<br />
In the study by Rothbart <strong>and</strong> her colleagues (2000b), theoretically relevant <strong>continuity</strong><br />
of <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to the child’s age of seven was shown in a sample of 26<br />
children; however, due to the small sample size, the researchers highlighted the tentative<br />
nature of the results (Rothbart et al., 2000b). Recently, Putnam <strong>and</strong> his colleagues<br />
(2008) reported significant homotypic <strong>and</strong> heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> for mother-rated<br />
15
characteristics of positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity from infancy to toddler <strong>and</strong> preschool<br />
age.<br />
Further, following the ipsative, person-level approach, <strong>temperament</strong> types in<br />
childhood have previously been identified by Aksan <strong>and</strong> his colleagues (1999). They<br />
placed 15% of 488 children in “expressive-noncontrolled” <strong>and</strong> “nonexpressive-<br />
controlled” categories based on maternal ratings of the 31/2 <strong>and</strong> 41/2 year-old child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>and</strong> considered whether these childhood types were different with respect<br />
to infant <strong>temperament</strong>: relative to the “controlled-nonexpressive” children, the<br />
“noncontrolled-expressive” children were found to have exhibited higher levels of<br />
activity, distress to limitations, <strong>and</strong> fear in their infancy. However, the study did not<br />
identify whether <strong>temperament</strong> characteristics in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood<br />
together clustered to form profiles indicative of different <strong>temperament</strong> types (Aksan et<br />
al., 1999).<br />
Moreover, studies also exist where infant <strong>temperament</strong> has been used as a predictor<br />
of <strong>temperament</strong> measured in toddlerhood, by using a measure that closely resembles<br />
Rothbart’s conceptual definition (Kochanska, Murray, & Harlan, 2000; Lemery et al.,<br />
1999). Clearly, more longitudinal research is needed to explore the developmental paths<br />
of early <strong>temperament</strong> across different developmental phases within Rothbart’s<br />
theoretical framework, utilizing the conceptual <strong>and</strong> operational definitions <strong>and</strong> measures<br />
developed within this framework.<br />
1.2.2 Mothers <strong>and</strong> fathers as informants of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong><br />
In <strong>temperament</strong> research, the question of objectivity in measuring child behavior<br />
according to <strong>parental</strong> reports is open to debate (Kagan, 1994, 1998; Seifer, Sameroff,<br />
Dickstein, Schiller, & Hayden, 2004; Stifter et al., 2008). However, parent-rated<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> of the child has frequently shown higher age-to-age stability than<br />
observer-rated <strong>temperament</strong> (Pauli-Pott, Mertesacker, Bade, Haverkock, & Beckmann,<br />
2003; Rothbart et al., 2000b). Besides this greater predictive validity, recent evidence<br />
also points to greater situational consistency of parent-ratings in comparison to more<br />
objective perceptions (Majd<strong>and</strong>zic & van den Boom, 2007). From the developmental<br />
point of view, it is important to further note that, within a family, especially the<br />
16
perceptions or views that parents have of their child’s characteristics are considered<br />
essential components of development (Belsky, 1984).<br />
Despite the encouragement to use parent-reports, the majority of the research on<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>al <strong>continuity</strong> to date in Rothbart’s, as in other frameworks, still relies on<br />
maternal ratings of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> (e.g., Aksan et al., 1999; Putnam et al.,<br />
2008; Rothbart et al., 2000b; for another framework, see also Pedlow, Sanson, Prior, &<br />
Oberklaid, 1993), or on combinations of mother-rated <strong>and</strong> observed <strong>temperament</strong><br />
(Crockenberg & Leerkes, 2006; for other frameworks, see Belsky, Fish, & Isabella,<br />
1991; Fox, Henderson, Rubin, Calkins, & Schmidt, 2001; Stifter et al., 2008). The role<br />
of fathers in the family dynamic is, however, already widely acknowledged, <strong>and</strong><br />
research on the quality of the early father–child dyad <strong>and</strong> its relation to the behavioral<br />
characteristics <strong>and</strong> developmental outcomes of the child at all ages from infancy to early<br />
adulthood is becoming more widespread (e.g., Amato, 1994; Amato & Gilbreth, 1999;<br />
Belsky, Woodworth, Crnic, 1996; Parke, 2004; Ramch<strong>and</strong>ani, Stein, & Evans, 2005;<br />
Shannon, Tamis-LeMonda, & Cabrera, 2006).<br />
Furthermore, there is mounting evidence of the predictive association between infant<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> the dynamics of father–child interaction (Belsky, 1996; Kochanska,<br />
Friesenborg, Lange, & Martel, 2004; McBride, Shoppe, & Rane, 2002; Sirignano &<br />
Lachman, 1985). Fathers <strong>and</strong> mothers are also increasingly considered comparable<br />
informants about their children’s behavior (DeFruyt &Vollrath, 2003). Mother- <strong>and</strong><br />
father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> have, according to previous cross-sectional data, been shown<br />
to be interrelated, <strong>and</strong> show a similar structural pattern in infancy, toddlerhood <strong>and</strong><br />
childhood (Auerbach et al., 2008; Goldsmith & Campos, 1990; Kochanska et al., 1998;<br />
Leve, Scaramella, & Fagot, 2001; Majd<strong>and</strong>zic & van den Boom, 2008; Putnam et al.,<br />
2006; Rothbart, 1981; Rothbart et al., 2001; Saudino, Wertz, & Gagne, 2004).<br />
Nevertheless, evidence of the extent to which father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> shows<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> during development is scanty, <strong>and</strong> to our knowledge, only a h<strong>and</strong>ful of<br />
studies to date have focused on this issue. In other <strong>temperament</strong> frameworks, Van<br />
Egeren (2004) found consistency of father-rated characteristics of negative affectivity<br />
during the first six months, <strong>and</strong> Rubin, Nelson, Hastings, <strong>and</strong> Asendorpf (1999)<br />
reported on moderate <strong>continuity</strong> of father-rated shyness from the age of two to four<br />
17
years. Bishop, Spence, <strong>and</strong> McDonald (2003) reported significant <strong>continuity</strong> of father-<br />
rated behavioral inhibition from the age of three to five years.<br />
In the framework of Rothbart, the recent study of Putnam <strong>and</strong> his colleagues (2006)<br />
demonstrated that stability estimates for fathers ratings of <strong>temperament</strong> ranged from .26<br />
to .73 from 18 to 36 months of age, <strong>and</strong> Rothbart <strong>and</strong> her colleagues (2001) present<br />
stability estimates for father-ratings of <strong>temperament</strong> that ranged from .48 to .76 from<br />
five to seven years of age, for subscales encompassing characteristics of positive <strong>and</strong><br />
negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> effortful control. In Majd<strong>and</strong>zic’s <strong>and</strong> van den Boom’s study<br />
(2008), mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> showed similar stabilities over seven<br />
months during the child’s fourth year of age. To my knowledge, no previous study has<br />
focused on the developmental <strong>continuity</strong> of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> over<br />
developmental phases from infancy onwards, or on comparing the mother- <strong>and</strong> father-<br />
rated developmental paths of early <strong>temperament</strong>.<br />
1.3 Personality traits in adulthood<br />
1.3.1 Stability <strong>and</strong> change in <strong>personality</strong> traits<br />
For several decades, <strong>personality</strong> research has also increasingly concentrated on<br />
questions of development. Because the descriptions about <strong>personality</strong> remain the same<br />
across time, the dimensions of adult <strong>personality</strong> are defined to be homotypically<br />
continuous (homotypic referring to literal <strong>continuity</strong> or stability over time) (Caspi &<br />
Roberts, 1999). Recent theoretical discussions have, however, focused on the relative<br />
contributions of biological as compared to environmental factors on the homotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong>, or temporal stability of <strong>personality</strong> (e.g., Ardelt, 2000; Johnson, McGue, &<br />
Krueger, 2005; Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006b); in the theoretical framework<br />
developed by McCrae <strong>and</strong> his colleagues (2000), the association between <strong>personality</strong><br />
traits <strong>and</strong> environment is expressed in the person’s characteristic adaptations, while no<br />
external influence on the basic <strong>temperament</strong>-based tendencies is acknowledged. A more<br />
differentiated perspective has also emerged, suggesting that some environment-related<br />
change in <strong>personality</strong> traits is possible even during adulthood (e.g., Caspi & Roberts,<br />
1999; Helson et al., 2002; Roberts & Mroczek, 2008; Scollon & Diener, 2006).<br />
Of the different concepts depicting <strong>personality</strong> change, normative change is<br />
interpreted as the result of intrinsic trends based on rates of species-typical brain<br />
18
maturation <strong>and</strong> age-related changes in brain function <strong>and</strong> gene expression (e.g., McCrae<br />
et al., 2000), or a consequence of universal patterns of life experiences <strong>and</strong> social roles<br />
(Elder, 1994). Non-normative or rank-order change, in turn, is viewed as the result of<br />
individual differences in genetics, injury, drug abuse, or disease processes that influence<br />
brain chemistry on an individual level (e.g., Piedmont, 2001), or as the result of<br />
individual life experiences such as career trajectories (Roberts, 1997) or relationship<br />
patterns (Robins, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2002). In other words, while traits may change in<br />
the same direction for most people (normative change in the average level on any<br />
dimension), they may also change, in magnitude or in direction, the extent of change<br />
owing more to individual <strong>and</strong> specific environmental determinants (non-normative<br />
change) (Costa & McCrae, 1988; Roberts, Walton, Bogg, & Caspi 2006; see also<br />
Tennen, Affleck, & Armeli, 2005). Similar to the variable-level homo- <strong>and</strong> heterotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> of early <strong>temperament</strong>, this differential, rank-order stability is often indexed<br />
by cross-time correlation coefficients (stability coefficients) which, for the major<br />
<strong>personality</strong> trait domains, have generally been shown to be substantial in magnitude<br />
(Fraley & Roberts, 2005; Costa & McCrae, 1994). This rank-order stability also tends to<br />
decline in magnitude as the elapsed time interval increases, <strong>and</strong> to increase<br />
systematically with age (Caspi et al., 2005; Clark & Watson, 1999; see also Fraley &<br />
Roberts, 2005).<br />
With regard to demographic predictors, most researchers also agree that rank-order<br />
stability (or test–retest stability/consistency) is considerably lower among adolescents<br />
<strong>and</strong> young adults than among older age groups (Ardelt, 2000; Roberts & DelVecchio,<br />
2000). However, there is some disagreement regarding the age(s) or lifestages when the<br />
age-related increase in the magnitude of the test–retest stability coefficients peaks. Until<br />
recently, the dominant perspective has been that once adulthood is reached, which<br />
happens around 30 years of age, there is no subsequent change in <strong>personality</strong> (Costa &<br />
McCrae, 1994, 1997; Terracciano, Costa, & McCrae, 2006). Other studies have reported<br />
that stability continues to increase from early adulthood to age 50 (Roberts &<br />
DelVecchio, 2000), while some have reported curvilinear trajectories with increases<br />
until age 50, but declines in old age (Ardelt, 2000). The patterns of rank-order stability<br />
for men <strong>and</strong> women have generally been found to be similar (Roberts & DelVecchio,<br />
2000).<br />
19
1.3.2 Personality traits of extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism during adulthood<br />
The current study focuses on the two well-known <strong>personality</strong> traits, extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
neuroticism (Costa & McCrae, 1992), which are included in virtually every prominent<br />
trait model developed during the 20th century (e.g., Clark & Watson, 1999). These two<br />
traits also have similar meanings in most models of <strong>personality</strong>, referring to positive <strong>and</strong><br />
negative emotionality <strong>and</strong> their regulation. Heritability estimates of extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
neuroticism based on twin studies typically fall in the .40 to .60 range, with a median<br />
value of approximately .50 (e.g., Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001; Jang, McCrae, Angleitner,<br />
Riemann, & Livesley, 1998).<br />
As the underst<strong>and</strong>ing of these traits has increased, it has become clear that they<br />
represent basic dimensions of <strong>temperament</strong> (Clark & Watson, 1999): two key features<br />
of <strong>temperament</strong> are that they, first, are at least partly attributable to innate biological<br />
factors <strong>and</strong> second, have emotional processes as core, defining features (Digman, 1994).<br />
Accordingly, extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism have strong <strong>and</strong> systematic links to<br />
emotional experience, <strong>and</strong> are associated with the basic PA <strong>and</strong> NA emotions (e.g., Abe<br />
& Izard, 1999; Carver, Sutton, & Scheier, 2000; Gross, Sutton, Ketelaar, 1998, Larsen<br />
& Ketelaar, 1991). Also in the framework proposed by Gray (1982, 1987), links<br />
between neuroticism <strong>and</strong> behavioral inhibition (BIS), <strong>and</strong> between extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
behavioral activation (BAS), have been reported (Jorm et al., 1999; Smits & Boeck,<br />
2006). Extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism are also considered most predictive of momentary<br />
affect (Yik & Rusell, 2001) <strong>and</strong> the affective quality of one’s perception of reality<br />
(Uziel, 2006) <strong>and</strong> self-esteem (Watson, Suls, & Haig, 2002).<br />
In the adult’s <strong>personality</strong>, the level of extraversion describes the quantity <strong>and</strong><br />
intensity of interpersonal interaction, activity level, need for stimulation, <strong>and</strong> capacity<br />
for joy: a person scoring high on extraversion is considered sociable, active, talkative,<br />
person-oriented, optimistic, fun-loving, <strong>and</strong> affectionate, whereas a low-scoring person<br />
is reserved, sober, unexuberant, aloof, task-oriented, retiring, <strong>and</strong> quiet (McCrae &<br />
John, 1992). Neuroticism, in turn, assesses adjustment versus emotional instability <strong>and</strong><br />
identifies individuals prone to psychological distress, unrealistic ideas, excessive<br />
cravings or urges, <strong>and</strong> maladaptive coping responses: a person scoring high on this trait<br />
worries a lot <strong>and</strong> is nervous, emotional, insecure, <strong>and</strong> feels inadequate, whereas a person<br />
20
scoring low is calm, relaxed, unemotional, hardy, secure <strong>and</strong> self-satisfied (McCrae &<br />
John, 1992).<br />
The reports of rank-order stabilities of extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism during<br />
adulthood for both genders have generally been relatively high, ranging from .61 to .80<br />
between periods from two years to several decades (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1988;<br />
Scollon & Diener, 2006; Vaidya, Gray, & Haig, 2002; Van Aken, Denissen, Branje,<br />
Dubas, & Goossens, 2006). However, existing evidence shows that rank-order change<br />
in these two <strong>temperament</strong>-based traits during adulthood also occurs, which obviously<br />
has raised the compelling question of why these changes occur.<br />
1.4 Transactional development of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
There are many potential processes that can either support or discourage developmental<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> in child <strong>and</strong> adult <strong>temperament</strong>- <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong>-related characteristics. These<br />
processes have been described as involving transactions between a person <strong>and</strong> the<br />
environment. During development, these transactions may lead some individuals to<br />
experience changes not shared with others in their cohort, the extent of change owing<br />
more to individual <strong>and</strong> specific, rather than shared environmental determinants.<br />
Caspi (1998) describes three transactional processes that will influence the degree of<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> of behavior over time: reactive, evocative, <strong>and</strong> proactive transactions. Within<br />
a family, these person-environment transactions may lead to discontinuities as well as<br />
continuities in <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong>. Reactive transactions emphasize individual<br />
characteristics that impact a person’s own experience of identical environmental<br />
conditions. Applied to models of early <strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>temperament</strong>al traits will affect the<br />
ways in which environmental information is processed <strong>and</strong> thereby interpreted. These<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>ally based biases in responding to the caregiving environment may be a<br />
powerful force in maintaining <strong>and</strong> promoting early individual differences <strong>and</strong> their<br />
stability <strong>and</strong>/or change over time. Therefore, in order to underst<strong>and</strong> the origins of<br />
various <strong>temperament</strong>al outcomes, it is essential to pay attention to the period of infancy<br />
<strong>and</strong> the appearance of <strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics during that time. In adulthood,<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>-based <strong>personality</strong> characteristics that impact a person’s own experience of<br />
21
environmental conditions may also be suggested to have an effect on the way the adult<br />
reacts to, for example, his/her child’s <strong>temperament</strong>.<br />
Evocative transactions, in turn, refer to the manner in which unique individual<br />
differences evoke particular responses from the environment. Those responses further<br />
influence the manner in which the individual will respond to the environment,<br />
establishing a self-perpetuating cycle of interaction between the individual <strong>and</strong> the<br />
environment. This cycle may maintain <strong>continuity</strong>, but may also be suggested to promote<br />
change in <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong>. For example, infants of different <strong>temperament</strong>s<br />
may evoke different caregiving behaviors from the same parent. Or, an infant’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> may evoke distinctive responses from different parents. These differences<br />
in child <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> behaviors could serve to either maintain or diminish the expression<br />
of <strong>temperament</strong>al <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> differences over time. The final process, proactive<br />
transactions, refers to the manner in which individuals move beyond the environments<br />
into which they are born <strong>and</strong> actively select <strong>and</strong> construct environments of their own<br />
(Caspi, 1998). Within a family, the newborn infant’s environment is largely defined by<br />
the parents, but as the child grows, both the child <strong>and</strong> the parents may be actively<br />
constructing their mutual environment. However, within a family context, one can also<br />
suggest that parents may try to construct an environment that is in harmony with the<br />
child’s characteristics, even if it is not what the parents’ own <strong>personality</strong> would lead<br />
them to choose.<br />
Stability <strong>and</strong> change of <strong>personality</strong> characteristics <strong>and</strong> relationship qualities can thus<br />
be considered both prerequisites <strong>and</strong> consequences of dynamic transactions between a<br />
person <strong>and</strong> his/her relationship experiences (Lehnart & Neyer, 2006). These dynamic<br />
transactions between individual characteristics <strong>and</strong> relationship quality are more likely<br />
to occur in stable social environments like the family, where the individual<br />
characteristics of parent <strong>and</strong> child represent the specific environmental determinants that<br />
may promote stability or rank-order change in both partners of the interaction (Belsky,<br />
1984; Caspi & Roberts, 2001; Neyer & Asendorpf, 2001). In the family, a parent <strong>and</strong> a<br />
child can be seen as active agents who, acting according to their individual<br />
characteristics, co-create their emerging <strong>and</strong> enduring relationship (Collins, Maccoby,<br />
Steinberg, Hetherington & Bornstein, 2000; Kochanska et al., 2004; Lengua & Kovacs,<br />
2005; Rubin et al., 1999; Wachs, 2006; van den Boom & Hoeksma, 1994).<br />
22
In the existing literature, the direct links between various behavioral, physiological,<br />
<strong>and</strong> genetic characteristics in parent <strong>and</strong> child have been reasonably well established<br />
(e.g., Crnic & Low, 2002; Propper & Moore, 2006). In terms of longitudinal causality,<br />
the parent’s effects on child development seem better known than the effects that<br />
children might have on their parents’ psychological characteristics. Also the<br />
bidirectional associations between parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics over time still remain<br />
less studied. Transactional models in which individual characteristics of parent <strong>and</strong><br />
child have been shown to be mutually influential have, so far, mainly been reported in<br />
relation to clinically relevant outcomes like difficult <strong>temperament</strong>, psychosocial<br />
problems <strong>and</strong> compliance of the child, or adequacy of <strong>parental</strong> behavior (e.g., Ge et al.,<br />
1996, Lengua 2006; Patterson & Fisher, 2002).<br />
For instance, Rubin et al. (1999) reported that child shyness at the age of two<br />
predicted a decrease in maternal <strong>and</strong> paternal encouragement of independence over two<br />
years, whereas parenting behaviors towards 2-year-olds did not predict the 4-year-old<br />
child’s shyness (Rubin et al., 1999). In line with this kind of directionality, Belsky et al.<br />
(2000) reported that during the child’s third year, a child’s inhibited behavior was likely<br />
to increase <strong>parental</strong> reactivity in terms of both discouraging <strong>and</strong> encouraging behaviors,<br />
whereas <strong>parental</strong> reactions to the child’s inhibition were poor predictors of inhibited<br />
behavior. However, the existing literature of associations between <strong>parental</strong><br />
psychological characteristics (e.g., Belsky et al., 1991; Kochanska et al., 2004) <strong>and</strong><br />
subsequent child behavior indicate towards <strong>parental</strong> effects as well, <strong>and</strong> raise the<br />
question of possible bidirectional causality for these inhibition-related, as well as other<br />
aspects of child <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy onwards.<br />
Further, according to Belsky’s (1984) ecological model, the quality of parenting is<br />
especially influenced by three main classes of factors: parent, child <strong>and</strong> situational<br />
characteristics, like contextual stress <strong>and</strong> supports. Within a family system, <strong>parental</strong><br />
views of their own <strong>and</strong> the child’s characteristics, feelings <strong>and</strong> behavior can thereby be<br />
understood as psychological resources or contextual components that will determine the<br />
degree to which a parent <strong>and</strong> child will affect each other from the child’s early years<br />
onwards (Belsky, 1984). These perceived characteristics may also be differentially<br />
susceptible to each other’s influence. That is, parents’ own characteristics may lead to<br />
changes in their views of their children’s <strong>temperament</strong>-related behavior, or it may be<br />
23
that parents who view their children as initially higher in some but not other<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics may be prone to such parenting experiences that will<br />
eventually lead to changes in their views of their own characteristics.<br />
In this study, the environment where the rank-order stability or change in <strong>parental</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> child characteristics is examined is conceptualized in terms of child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong>, as a more situational characteristic, the amount of<br />
overall <strong>parental</strong> stress. Even though the existing studies regarding associations between<br />
the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong>-related characteristics are still<br />
relatively ambiguous in regard to causal influence, an attempt of categorizing the<br />
studies into those where child effects on the parent are indicated <strong>and</strong> those indicating<br />
parent effects on the child may be of help in forming a general picture of the current<br />
knowledge.<br />
1.4.1 Implications of child <strong>temperament</strong> for <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
neuroticism<br />
So far, research on the rank-order stability of extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism has already<br />
provided some evidence of possible environmental promoters of change: recent<br />
evidence shows that higher life- <strong>and</strong> work-related satisfaction associates with an<br />
increase in extraversion, while lower satisfaction, stress <strong>and</strong> unemployment relate to an<br />
increase in neuroticism (Roberts, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2003; Roberts & Chapman, 2000;<br />
Scollon & Diener, 2006; Van Aken et al., 2006). Neyer <strong>and</strong> Asendorpf (2001), in turn,<br />
have proposed that it is interpersonal relations, such as marital <strong>and</strong> family experiences,<br />
that have the highest potential to affect <strong>personality</strong> change in adulthood: they found that<br />
young adults who had recently begun dating showed greater declines in neuroticism <strong>and</strong><br />
shyness (a reverse facet of extraversion) <strong>and</strong> larger increases in extraversion compared<br />
to participants whose relationship status had not changed. Similarly, getting married <strong>and</strong><br />
living in a more satisfying relationship has been shown to be associated with an increase<br />
in emotional stability <strong>and</strong> a decrease in neuroticism, while marital tensions, lower<br />
marital satisfaction <strong>and</strong> divorce associate with an increase in neuroticism (Costa,<br />
Herbst, McCrae, & Siegler, 2000; Roberts & Chapman, 2000; Robins et al., 2002). Still,<br />
questions regarding potential promoters of change in <strong>personality</strong> during adulthood<br />
24
(Roberts et al., 2006b; Scollon & Diener, 2006; Terracciano, McCrae, Brant, & Costa,<br />
2005) have so far remained largely unresolved.<br />
Of the important stages <strong>and</strong> roles of adult life, parenting a young child can be<br />
considered a very significant <strong>and</strong> intimate interpersonal experience that has the potential<br />
to cause enduring effects on an individual. While the <strong>parental</strong> self-concept gradually<br />
changes during parenthood (Cowan, Cowan, Heming, & Miller, 1991), this identity<br />
process, involving the commitment to a new social role, is also likely to involve at least<br />
some change in <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> over time (Roberts, Wood, & Smith, 2005).<br />
Therefore, through their unique impact on <strong>parental</strong> behavior <strong>and</strong> on the quality of the<br />
parent–child relationship (Calkins, Hungerford, & Dedmon, 2004; Collins et al., 2000;<br />
Rubin et al., 1999), <strong>temperament</strong>ally different children may, in the course of time, also<br />
have a unique impact on parents’ own <strong>personality</strong> traits.<br />
Evidence already exists that positively affective babies evoke more positive reactions<br />
from their caregivers than negatively affective babies (e.g., Kochanska et al., 2004;<br />
Scarr, 1992; Van den Boom, 1989). In terms of changes in maternal psychological well<br />
being, Gartstein <strong>and</strong> Sheeber (2004) reported that within a group of mothers having<br />
parenting difficulties with their 3 to 6-year-old children, child externalizing behavior<br />
was predictive of a decline in maternal self-perceived parenting competence: this, in<br />
turn, contributed to an increase in maternal depressive symptoms over one year. Further,<br />
associations between the child’s early <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> changes in parents’ sense of<br />
global efficacy, personal control, anxiety, <strong>and</strong> dispositional optimism over time have<br />
been shown to exist (Heinonen, Räikkönen, Scheier, Pesonen, Järvenpää, & Str<strong>and</strong>berg,<br />
2006; Sirignano & Lachman, 1985). Parenting experiences have also been shown to be<br />
associated with changes in maternal <strong>personality</strong>-related characteristics like ego<br />
resiliency, feelings of dependency <strong>and</strong> fearfulness (Paris & Helson, 2002). Still, the<br />
influence that the child may actually have on the parents’ <strong>personality</strong> traits, <strong>and</strong><br />
especially on the two ‘best-known’ traits extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism, is less known.<br />
1.4.2 Implications of <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism for child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
As Rothbart <strong>and</strong> Putnam (2002) suggested, a child’s <strong>temperament</strong> as it interacts with the<br />
environment is likely a better predictor of developmental outcomes than <strong>temperament</strong><br />
25
alone. Environmental pressures within the social context, especially at an early age,<br />
provide the structure around which <strong>temperament</strong>al dispositions will be modified. In<br />
evaluating the associations between <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong>, it is<br />
thus essential to pay attention to the period of infancy <strong>and</strong> the early appearance of the<br />
child’s <strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics that will strongly affect the child’s concurrent <strong>and</strong><br />
subsequent behavior.<br />
The <strong>continuity</strong> estimates of childhood <strong>temperament</strong> reported so far (Putnam et al.,<br />
2008; Rothbart et al., 2000b) also leave room for contextual factors. In other words,<br />
instead of conceptualizing <strong>temperament</strong> as a set of highly stable traits inherent in the<br />
child, its <strong>continuity</strong>, especially in terms of self-regulative functions, can be seen as<br />
relating to the child’s social environment (Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Accordingly, the<br />
development of infant <strong>temperament</strong> has consistently been shown to be affected by,<br />
besides genetic influence, the unique environment of the child (e.g. Goldsmith, Lemery,<br />
Buss & Campos, 1999; Propper & Moore, 2006; Stright, Gallagher, & Kelley, 2008).<br />
Among the most significant contextual elements in a child’s environment are<br />
<strong>parental</strong> characteristics. Given the role <strong>temperament</strong> plays in later behavior <strong>and</strong><br />
adjustment problems, testing the effects of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> on their child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> (e.g., Rothbart et al., 2000; Caspi, 2000), along with their influence in<br />
proximal interactions (Crockenberg & Smith, 2002; van den Boom & Hoeksma, 1994)<br />
<strong>and</strong> in various other processes in the child’s development (e.g., Kochanska, 1997) is of<br />
particular importance.<br />
In terms of <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism, previous studies have revealed that<br />
parents with high extraversion <strong>and</strong> low neuroticism display more positive, supportive,<br />
<strong>and</strong> responsive parenting <strong>and</strong> less negative, controlling parenting (Belsky & Barends,<br />
2002; Belsky, Crnic, & Woodworth, 1995; Clark, Kochanska, & Ready, 2000; Losoya,<br />
Goldsmith, Callor, & Rowe, 1997; Metsäpelto & Pulkkinen, 2003). In contrast, parents’<br />
high neuroticism is often found to be associated with less sensitive, less affective <strong>and</strong><br />
less stimulating parenting (Belsky et al., 1995). Associations between higher <strong>parental</strong><br />
extraversion <strong>and</strong> more positive evaluations <strong>and</strong> more positive outcomes of the child, as<br />
well as between higher <strong>parental</strong> negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> neuroticism <strong>and</strong> more negative<br />
evaluations <strong>and</strong> outcomes of the child have also been hitherto quite consistently<br />
established (e.g., Belsky et al., 1991; Gartstein & Marmion, 2008; Kochanska et al.,<br />
26
2004; Kurdek, 2003; Propper & Moore, 2006). In general, no significant differences in<br />
the effects of parent-related determinants on maternal <strong>and</strong> paternal behavior have been<br />
detected (Metsäpelto & Pulkkinen, 2003; Verhoeven, Junger, Van Aken, Dekovic, &<br />
Van Aken, 2007).<br />
1.4.3 <strong>Child</strong> <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> situational factors: the case of<br />
<strong>parental</strong> stress<br />
Besides parents’ own <strong>personality</strong>- or <strong>temperament</strong>-related psychological characteristics,<br />
situational factors within the parents’ life may also have a significant effect on <strong>parental</strong><br />
feelings <strong>and</strong> behavior within a family, <strong>and</strong> especially within the parent’s relationship<br />
with the child. Despite the origin of those situational experiences, i.e., whether they<br />
originate from within or outside of the family, parents’ individual interpretations of <strong>and</strong><br />
feelings related to those experiences may further influence the parents’ <strong>and</strong> the child’s<br />
behavior at home.<br />
Because parents in modern societies are under various pressures, one of the most<br />
important <strong>and</strong> influential situational factors in an adult’s life may be the amount of<br />
perceived stress. Stress in the family context, especially when that stress is chronic <strong>and</strong><br />
present early in the child’s development, can further have detrimental effects on the<br />
wellbeing of the family <strong>and</strong> the quality of parent–child relationships. Accordingly, the<br />
existing literature shows associations between <strong>parental</strong> parenting-, daily-, life-event, <strong>and</strong><br />
other environment-related stress <strong>and</strong> parent- <strong>and</strong>/or teacher-reported child behavioral<br />
problems, adjustment difficulties, <strong>and</strong> internalizing or externalizing problems in the<br />
early childhood period (Anthony et al., 2005; Conger, McCarty, Yang, Lahey, & Kropp,<br />
1984; Coplan, Bowker, & Cooper, 2003; Creasey & Reese, 1996; Deater-Deckard &<br />
Scarr, 1996; Kliewer & Kung, 1998; Peterson & Hawley, 1998).<br />
However, the majority of research in this area has mainly focused on a specific<br />
concept, ‘parenting stress’, that is defined in terms of dysfunctional parent–child<br />
interaction, <strong>parental</strong> anxiety or depression, <strong>and</strong> ‘difficult’ or challenging child-behavior<br />
characteristics (Abidin, 1990; Crnic & Greenberg, 1990). This kind of parenting stress<br />
does not necessarily reflect the more global appraisal of stress that may result from<br />
various life domains other than parenting (e.g., work <strong>and</strong> marital discord). The existing<br />
evidence, however, implies that it is not only stress that is roused by parenting<br />
27
experiences that may have an influence on family functioning, <strong>parental</strong> behavior <strong>and</strong><br />
dyadic interaction between a parent <strong>and</strong> a child at home (Crnic, Gaze, & Hoffman,<br />
2005; Deater-Deckard & Scarr, 1996).<br />
The stability of <strong>parental</strong> stress is an assumption that seems to underlie much of the<br />
research within the field, although, due to the relative lack of longitudinal research, it<br />
has not been established to any reliable extent. As in studies of adult <strong>personality</strong>, studies<br />
of <strong>parental</strong> stress show greater stability for shorter time periods between assessments<br />
(Crnic et al., 2005). In the study of Mulsow <strong>and</strong> her colleagues (2002), maternal<br />
parenting stress was shown to be stable between the child’s ages of 15 <strong>and</strong> 36 months<br />
(Mulsow, Caldera, Pursley, Reifman, & Huston, 2002), <strong>and</strong> in the recent Rantanen et al.<br />
(2008) study, parenting stress of mothers <strong>and</strong> fathers with children living at home<br />
showed moderate to high stability, but was more stable across a one-year period than<br />
across a six-year period (Rantanen, Kinnunen, Feldt, & Pulkkinen, 2008). Further, in<br />
Crnic et al. 2005, two indices of maternal stress, namely experiences of major life<br />
events <strong>and</strong> parenting daily hassles, appeared to be stable over two years across the<br />
preschool period: stressed mothers at child age three were likely to report higher stress<br />
at child age five. However, in the study of Östberg, Hagekull <strong>and</strong> Hagelin (2007), the<br />
individual stability of maternal parenting stress over a six-year period in a clinical<br />
intervention group with infant sleeping <strong>and</strong> feeding problems was only moderate,<br />
decreasing slightly over time from infancy to the child’s age of six to seven.<br />
Similar to the development <strong>and</strong> over-time stability reported for the more<br />
constitutionally based characteristics of child <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong><br />
traits, the stabilities found for the level of <strong>parental</strong> stress make it clear that there is<br />
ample room for change. The parents’ experience of overall stress can increase or ease<br />
off over time, <strong>and</strong> many parents do change; the intriguing question is whether these<br />
changes can be predicted from some internal family factors. The idea of being able to<br />
predict or define some typical correlates of change in parents’ experience of stress<br />
makes the efforts to identify such factors within a family an exciting area for inquiry.<br />
1.4.3.1 Implications of child <strong>temperament</strong> for <strong>parental</strong> stress<br />
In evaluating the associations between <strong>parental</strong> stress <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong>, periods in<br />
infancy <strong>and</strong> early childhood are again considered to be of greatest importance.<br />
28
Concurrent associations between so called ‘difficult <strong>temperament</strong>’ <strong>and</strong> parenting stress<br />
have provided evidence in support of the notion that infant difficultness can undermine<br />
<strong>parental</strong> functioning (Belsky, 1984; Belsky, Rha, & Park, 2000; Calkins et al., 2004;<br />
Collins, Maccoby, Steinberg, Hetherington, & Bornstein, 2000; Gartstein & Sheeber,<br />
2004; Heinonen et al., 2006; Kochanska et al., 2004; Rubin et al., 1999; van den Boom<br />
& Hoeksma, 1994), although evidence concerning these effects is not altogether<br />
coherent (Putnam, Sanson & Rothbart, 2002; Rothbart, 1986). In terms of concurrent<br />
associations between early <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> stress, Gelf<strong>and</strong>, Teti <strong>and</strong> Fox<br />
(1992) reported a significant association between the mothers’ parenting stress <strong>and</strong><br />
difficult <strong>temperament</strong> among three- to 13-month-old infants. Mulsow <strong>and</strong> her<br />
colleagues (2002) also reported a significant association between maternal parenting<br />
stress <strong>and</strong> infant difficultness at one month, but not at six or 15 months, <strong>and</strong> Honjo <strong>and</strong><br />
his colleagues (1999) found maternal child-rearing stress to be related to infant-<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>al difficulty at 18 months, but not at six months. Associations between<br />
<strong>parental</strong> stress <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong> have also been reported among 21-month-old<br />
toddlers (Östberg & Hagekull, 2000) <strong>and</strong> among 48-month-old children (Coplan et al.,<br />
2003).<br />
However, the possible over-time effects of the child’s initial <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
characteristics on the parents’ stress experience remain largely unexplored. With regard<br />
to specific caregiving-related problems during infancy, namely problems with feeding<br />
<strong>and</strong> sleeping, it has been shown that parenting stress at the child’s age of six to seven<br />
can, at least partly, be predicted by these early child <strong>and</strong> family problems <strong>and</strong> associated<br />
early stress (Östberg et al., 2007). It can thus be assumed that, similar to the changes in<br />
<strong>parental</strong> self-concept <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> characteristics induced by the parenting role<br />
(Cowan et al., 1991; Roberts et al, 2005; Paris & Helson, 2002), the <strong>parental</strong> role may<br />
also be accompanied by changes in the level of <strong>parental</strong> experience of stress over time.<br />
The existing evidence further shows, that mothers <strong>and</strong> fathers are generally more<br />
similar than different in their specific levels of stress experience (Creasey & Reese,<br />
1996; Deater-Deckard & Scarr, 1996) <strong>and</strong> associated experiences (Deater-Deckard,<br />
Scarr, McCartney, & Eisenberg, 1994). For example, Crnic <strong>and</strong> Booth (1991) reported<br />
no differences in the absolute number or intensity of the everyday parenting hassles that<br />
mothers <strong>and</strong> fathers experienced. The stability of <strong>parental</strong> stress <strong>and</strong> the associations<br />
29
etween stress <strong>and</strong> child outcomes have also generally been shown to be independent of<br />
the parent’s or child’s gender (Mulsow et al., 2002; Rantanen et al., 2008; Räikkönen et<br />
al., 2006).<br />
1.4.3.2 Implications of <strong>parental</strong> stress for child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
Both <strong>parental</strong> overall stress <strong>and</strong> parenting-related stress have been proven to be<br />
significant predictors of parent <strong>and</strong> child behavior <strong>and</strong> dyadic interaction (e.g.,<br />
Bergman, Sarkar, Glover, & O'Connor, 2008; Conger et al., 2002; Crnic et al., 2005;<br />
Repetti & Wood, 1997), but so far only a few studies have investigated the associations<br />
between a more global experience of <strong>parental</strong> stress <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong>. Especially<br />
in terms of early <strong>temperament</strong>, the causality of associations between <strong>parental</strong> stress <strong>and</strong><br />
infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> over time is, to a large degree, still an unexplored area.<br />
Support for the idea that it is parenting stress that plays a causal role in the<br />
emergence of problematic child <strong>temperament</strong> is provided by the evidence of predictive<br />
associations between maternal prenatal stress <strong>and</strong> subsequent negative views of the<br />
child’s <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> mental health morbidity. Huizink <strong>and</strong> her colleagues (2002)<br />
reported associations between increased maternal prenatal <strong>and</strong>/or postnatal stress <strong>and</strong><br />
infant ‘unadaptability’ (Huizink, Robles de Medina, Mulder, Visser, & Buitelaar, 2002).<br />
In the same cohort, increased levels of maternal prenatal stress further appeared to be<br />
associated with <strong>temperament</strong>al <strong>and</strong> behavioral problems at the child’s age of two years<br />
(Gutteling et al., 2005). Likewise, in the study of Pesonen <strong>and</strong> her colleagues (2005),<br />
mothers who reported continuous high stress from the pre- to the postnatal period over<br />
six months perceived the <strong>temperament</strong> of their six-month-old infants as more negatively<br />
<strong>and</strong> less positively tuned than did mothers who experienced increasing, decreasing or<br />
continuous low stress over the same periods. Maternal stress across child ages two to<br />
three years has also been shown to play a causal role in the emergence of problematic<br />
child behavior (Belsky et al., 1996). Also in the recent studies of Robinson, Oddy et al.<br />
(2008) <strong>and</strong> Bergman, Sarkar et al. (2008), high or increasing stress during pregnancy<br />
was predictive of child mental health morbidity or fearfulness in toddlerhood <strong>and</strong> at the<br />
age of five.<br />
In terms of a more global experience of stress, evidence of the predictive link<br />
between <strong>parental</strong> overall stress <strong>and</strong> subsequent child <strong>temperament</strong> can be drawn from<br />
30
the above-mentioned studies of prenatal stress (Bergman et al., 2008; Huizink et al.,<br />
2002; Pesonen et al., 2005; Robinson et al., 2008). Further, Räikkönen <strong>and</strong> her<br />
colleagues (2006) reported associations between parents’ higher perceived global stress<br />
<strong>and</strong> more negatively tuned perceptions of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> during infancy. In the<br />
study of Crnic, Gaze <strong>and</strong> Hoffman (2005), the intercorrelation between two indices of<br />
<strong>parental</strong> stress, namely more general life stress <strong>and</strong> more specific parenting daily hassles<br />
at the child’s age of three, was low, indicating that those two indexes of stressfulness<br />
were predominantly independent, but they were both still predictive of parent <strong>and</strong> child<br />
behavior <strong>and</strong> dyadic interaction at the child’s age of five. The authors thus concluded<br />
that cumulative stress, resulting from parenting hassles or other life events, may build<br />
across developmental periods to create an increased risk for parenting <strong>and</strong> child<br />
functioning (Crnic et al., 2005).<br />
However, studies that focus on the predictive associations between <strong>parental</strong> overall<br />
stress <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to childhood still seem to be lacking.<br />
Further, even though <strong>temperament</strong> is a neutral construct that covers a wide variance of<br />
behavior, there still seems to be a lack of longitudinal studies moving from global<br />
‘child-difficultness’, or problematic behavior –measures to linking <strong>parental</strong> overall<br />
stress with their perceptions of a wider range of infant/child <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
characteristics over time.<br />
1.5 Aims of the study<br />
The overall aim of the current study was to examine the degree of <strong>continuity</strong> of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> over five years from the infant’s age of six months to the child’s age of<br />
five <strong>and</strong> a half years, <strong>and</strong> to investigate the bidirectional effects between child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> parents’ <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong> experienced overall stress during that<br />
time. Figure 1 shows the general outline of the current study.<br />
31
Figure 1. General outline of the study. Roman numerals refer to individual substudies (please see the<br />
original list of publications on page 10) that have allowed examination of the specific research questions<br />
1.5.1 Continuity of <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle childhood<br />
1.5.1.1 Study I. Continuity of mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong><br />
First, I addressed the question of <strong>temperament</strong>al <strong>continuity</strong> among 231 Finnish children<br />
within the theoretical framework <strong>and</strong> operational definitions developed by Rothbart <strong>and</strong><br />
her co-workers (e.g., Rothbart & Bates, 2006; Rothbart et al., 2001). I assessed<br />
differential homotypic <strong>and</strong> heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> between individual subscales <strong>and</strong><br />
latent superconstructs of <strong>temperament</strong> as rated by the mother when the child was aged<br />
six months <strong>and</strong> when the child was aged five <strong>and</strong> a half years. Based primarily on<br />
Rothbart’s theory emphasizing developmental <strong>continuity</strong> <strong>and</strong> structural change of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>and</strong> partly on the prior findings (Rothbart & Bates, 2006), I hypothesized<br />
that all individual <strong>temperament</strong> subscales in infancy would show differential homotypic<br />
<strong>and</strong>/or heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> up until middle childhood.<br />
32
As for the latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs, I hypothesized that significant<br />
continuities would be found between infant positive affectivity <strong>and</strong> middle childhood<br />
extraversion, <strong>and</strong> between infant <strong>and</strong> middle childhood negative affectivity. I also<br />
hypothesized that infant positive affectivity would predict effortful control in middle<br />
childhood, as the positive affectivity construct contains early characteristics of self-<br />
regulation, i.e. duration of orienting (Kochanska et al., 1998). Additionally, based on<br />
previous literature on the associations between early activity <strong>and</strong> later extraversion<br />
(Eaton, 1994; Hagekull & Bohlin, 1998), specific effects of infant activity were also<br />
tested by including specific paths from infant activity to the middle childhood<br />
superconstructs in the model of latent superconstructs.<br />
Moreover, by taking an ipsative, person-level approach to <strong>temperament</strong>al <strong>continuity</strong>,<br />
I aimed to explore whether <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle childhood clustered to<br />
form profiles indicative of the <strong>personality</strong> types characterized in research on <strong>personality</strong>.<br />
As there are both empirical <strong>and</strong> conceptual links between <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong><br />
traits, I hypothesized that <strong>temperament</strong> in infancy <strong>and</strong> in childhood would cluster to<br />
form profiles indicative of three different <strong>temperament</strong> types that would correspond<br />
conceptually to the <strong>personality</strong> types consistently identified in childhood <strong>and</strong> adulthood,<br />
i.e., the resilient, undercontrolled <strong>and</strong> overcontrolled <strong>personality</strong> types (Asendorpf et al.,<br />
2001; Asendorpf & van Aken, 1999; Caspi & Silva, 1995; Robins et al., 1996). Infant<br />
activity level was included as a separate dimension in the cluster formation.<br />
I hypothesized that, first, the <strong>temperament</strong> type corresponding to the resilient type<br />
would be marked by a relatively high level of positive emotionality in infancy <strong>and</strong> low<br />
levels of negative affectivity both in infancy <strong>and</strong> in childhood, <strong>and</strong> relatively high<br />
effortful control in childhood. Second, the <strong>temperament</strong> type corresponding to the<br />
undercontrolled type would be characterized by relatively high levels of negative<br />
affectivity both in infancy <strong>and</strong> in childhood, <strong>and</strong> a high level of extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
relatively weak self-regulative capacities in childhood. Finally, the overcontrolled<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> type would be marked by relatively high negative affectivity in infancy<br />
<strong>and</strong> by low extraversion <strong>and</strong> relatively high self-regulative capacities in childhood The<br />
level of infant activity was hypothesized to be positively associated with childhood<br />
extraversion <strong>and</strong>, accordingly, be relatively high in the second, more undercontrolled<br />
type, <strong>and</strong> low in the third, more overcontrolled type.<br />
33
1.5.1.2 Study II. Continuity of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong><br />
Second, I aimed to fill the gap in our knowledge of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> from infancy to middle childhood within a sample of 115 father-infant-child<br />
dyads. Within this second study, I also examined whether the developmental paths in<br />
father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> were similar to those of mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong> within a<br />
sample of 109 father–mother–infant/child -triads. The smaller sample size in father-<br />
ratings, however, restricted me to the variable level analyses, <strong>and</strong> did not allow a<br />
reliable enough ipsative level analysis.<br />
Because mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> have, according to previous cross-<br />
sectional data, been shown to be interrelated, <strong>and</strong> show a similar structural pattern in<br />
infancy, toddlerhood <strong>and</strong> childhood, I hypothesized that father-rated <strong>temperament</strong><br />
would also show significant homo- <strong>and</strong> heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> from infancy to five <strong>and</strong><br />
a half years of age. I also hypothesized that paternal <strong>and</strong> maternal ratings of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> would show congruent <strong>continuity</strong>.<br />
1.5.2 Transactional development of parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics from<br />
infancy to middle childhood<br />
After demonstrating the <strong>continuity</strong> of parent-rated <strong>temperament</strong> in itself from infancy to<br />
middle childhood, the next step of the present study was to capture the transactions<br />
between <strong>parental</strong> characteristics <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong> over the same period of time.<br />
The bidirectional effects between child <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> characteristics were<br />
investigated in terms of parents’ <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong> overall stress experienced during<br />
that time.<br />
1.5.2.1 Study III. Parental <strong>personality</strong> traits extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism <strong>and</strong><br />
infant/child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
In the third study, I aimed to examine rank-order stability <strong>and</strong> transactional associations<br />
between parents’ <strong>personality</strong> traits extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism (McCrae & Costa,<br />
1987; McCrae & John, 1992) <strong>and</strong> the parents’ views of their infant’s/child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> within a sample of 109 mother-father-infant/child triads. The stability <strong>and</strong><br />
change in <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism were examined in relation to parent-<br />
rated infant activity <strong>and</strong> sumscores of positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> ratings of the<br />
34
child’s <strong>temperament</strong>al sumscores extraversion, effortful control, <strong>and</strong> negative<br />
affectivity.<br />
In line with existing literature, <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism were expected<br />
to show high stability over five years. In terms of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> change, I<br />
hypothesized that <strong>parental</strong> ratings of the infant’s higher positive affectivity would<br />
predict an increase in <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong> a decrease in neuroticism, <strong>and</strong> that<br />
ratings of the infant’s higher negative affectivity would predict an increase in <strong>parental</strong><br />
neuroticism <strong>and</strong> a decrease in extraversion. Infant activity was examined with no<br />
specific direction of change in <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> hypothesized. Further, initially<br />
higher <strong>parental</strong> extraversion was expected to predict higher parent-rated extraversion<br />
<strong>and</strong> effortful control <strong>and</strong> lower negative affectivity in the child, <strong>and</strong> initially higher<br />
<strong>parental</strong> neuroticism was expected to predict ratings of lower extraversion <strong>and</strong> effortful<br />
control, <strong>and</strong> higher negative affectivity in the child.<br />
1.5.2.2 Study IV. Mother’s overall stress <strong>and</strong> infant/child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
Next, I aimed to depict the over-time stability <strong>and</strong> transactional associations between<br />
mothers’ perceived overall stress <strong>and</strong> infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> over the same time<br />
period within a sample of 231 mothers <strong>and</strong> their infants/children. In this fourth study,<br />
the first aim was to test the transactional associations between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> six<br />
individual <strong>temperament</strong> subscales that represented conceptual equivalents in the infants’<br />
as in the children’s <strong>temperament</strong> questionnaires. The subscales activity level,<br />
anger/frustration, fear, soothability, attentional focusing, <strong>and</strong> smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter were<br />
chosen for the analyses. Second, I aimed to test whether there were transactions<br />
between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> the latent infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs.<br />
I hypothesized that <strong>temperament</strong> characteristics reflecting higher negative<br />
emotionality <strong>and</strong> lower positive affectivity in infants would contribute to an increase in<br />
maternal stress over five years beginning in infancy, <strong>and</strong> that higher maternal stress<br />
would contribute to an increase in the child’s negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> a decrease in<br />
positive affectivity characteristics <strong>and</strong> self-regulative functioning over the same period.<br />
In sum, the current study first aimed at establishing the <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong><br />
within a family context, as perceived by both parents, <strong>and</strong> examining whether the<br />
developmental paths of infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> are similar in both parents’ eyes.<br />
35
Second, the study aimed to examine the transactional associations between <strong>parental</strong><br />
<strong>personality</strong> traits of extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism <strong>and</strong> infant/child <strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>and</strong><br />
further, explore the transactional development of maternal perceived stress <strong>and</strong> maternal<br />
ratings of infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> over this five-year period.<br />
36
2 METHODS<br />
2.1 Outline of the study<br />
The ongoing Glaku project was initiated in 1998. It was designed to examine the<br />
neonatal <strong>and</strong> early childhood predictors of hypertension development, as well as<br />
normative psychological development in childhood. The Glaku project is a collaborative<br />
study involving the Departments of Psychology <strong>and</strong> Medicine at Helsinki University,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Department of Pediatrics <strong>and</strong> Neonatology at Helsinki City Maternity hospital.<br />
At the baseline of the study in 1998 the infants averaged six months of age (M= 6.3,<br />
S.D. = 1.4 months). A follow-up was conducted five years later in 2003–2004, at which<br />
point the children averaged five <strong>and</strong> a half years of age (M= 66.1, S.D. = 2.9 months).<br />
These two time-points served as the sample for the current study. A second follow-up<br />
was conducted in 2006, <strong>and</strong> a further follow-up will be conducted in 2009.<br />
The initial study sample was collected between March 1 st <strong>and</strong> November 30 th of 1998<br />
in Helsinki City Maternity hospital (Kätilöopiston sairaala). The hospital is one of the<br />
principal maternity hospitals in Helsinki, with approximately 4500 births per year. The<br />
midwives in four regular maternity wards were asked to give a questionnaire to all<br />
women with singleton healthy births in which both parents were of Finnish origin.<br />
During this period there were 2746 births that would have been eligible. For reasons<br />
connected with the vacation period of the midwives, some mothers did not receive the<br />
questionnaire (only 30 of the invited mothers refused to participate). However, it is not<br />
likely that this involved selection bias, because the midwives were unaware of the exact<br />
aims of the study (Str<strong>and</strong>berg, Järvenpää, Vanhanen, & McKeigue, 2001).<br />
2.2 Participants<br />
In 1998, a total of 1049 mothers completed the questionnaire, which included questions<br />
on antenatal stress <strong>and</strong> nutrition, <strong>and</strong> on other lifestyle variables, as well as a question<br />
eliciting permission to examine their maternity records. Of these 1049 mothers, the first<br />
500, along with the biological fathers of the baby, were invited to participate in a<br />
psychological survey on child development.<br />
Of these 500 families, a total of 328 (65.6%) family units (mother <strong>and</strong>/or father)<br />
returned the questionnaire sent to them by mail approximately six months after the<br />
delivery. Of these family units, data on both biological parents was simultaneously<br />
37
available on 180 units, 141 questionnaires were returned only by the mother <strong>and</strong> seven<br />
only by the father. In total, 321 mothers <strong>and</strong> 187 fathers returned the questionnaire.<br />
Details of the research protocol <strong>and</strong> of the recruitment of the initial sample are described<br />
in Str<strong>and</strong>berg et al. (2001). The participants in Studies I – IV were taken from the same<br />
sample consisting of families that participated in the Glaku project at baseline in 1998<br />
when the infant was six months of age <strong>and</strong> again at follow-up in 2003-2004, at the<br />
child’s age of five <strong>and</strong> a half years. The institutional Review Board at the University of<br />
Helsinki approved this project, <strong>and</strong> the participating parents gave their informed<br />
consent.<br />
A total of 231 mother-infant/child dyads providing data at both data-collection points<br />
formed the sample for Study I. A total of 115 father-infant/child dyads, providing data<br />
at both data-collection points formed the sample for the first aim of Study II, <strong>and</strong> a total<br />
of 109 father–mother–infant/child triads, providing data at both data-collection points<br />
formed the sample for the second aim of Study II. A sample of 109 mother-father-<br />
infant/child triads providing complete <strong>parental</strong> <strong>and</strong> child data at both time points formed<br />
the sample for Study III, <strong>and</strong> a total of 231 mother–infant/child dyads providing<br />
complete <strong>parental</strong> <strong>and</strong> child data at both time points formed the Study IV sample.<br />
2.3 Measures<br />
2.3.1 Infant <strong>temperament</strong><br />
Parental ratings of infant <strong>temperament</strong> were derived using the Infant Behavior<br />
Questionnaire (the IBQ, Rothbart, 1981). The questionnaire is designed to refer to<br />
specific, concrete behaviors of the infant, occurring during the past week (previous two<br />
weeks for some items).The 96 items in the IBQ are evaluated on a seven-point scale<br />
reflecting the relative frequency of specified infant reactions. There are six subscales<br />
(Rothbart, 1986). Activity level describes the level of the infant’s gross motor activity,<br />
including movement of the arms <strong>and</strong> legs, squirming, <strong>and</strong> locomotor activity. Smiling<br />
<strong>and</strong> laughter is related to expressions of joy. Soothability (the recovery parameter of<br />
distress) is defined as the effectiveness of soothing techniques when the child is<br />
experiencing negative affects. Duration of orienting refers to sustained involvement<br />
with a single object or activity when there has been no sudden change in stimulation.<br />
Distress to limitations refers to distress when goal achievement has been blocked or a<br />
38
desirable object removed. Fear is expressed by crying or fussing <strong>and</strong>/or extended<br />
latency to approach intense or novel stimuli.<br />
Infant positive affectivity superconstruct has in previous studies been comprised of<br />
slightly differing combinations of smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter, duration of orienting,<br />
soothability <strong>and</strong> activity level (see, e.g., Goldsmith & Campos, 1990; Kochanska et al.,<br />
1998; Rothbart, 1986; Worobey & Blajda, 1989), while distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> fear<br />
have quite consistently been used in defining a negative affectivity superconstruct (see,<br />
e.g., Kochanska et al., 1998; Rothbart, 1986). Infant activity has been shown to<br />
associate, besides positive affectivity, with negative affectivity as well (Goldsmith &<br />
Campos, 1990; Goldsmith et al., 1999; Kochanska et al., 1998; Lemery et al., 1999;<br />
Rothbart, 1986; Worobey & Blajda, 1989).<br />
The <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs in the first, second <strong>and</strong> fourth study were devised<br />
by defining the latent factors in the structural equation model, <strong>and</strong> in the third study by<br />
computing the sumscores. The infant positive affectivity factor was defined by smiling<br />
<strong>and</strong> laughter, duration of orienting <strong>and</strong> soothability, <strong>and</strong> infant negative affectivity was<br />
defined by distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> fear, while infant activity was allowed to load on<br />
both positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity latent factor in the structural equation model. In<br />
the cluster analysis in Study I <strong>and</strong> in the multilevel analysis in Study III, infant positive<br />
<strong>and</strong> negative affectivity superconstructs were computed as described in previous studies<br />
(Kochanska et al., 1998; Rothbart et al., 2001), with the exception that infant activity<br />
was not included in the superconstructs, but was used as a separate dimension in the<br />
analyses.<br />
Previous studies have reported good test-retest <strong>and</strong> alpha reliabilities for the IBQ<br />
(Gartstein, Slobodskaya, & Kinsht, 2006; Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003; Rothbart, 1986).<br />
Convergence between laboratory observation ratings of <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> the IBQ scales<br />
has also been reported (Bridges, Palmer, Morales, Hurtado & Tsai, 1993; Goldsmith &<br />
Rothbart, 1991). In the current study the Cronbach’s alphas for the subscales ranged<br />
from 0.74 to 0.93. Moreover, the confirmatory factor analyses conducted in Studies I<br />
<strong>and</strong> II confirmed the construct validity in the Finnish sample.<br />
39
2.3.2 <strong>Child</strong> <strong>temperament</strong><br />
Parental ratings of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> were elicited by using the <strong>Child</strong>ren’s<br />
Behavior Questionnaire (the CBQ, Rothbart et al., 2001). The 195 items in the CBQ are<br />
evaluated on a seven-point scale reflecting the relative frequency of specified child<br />
reactions in concrete situations in previous weeks. There are 15 subscales. Activity level<br />
describes the level of the child’s gross motor activity. Anger/Frustration refers to<br />
negative affectivity related to the interruption of an ongoing task, or goal blocking.<br />
Approach anticipation refers to the amount of excitement <strong>and</strong> anticipation expressed<br />
toward expected pleasurable activities. Attentional focusing refers to the capacity to<br />
maintain attentional focus on task-related channels. Discomfort means negative<br />
affectivity related to sensory qualities of stimulation, including intensity, rate, <strong>and</strong><br />
complexities of light, movement, sound <strong>and</strong> texture. Falling reactivity <strong>and</strong> soothability<br />
(the recovery parameter of distress) is the rate of recovery from peak distress,<br />
excitement, or general arousal. Fear is expressed by negative affectivity including<br />
unease, worry or nervousness, which is related to anticipated pain or distress <strong>and</strong>/or<br />
potentially threatening situations. High intensity pleasure refers to enjoyment related to<br />
situations involving high stimulus intensity, rate, complexity, novelty, <strong>and</strong> incongruity.<br />
Impulsivity is the speed of response initiation. Inhibitory control is the capacity to plan<br />
<strong>and</strong> to suppress inappropriate approach responses under instructions or in novel or<br />
uncertain situations. Low intensity pleasure means enjoyment related to situations<br />
involving low stimulus intensity, rate, complexity, novelty, <strong>and</strong> incongruity. Perceptual<br />
sensitivity is the detection of slight, low-intensity stimuli from the external<br />
environment. Sadness refers to negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> lowered mood <strong>and</strong> energy<br />
related to exposure to suffering, disappointment, <strong>and</strong> object loss. Shyness refers to slow<br />
or inhibited speed of approach <strong>and</strong> discomfort in social situations. Finally, Smiling <strong>and</strong><br />
laughter is related to positive affect in response to daily happenings.<br />
According to Rothbart et al. (2001), high levels of impulsivity, high intensity<br />
pleasure, activity level, smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter, <strong>and</strong> positive anticipation, <strong>and</strong> a low level<br />
of shyness form an extraversion superconstruct; high levels of low intensity pleasure,<br />
inhibitory control, perceptual sensitivity <strong>and</strong> attentional focusing form an effortful<br />
control superconstruct; <strong>and</strong> high levels of fear, sadness, discomfort, <strong>and</strong><br />
anger/frustration <strong>and</strong> a low level of soothability form a negative affectivity<br />
40
superconstruct. These superconstructs were devised in the current study by defining the<br />
latent factors in the structural equation models <strong>and</strong> computing the sumscores. Previous<br />
studies have reported good test-retest <strong>and</strong> alpha reliabilities for the CBQ (Rothbart et<br />
al., 2001). In the current study, the Cronbach’s alphas for the subscales ranged from<br />
0.65 to 0.90. Moreover, the confirmatory factor analyses conducted in Studies I <strong>and</strong> II<br />
confirmed the construct validity in the Finnish sample.<br />
2.3.3 Parental <strong>personality</strong> traits<br />
Parental <strong>personality</strong> traits were assessed on the extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism scales<br />
derived from the authorized adaptation of the NEO <strong>personality</strong> inventory (NEO-PI;<br />
Costa & McCrae, 1985; Pulver, Allik, Pulkkinen, & Hämäläinen, 1995). The self-report<br />
questionnaire contains 48 items measuring extraversion <strong>and</strong> 48 items measuring<br />
neuroticism, <strong>and</strong> these 96 items were included in the assessment of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong><br />
at both time points. Extraversion is defined in terms of warmth, gregariousness,<br />
assertiveness, activity, excitement-seeking <strong>and</strong> positive emotions, <strong>and</strong> neuroticism in<br />
terms of anxiety, anger, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, <strong>and</strong><br />
vulnerability. The items are scored on a five-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to<br />
strongly agree), <strong>and</strong> support for the validity <strong>and</strong> reliability of the domains has been<br />
consistent (Costa & McCrae, 1992; McCrae & Costa, 1987). In the current study, the<br />
Cronbach’s alphas for extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism ranged from .91 to .94 at both data-<br />
collection points.<br />
2.3.4 Perceived stress<br />
The mothers self-reported their level of perceived overall stress approximately six<br />
months postpartum <strong>and</strong> again five years later using the shortened version of the original<br />
14-item perceived stress scale (the PSS; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983). PSS<br />
is sensitive to chronic stress deriving from ongoing life circumstances, expectations<br />
concerning future events, or from any life-events. The items are designed to tap the<br />
degree to which respondents find their lives unpredictable, uncontrollable, <strong>and</strong><br />
overwhelming. These three issues have been repeatedly found to be central components<br />
of the experience of stress (Cohen et al., 1983).<br />
41
The short version, constructed as suggested by Cohen <strong>and</strong> his colleagues (1983),<br />
consisted of the four items that were originally most highly correlated with the 14-item<br />
scale: the scale thus includes statements such as ‘How often have you found that you<br />
could not cope with all the things that you had to do’ <strong>and</strong> ‘How often have you felt that<br />
you were on top of things (a reversed item)’. In the current study, an additional fifth<br />
question, derived from the original scale, asking directly about the level of experienced<br />
stress was added: ‘In the last month, how often have you felt nervous <strong>and</strong> stressed’?<br />
Mothers evaluated the degree to which they had appraised situations in their lives as<br />
stressful (unpredictable, uncontrollable, overwhelming) in recent weeks on these five<br />
items, using a scale ranging from never (1) to all the time (5). The scale has shown good<br />
reliability <strong>and</strong> validity in prior studies (Cohen et al., 1983). Cronbach’s alpha in the<br />
current study was .79.<br />
2.4 Statistical analyses<br />
Structural equation modeling was the main statistical method used in all four studies.<br />
Several analyses were used for comparative purposes, such as the t-tests for independent<br />
<strong>and</strong> dependent variables. In Study I, the k-means clustering algorithm was used to test<br />
how the study variables (sumscores) in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood clustered to<br />
profiles. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used in verifying that the<br />
clusters were significantly different on the criterion variables. Structural equation<br />
modeling <strong>and</strong> path analyses were performed using the Mplus statistical package 2.13-<br />
4.1 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998 - 2006). St<strong>and</strong>ard model-fitting procedures <strong>and</strong> the<br />
maximum-likelihood-estimation method were adopted. Table 1 summarizes the<br />
information on participants, research design, measures, <strong>and</strong> main statistical analyses in<br />
the current study.<br />
42
Table 1. Sample, research design, measures <strong>and</strong> main statistical methods used in Study I – IV<br />
Study Participants Measures Main statistical methods<br />
I N=231<br />
motherinfant/child<br />
-dyads<br />
II N=115<br />
fatherinfant/childdyads;<br />
N=109<br />
father–<br />
mother–<br />
infant/child-<br />
triads<br />
III N=109<br />
motherfatherinfant/childtriads<br />
IV N=231<br />
motherinfant/childdyads<br />
Baseline 1998, infant age 6 months:<br />
Infant Temperament Questionnaire<br />
(IBQ)<br />
Follow-up 2004, child age 5 ½ years:<br />
<strong>Child</strong>ren’s Behavior Questionnaire<br />
(CBQ)<br />
Baseline 1998, infant age 6 months:<br />
Infant Temperament Questionnaire<br />
(IBQ)<br />
Follow-up 2004, child age 5 ½ years:<br />
<strong>Child</strong>ren’s Behavior Questionnaire<br />
(CBQ)<br />
Baseline 1998, infant age 6 months:<br />
Infant Temperament Questionnaire<br />
(IBQ)<br />
NEO <strong>personality</strong> inventory (NEO-PI)<br />
Follow-up 2004, child age 5 ½ years:<br />
<strong>Child</strong>ren’s Behavior Questionnaire<br />
(CBQ)<br />
NEO <strong>personality</strong> inventory (NEO-PI)<br />
Baseline 1998, infant age 6 months:<br />
Infant Temperament Questionnaire<br />
(IBQ)<br />
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)<br />
Follow-up 2004, child age 5 ½ years:<br />
<strong>Child</strong>ren’s Behavior Questionnaire<br />
(CBQ)<br />
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)<br />
43<br />
Confirmatory factor analysis,<br />
Structural equation modeling,<br />
t-test for independent samples,<br />
k-means clustering algorithm,<br />
ANOVA, post hoc t-tests<br />
(Pearson correlations)<br />
Confirmatory factor analysis,<br />
Structural equation modeling,<br />
t-tests for independent <strong>and</strong><br />
dependent samples,<br />
(Pearson correlations)<br />
Confirmatory factor analysis,<br />
Structural equation modeling<br />
multilevel technique,<br />
t-tests for independent <strong>and</strong><br />
dependent samples,<br />
(Pearson correlations)<br />
Confirmatory factor analysis,<br />
Structural equation modeling,<br />
(Pearson correlations)
3 RESULTS<br />
The main results of the four separate studies are summarized below. The details are to<br />
be found in the original publications.<br />
3.1 Study I. Continuity of mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong> from<br />
infancy to middle childhood<br />
3.1.1 Continuity of <strong>temperament</strong> subscales <strong>and</strong> superconstructs<br />
Pearson correlations were computed to test differential homotypic <strong>and</strong> heterotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> between the individual subscales of <strong>temperament</strong> measured in infancy (IBQ)<br />
<strong>and</strong> in middle childhood (CBQ) over five years (Table 2). Activity level, smiling <strong>and</strong><br />
laughter, distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> fear showed significant homo- <strong>and</strong> heterotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> from infancy to middle childhood, whereas there was evidence only of<br />
heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> for soothability <strong>and</strong> duration of orienting. Heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong><br />
was shown, for example, between higher infant activity <strong>and</strong> later aspects of extraversion<br />
(e.g. approach anticipation <strong>and</strong> high-intensity pleasure) <strong>and</strong> between higher infant<br />
smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter <strong>and</strong> later low-intensity pleasure, <strong>and</strong> between higher levels of<br />
infant distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> fear <strong>and</strong> later sadness. Associations indicating<br />
developmental interaction between traits that are controlled by separate genetic<br />
mechanisms were also shown, for example, between higher infant soothability <strong>and</strong> later<br />
high-intensity pleasure, <strong>and</strong> between higher infant fear <strong>and</strong> lower levels of low-intensity<br />
pleasure <strong>and</strong> smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter in middle childhood.<br />
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to verify the factor structures of infant<br />
positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity (Kochanska et al., 1998) <strong>and</strong> middle childhood<br />
extraversion, effortful control <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity latent superconstructs (Rothbart<br />
et al., 2001), <strong>and</strong> the confirmed factor structure was used as a foundation for the<br />
structural analyses. Figure 2 shows the a priori hypothesized model including all<br />
possible paths from the positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity latent superconstructs in<br />
infancy to the extraversion, effortful control <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity latent<br />
superconstructs in middle childhood.<br />
The positive affectivity latent superconstruct in infancy predicted extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
effortful control in middle childhood, while negative affectivity in infancy predicted<br />
44
negative affectivity in middle childhood. The model showed an adequate fit ( 2 /df = 1.9;<br />
RMSEA= 0.06; CFI = 0.914), <strong>and</strong> <strong>temperament</strong> in infancy accounted for 4.6, 22.3 <strong>and</strong><br />
6.0% of the variance in extraversion, effortful control, <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity in middle<br />
childhood, respectively.<br />
An additional SEM involving the specific effects of infant activity, as an addition to<br />
paths from infancy to middle childhood latent superconstructs, is presented in Figure 3.<br />
The model with specific effects of infant activity showed an acceptable fit ( 2 /df = 1.9;<br />
RMSEA= 0.06; CFI = 0.922), <strong>and</strong> the 2 difference test showed that the model with the<br />
specific effects of infant activity fitted the data significantly better than the initial a<br />
priori hypothesized model that did not involve the specific effects. The model involving<br />
specific effects revealed significant paths from infant activity to later extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
negative affectivity, while the path to effortful control was not significant. In this<br />
model, infant <strong>temperament</strong> accounted for 8.1, 23.0, <strong>and</strong> 11.7% of the variance in<br />
extraversion, effortful control, <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity in middle childhood,<br />
respectively. Adding the specific paths of infant activity in the model eliminated the<br />
significant path from infant positive affectivity to extraversion.<br />
45
Table 2. Pearson correlations between the <strong>temperament</strong> subscales measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in<br />
middle childhood (N = 231 mother-infant/child-dyads)<br />
Activity<br />
Level<br />
Smiling /<br />
Laughter<br />
Figure 2. Structural equation model showing associations between latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs<br />
measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood. St<strong>and</strong>ardized values are given for the path coefficients.<br />
All the nonsignificant paths are also presented ( 2 /df = 1.9; RMSEA= 0.06; CFI = 0.914)<br />
46<br />
Infancy: IBQ<br />
Soothability Duration of<br />
Orienting<br />
Distress to<br />
Limitations<br />
Middle childhood:<br />
CBQ<br />
Activity Level .26** .09 .05 .01 .02 .03<br />
Anger/Frustration .02 -.05 .03 .04 .16* .12<br />
Approach/<br />
Anticipation<br />
.17** .29** .20** .19** -.01 -.00<br />
Attentional<br />
Focusing<br />
-.10 .10 .12 .05 -.01 -.12<br />
Discomfort<br />
Falling Reactivity<br />
-.03 -.12 -.02 -.00 .16* .10<br />
& Soothability -.01 .20** .06 .07 -.34** -.11<br />
Fear -.05 -.04 -.04 .01 .16* .23**<br />
High-Intensity<br />
Pleasure<br />
.18** .09 .15* .01 .02 -.08<br />
Impulsivity .25** .08 .14* -.01 .02 .05<br />
Inhibitory Control -.13* .02 .06 .08 -.07 -.05<br />
Low-Intensity<br />
Pleasure<br />
.05 .20** .11 .08 -.02 -.14*<br />
Perceptual<br />
Sensitivity<br />
.01 .20** .12 .26** -.09 -.03<br />
Sadness -.05 .01 .05 .11 .14* .18**<br />
Shyness -.17* -.06 -.11 .02 .09 -.02<br />
Smiling/Laughter<br />
p < .05. * p < .01. **<br />
.20** .34** .15* .13* -.11 -.19**<br />
Fear
Figure 3. Structural equation model showing associations between latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs<br />
measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood, with specific paths from infant activity to the middle<br />
childhood superconstructs included in the model. St<strong>and</strong>ardized values are given for the path coefficients.<br />
All the nonsignificant paths are also presented ( 2 /df = 1.9; RMSEA= 0.06; CFI = 0.922)<br />
3.1.2 Person-level <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong>: “<strong>temperament</strong> types”<br />
A k- means clustering algorithm was used to test whether the <strong>temperament</strong><br />
superconstructs (sumscores) in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood cluster to form<br />
theoretically meaningful <strong>and</strong> coherent profiles representing different <strong>temperament</strong><br />
types. The reliability of the cluster solution was tested as recommended by<br />
Breckenridge (2000) <strong>and</strong> M<strong>and</strong>ara (2003), by examining whether a statistically<br />
significant agreement existed in a cross-validation between two r<strong>and</strong>omly divided<br />
cluster solutions. As separate SEM <strong>and</strong> cluster analyses for girls <strong>and</strong> boys did not show<br />
substantial differences, all the analyses were conducted with gender groups combined.<br />
Three “<strong>temperament</strong> types”, illustrated in Figure 4, profiling infants <strong>and</strong> children<br />
throughout the five-year-period were found: children belonging to the first cluster,<br />
named as “resilient”, were characterized by above-average levels of activity, positive<br />
affectivity, extraversion <strong>and</strong> effortful control, <strong>and</strong> below-average levels of negative<br />
affectivity in infancy <strong>and</strong> middle childhood (n = 73). Those in the second cluster, named<br />
“undercontrolled”, were characterized by an above average level of activity <strong>and</strong> a<br />
47
elow-average level of positive affectivity in infancy, by above-average levels of<br />
negative affectivity in infancy <strong>and</strong> middle childhood, by an above-average level of<br />
extraversion, <strong>and</strong> a well below average level of effortful control in middle childhood<br />
(n = 79). Those in the third cluster, named “overcontrolled”, were characterized by a<br />
well below average level of activity <strong>and</strong> a below-average level of positive affectivity,<br />
<strong>and</strong> an average level of negative affectivity in infancy. In middle childhood, they<br />
exhibited above-average levels of effortful control <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity, <strong>and</strong> well<br />
below the average level of extraversion (n = 79).<br />
Figure 4. Cluster analysis identifying three <strong>temperament</strong> “types” based on sumscores of <strong>temperament</strong><br />
superconstructs measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood. Note. All ps < 0.001 in ANOVAs testing<br />
the significance of differences between the clusters; all ps < 0.001 in post hoc pair-wise comparisons,<br />
except for p = 0.34 between “resilient” <strong>and</strong> “undercontrolled” in activity; p = 0.45 between<br />
“undercontrolled” <strong>and</strong> “overcontrolled” in positive affectivity; p = 0.04 between “undercontrolled” <strong>and</strong><br />
“overcontrolled” in infant negative affectivity; ps = 1.0 between “resilient” <strong>and</strong> “undercontrolled” in<br />
extraversion <strong>and</strong> between “resilient” <strong>and</strong> “overcontrolled” in effortful control; p = 0.08 between<br />
“undercontrolled” <strong>and</strong> “overcontrolled” in childhood negative affectivity<br />
48
3.2 Study II. Continuity of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
congruence between mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>continuity</strong><br />
3.2.1 Continuity of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> subscales <strong>and</strong><br />
superconstructs<br />
Pearson correlations were computed to test differential homotypic <strong>and</strong> heterotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> between the individual subscales of <strong>temperament</strong> measured in infancy (IBQ)<br />
<strong>and</strong> in middle childhood (CBQ) over five years. Father-rated activity level, smiling <strong>and</strong><br />
laughter <strong>and</strong> distress to limitations showed significant homo- <strong>and</strong> heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong><br />
from infancy to middle childhood, whereas there was evidence only of heterotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> for soothability, duration of orienting <strong>and</strong> fear (Table 3). Heterotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> was shown, for example, between higher infant smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter <strong>and</strong><br />
later low-intensity pleasure <strong>and</strong> between higher infant distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> later<br />
discomfort <strong>and</strong> fear. Associations indicating developmental interaction between<br />
different traits were also shown: for example, higher infant activity level associated with<br />
lower levels of inhibitory control <strong>and</strong> soothability in middle childhood, <strong>and</strong> higher<br />
infant fear <strong>and</strong> distress to limitations associated with lower levels of control-related<br />
abilities <strong>and</strong> less smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter in middle childhood.<br />
The CFA presented in the first study was used in verifying the factor structures of<br />
latent infant <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs, <strong>and</strong> the confirmed factor structure<br />
was used as a foundation for the structural analyses. In the SEM, father-rated positive<br />
affectivity in infancy was shown to predict, as hypothesized, effortful control in middle<br />
childhood, but it did not predict later extraversion. The SEM with fit indexes is<br />
illustrated in Figure 5. As hypothesized, negative affectivity in infancy predicted<br />
negative affectivity in middle childhood, but also showed a developmental trend<br />
towards a low level of effortful control. The respective variances accounted for by<br />
father-rated positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity in infancy were 5.1, 22.7, <strong>and</strong> 10.0% for<br />
extraversion, effortful control <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity, respectively.<br />
As in the first study, when infant activity was added to the model as a specific path,<br />
the significance of a high level of infant activity as a specific determinant of later<br />
extraversion was revealed (Figure 6). The predictive associations between negative<br />
affectivity in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood <strong>and</strong> between positive affectivity <strong>and</strong> later<br />
effortful control were not affected by the specific activity path. For fathers, adding the<br />
49
specific effect of infant activity improved the fit of the model only slightly (²(1) = 3.8,<br />
p > .05).The variances accounted for by activity <strong>and</strong> positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity in<br />
infancy in this additional model were 8.0, 23.7, <strong>and</strong> 9.8% for extraversion, effortful<br />
control <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity, respectively.<br />
Table 3. Pearson correlations between the father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> subscales measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in<br />
middle childhood (N = 115 father-infant/child dyads)<br />
Activity<br />
Level<br />
Smiling/<br />
Laughter<br />
Infancy: IBQ<br />
Soothability Duration of<br />
Orienting<br />
50<br />
Distress to<br />
Limitations<br />
Middle childhood:<br />
CBQ<br />
Activity Level .19* .06 .07 -.10 .03 .01<br />
Anger/Frustration<br />
Approach<br />
.20* -.12 .00 -.04 .27** .14<br />
Anticipation<br />
Attentional<br />
.14 -.09 -.03 .09 .16 -.05<br />
Focusing<br />
-.13 .19* .10<br />
.09 -.11 -.11<br />
Discomfort<br />
Falling reactivity<br />
.01 -.04 -.14 .08 .08 -.04<br />
& Soothability -.20* .20* -.01 .02 -.23* -.15<br />
Fear<br />
High-Intensity<br />
-.08 -.05 .05 .07 .18* .10<br />
Pleasure<br />
.13 -.04 .15 -.01 .06 .02<br />
Impulsivity<br />
Inhibitory<br />
.11 -.02 .17 -.16 .14 -.04<br />
Control<br />
Low-Intensity<br />
-.27** .17 .02<br />
.07 -.31** -.17<br />
Pleasure<br />
Perceptual<br />
-.01 .30** .19* .27** -.14 -.19*<br />
Sensitivity<br />
-.03<br />
.16<br />
.01<br />
.21*<br />
-.13<br />
Fear<br />
-.27**<br />
Sadness -.05 -.18* -.16 -.02 .06 .02<br />
Shyness .01 -.11 -.14 -.04 .05 .18<br />
Smiling/ Laughter .04 .23* .16 .07 -.12 -.27**<br />
p < .05. * p < .01. **
Figure 5. Structural equation model showing associations between father-rated latent <strong>temperament</strong><br />
superconstructs measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood (n = 115). St<strong>and</strong>ardized values are given for<br />
the path coefficients. All the nonsignificant paths are also presented ( 2 /df = 1.3; RMSEA= .05;<br />
CFI=.927)<br />
Figure 6. Structural equation model showing associations between father-rated latent <strong>temperament</strong><br />
superconstructs measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood, with the specific path from infant activity<br />
to the middle childhood extraversion superconstruct included in the model. St<strong>and</strong>ardized values are given<br />
for the path coefficients. All the nonsignificant paths from infant negative <strong>and</strong> positive affectivity latent<br />
superconstructs are presented 2 /df = 1.3; RMSEA= .05; CFI = .931)<br />
51
3.2.2 Congruence between mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>continuity</strong> of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
Congruence between parents’ ratings was investigated within a sample of 109 mother-<br />
father-infant/child –triads. Fathers rated their infant higher than mothers in fear,<br />
duration of orienting <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity, <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood, they rated their<br />
child higher in activity <strong>and</strong> impulsivity, <strong>and</strong> lower in approach anticipation, low-<br />
intensity pleasure, perceptual sensitivity, smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter <strong>and</strong> effortful control.<br />
Significant agreement between parents’ ratings of individual <strong>temperament</strong> subscales,<br />
except for soothability in infancy was shown (Table 4). Paternal <strong>and</strong> maternal ratings<br />
did not differ by child’s gender.<br />
At the level of <strong>temperament</strong> subscales, <strong>continuity</strong> of father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> was<br />
compared with the <strong>continuity</strong> shown for mothers in Study I. In terms of homotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong>, the predictive associations in the father-ratings were similar to mother-rated<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> in the first study. In terms of heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong>, similar developmental<br />
tendencies were also shown, for example, between early activity <strong>and</strong> later aspects of<br />
extraversion, between early smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter, soothability <strong>and</strong> duration of orienting<br />
<strong>and</strong> later aspects of effortful-control, <strong>and</strong> between early distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> later<br />
fear.<br />
Indicators of developmental interaction between different traits were also similar, for<br />
example, between early negative affectivity -subscales <strong>and</strong> lower levels of effortful<br />
control -related subscales <strong>and</strong> smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter. Some difference in the salience of<br />
associations between specific infant <strong>and</strong> middle childhood subscales could also be<br />
detected; for example, father-rated infant distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> fear showed more<br />
salient inverse associations with later effortful control –related subscales.<br />
At the level of latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs, no statistically significant<br />
differences between the father- <strong>and</strong> mother-rated predictive paths between infancy <strong>and</strong><br />
middle childhood were found. Figure 7 displays the predictive paths between mother-<br />
<strong>and</strong> father-rated latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs from infancy to middle childhood,<br />
including the specific effect of infant activity. The developmental links between<br />
affectively positive <strong>and</strong> well adjusted characteristics in infancy (i.e., smiling <strong>and</strong><br />
laughter, orienting capacities <strong>and</strong> soothability) <strong>and</strong> later effortful control were especially<br />
noteworthy in both father- <strong>and</strong> mother-ratings, being in line with the literature on the<br />
52
associations between positive affectivity <strong>and</strong> well functioning, adaptive control abilities.<br />
However, even though no statistically significant difference existed between mother-<br />
<strong>and</strong> father-rated paths, the developmental link between higher infant negative affectivity<br />
<strong>and</strong> a lower level of effortful control in middle childhood was more pronounced in<br />
father-ratings.<br />
Table 4. Mean values of the infant’s (IBQ) <strong>and</strong> 5.5 -year-old child’s (CBQ) <strong>temperament</strong> variables<br />
separately for the mothers (n = 109) <strong>and</strong> the fathers (n = 109), comparisons of the variables within<br />
couples, <strong>and</strong> intraclass correlations between parents’ ratings of their child<br />
Mothers Fathers t (paired) r (intraclass)<br />
M SD M SD<br />
Infancy: IBQ<br />
Activity level 4.54 0.79 4.59 0.69 -0.55 .45**<br />
Smiling/Laughter 5.25 0.82 5.35 0.78 -1.09 .53***<br />
Soothability 4.95 1.03 4.80 1.15 1.09 .25<br />
Duration of Orienting 3.77 1.10 4.10 1.17 -2.59* .46**<br />
Distress to Limitations 2.92 0.70 3.05 0.69 -1.84 .61***<br />
Fear<br />
Superconstruct sumscores<br />
2.16 0.65 2.33 0.68 -2.17* .47**<br />
Positive Affectivity 4.66 0.71 4.75 0.80 -1.04 .39**<br />
Negative Affectivity<br />
Middle childhood: CBQ<br />
2.54 0.56 2.69 0.57 -2.46* .58***<br />
Activity level 4.68 0.78 4.82 0.75 -2.13* .74***<br />
Anger/Frustration 3.81 0.92 3.80 0.83 0.20 .66***<br />
Approach/Anticipation 5.27 0.64 5.06 0.57 3.71*** .69***<br />
Attentional Focusing 5.16 0.76 5.17 0.69 -.06 .64***<br />
Discomfort 3.70 0.98 3.57 0.83 1.50 .65***<br />
Falling Reactivity &<br />
Soothability<br />
5.12 0.79 4.96 0.67 1.96 .46**<br />
Fear 3.63 1.02 3.50 0.84 1.40 .64***<br />
High-Intensity Pleasure 4.96 0.86 4.94 0.80 0.20 .72***<br />
Impulsivity 4.21 0.87 4.40 0.75 -2.82** .77***<br />
Inhibitory Control 5.18 0.87 5.03 0.80 1.48 .46**<br />
Low-Intensity Pleasure 5.81 0.61 5.51 0.56 4.46*** .41**<br />
Perceptual sensitivity 5.32 0.85 5.09 0.66 2.95** .67***<br />
Sadness 3.49 0.84 3.41 0.69 0.94 .52***<br />
Shyness 3.20 1.17 3.24 1.08 -0.53 .81***<br />
Smiling/Laughter 5.86 0.59 5.65 0.66 2.90** .44**<br />
Superconstruct sumscores<br />
Extraversion 4.96 0.53 4.94 0.51 0.67 .85***<br />
Effortful Control 5.37 0.56 5.20 0.49 2.98** .56***<br />
Negative Affectivity 3.50 0.70 3.46 0.57 0.59 .62***<br />
p < .05. * p < .01. ** p < .001***<br />
53
Figure 7. Structural equation model showing associations between latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs<br />
measured in infancy <strong>and</strong> in middle childhood for mothers (n = 109) <strong>and</strong> fathers (n = 109), with the<br />
specific path from infant activity to the middle childhood extraversion superconstruct included in the<br />
model (path coefficients: mother/father). All the nonsignificant paths from infant negative <strong>and</strong> positive<br />
affectivity latent superconstructs are presented.<br />
Note. While the SEM allowing for father- <strong>and</strong> mother-rated across-time paths to form freely fitted the<br />
data well ( 2 /df = 1.3; RMSEA= .05; CFI = .902), so did the model where the across-time paths were<br />
constrained ( 2 /df = 1.3; RMSEA= .05; CFI = .901); the 2 difference test demonstrated no significant<br />
difference between these two models. In addition to intra-<strong>parental</strong> across-time paths, the models also<br />
specified cross-<strong>parental</strong> across-time paths. None of the cross-<strong>parental</strong> paths between the latent<br />
superconstructs were significant, <strong>and</strong> are, for the clarity of illustration, excluded from the figure<br />
3.3 Study III. Developmental transaction between <strong>parental</strong><br />
<strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
Preliminary analyses of the concurrent associations between study variables<br />
demonstrated significant agreement between parents’ ratings of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong><br />
that also increased over time, while no association between maternal <strong>and</strong> paternal<br />
<strong>personality</strong> traits extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism within a family was shown. At baseline,<br />
mothers’ <strong>and</strong> fathers’ higher extraversion correlated significantly with higher infant<br />
positive affectivity, rs = .23 <strong>and</strong> .35, respectively, <strong>and</strong> parents’ higher neuroticism with<br />
higher infant negative affectivity, .23 <strong>and</strong> .46, respectively. At follow-up, mothers’ <strong>and</strong><br />
fathers’ higher extraversion correlated significantly with higher child effortful control,<br />
rs = .24 <strong>and</strong> .26, respectively, <strong>and</strong> for fathers also with higher child extraversion,<br />
54
= .24 <strong>and</strong> for mothers with lower child negative affectivity, r = -.19. Mothers’ <strong>and</strong><br />
fathers’ higher neuroticism correlated significantly with higher child negative<br />
affectivity, rs = 42 <strong>and</strong> .35, respectively, <strong>and</strong> for fathers, with lower child effortful<br />
control, r = -.22 (for mothers, this association was nearly significant).<br />
There were significant over-time Pearson correlations between <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> infant/child <strong>temperament</strong>: mothers’ <strong>and</strong> fathers’ higher extraversion at baseline<br />
associated significantly with the child’s higher effortful control five years later, rs = .24<br />
<strong>and</strong> .20, respectively, <strong>and</strong> the parents’ higher neuroticism at baseline associated with the<br />
child’s higher negative affectivity five years later, rs = .34 <strong>and</strong> .25, respectively. The<br />
infants’ higher positive affectivity associated significantly with the mothers’ <strong>and</strong><br />
fathers’ higher extraversion 5 years later, rs = .29 <strong>and</strong> .42, respectively, <strong>and</strong> the infants’<br />
higher negative affectivity associated with parents’ higher neuroticism, rs = .19 <strong>and</strong> .39,<br />
respectively (for mothers, the association was nearly significant), <strong>and</strong> with lower<br />
extraversion in fathers, r = -.25.<br />
Multi-level analysis: Before proceeding to the multi-level analysis, a 2 -significance<br />
test was performed showing that the cross-lagged paths between <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> the infant’s/child’s <strong>temperament</strong> were similar in the maternal <strong>and</strong> paternal ratings<br />
(p >.10). The multilevel model including statistically significant paths of the<br />
stability/homotypic <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> the heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> of<br />
child’s <strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>and</strong> the statistically significant cross-lagged paths between the<br />
child’s <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> over five years are presented in Figure 8.<br />
The model showed an excellent fit ( 2 /df =1.6; RMSEA =.05; CFI =.989).<br />
While <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> (ps
neuroticism significantly predicted the child’s higher negative affectivity (p
3.4 Study IV. Transaction between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
3.4.1 Transaction between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> individual <strong>temperament</strong><br />
subscales<br />
Maternal stress measured in the infancy period correlated significantly with maternal<br />
stress five years later, r = .48, <strong>and</strong> mother’s initially higher stress was also correlated<br />
with the infant’s higher fear r = .18, distress to limitations, r = .31, <strong>and</strong> lower smiling<br />
<strong>and</strong> laughter r = -.15. Maternal higher stress experience in middle childhood correlated<br />
with the child’s higher fear, r = .21, <strong>and</strong> anger, r = .21, <strong>and</strong> with lower soothability,<br />
r = -.18, <strong>and</strong> attentional focusing, r = -.14.<br />
In the SEM, only one infant <strong>temperament</strong> subscale significantly predicted change in<br />
maternal stress over five years: a higher level of infant activity predicted a decrease in<br />
maternal stress from infancy to middle childhood when stress in the infancy period was<br />
controlled for (p
3.4.2 Transaction between maternal stress <strong>and</strong> latent <strong>temperament</strong><br />
superconstructs<br />
The factor structure for the latent superconstructs of positive affectivity <strong>and</strong> negative<br />
affectivity in infancy, <strong>and</strong> for those of extraversion, effortful control, <strong>and</strong> negative<br />
affectivity in middle childhood were confirmed in Study I <strong>and</strong> II. Figure 10 shows the<br />
path coefficients for a transactional model of maternal stress <strong>and</strong> latent <strong>temperament</strong><br />
constructs in infancy <strong>and</strong> middle childhood. The model gave a good fit to the data<br />
2 /df = 1.6; RMSEA = .04; CFI = .92), <strong>and</strong> showed that maternal stress experience in<br />
the infancy period predicted an increase in negative affectivity from infancy to middle<br />
childhood when initial infant negative affectivity was controlled for, but it did not<br />
predict extraversion or effortful control in middle childhood when infant <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
affectivity was controlled. Infant positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity did not predict any<br />
changes in maternal stress experience over time.<br />
Figure 10. A Transactional model of maternal stress <strong>and</strong> infant <strong>and</strong> child <strong>temperament</strong>al superconstructs.<br />
Straight lines are statistically significant * p < .05, *** p < .001.<br />
Note. Non-significant paths have been omitted from this final model with the exception of the path for the<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> from infant to child negative affectivity that controls for the <strong>continuity</strong> in estimating the change<br />
in negative affectivity ( 2 /df = 1.6, RMSEA = .04, CFI = .92)<br />
58
4 DISCUSSION<br />
The current study aimed, first, to establish the <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong> from the<br />
infant’s age of six months to the child’s age of five <strong>and</strong> a half years as perceived by both<br />
parents, <strong>and</strong> examine whether the developmental paths of infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> are<br />
similar in both parents’ eyes. Second, the study aimed to explore the transactional<br />
development of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism <strong>and</strong> ratings of<br />
infant/child <strong>temperament</strong>. Further, the transactional associations between <strong>parental</strong> more<br />
situational characteristics, namely maternal perceived overall stress, <strong>and</strong> ratings of<br />
infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> over this five-year period were examined.<br />
4.1 Continuity of parent-rated <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to<br />
middle childhood<br />
The present study conceptualized <strong>temperament</strong> as constitutional individual differences<br />
in reactivity <strong>and</strong> self- regulation, influenced over time by the interactions of heredity,<br />
maturation, <strong>and</strong> experience (Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Compared to, for example, the<br />
early stylistic framework of Chess <strong>and</strong> Thomas (1986), <strong>and</strong> the more dimensional<br />
approaches that identify basic <strong>temperament</strong>al traits, like Buss <strong>and</strong> Plomin’s (1984)<br />
genetically based emotionality-activity-sociability model, Goldsmith’s primary-<br />
emotion-based reactions (Goldsmith et al., 1987), or Kagan’s (1994) individual<br />
differences in behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar, the present conceptualization of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> also included self-regulative processes that serve to modulate (enhance or<br />
inhibit) reactivity (Rothbart & Bates, 2006). As the arousal <strong>and</strong> intensity of basic<br />
emotions <strong>and</strong> reactions in the child’s life are influenced by the child’s regulative<br />
capacities, defining <strong>and</strong> measuring these capacities supplements the picture of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> the measurement of predictive associations between early <strong>and</strong> later<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> adjustment.<br />
Besides depicting <strong>temperament</strong> as a within-person characteristic, <strong>temperament</strong> was<br />
also presented as an interactive construct. First, the child’s expressed <strong>temperament</strong> is<br />
assumed to affect <strong>and</strong> be affected by others; for example, the child’s level of reactivity<br />
may not stay the same during development, but be permanently <strong>and</strong> profoundly changed<br />
by regulative capacities that develop within interaction with the developmental context.<br />
Second, developmental interaction between <strong>temperament</strong>al behaviors that are controlled<br />
59
y separate genetic mechanisms is also acknowledged; for example, the child’s<br />
developing regulative capacities may affect the child’s tendency to express fear or<br />
distress over time, or negative affectivity may also downplay the development of<br />
effortful control.<br />
In the present study, theoretically relevant associations between <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
dimensions at six months of age <strong>and</strong> at the age of five-<strong>and</strong>-a-half years were shown, <strong>and</strong><br />
the results of the homotypic <strong>and</strong> heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> of individual <strong>temperament</strong><br />
subscales as perceived by both parents were, to a great extent, similar. Significant<br />
homotypic <strong>continuity</strong> was shown for infant activity level, smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter, distress<br />
to limitations <strong>and</strong> fear (nearly significant in father-ratings), while significant heterotypic<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> was shown for infant soothability <strong>and</strong> duration of orienting in both parents’<br />
ratings. In general, the <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>temperament</strong> subscales from infancy to middle<br />
childhood fulfilled the criteria of heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> or coherence, reflecting, besides<br />
over-time stability, also theory-based lawful change (Caspi & Roberts, 2001):<br />
associations of infant <strong>temperament</strong> were found with phenotypically different but closely<br />
correlated attributes, i.e., with attributes belonging to the same <strong>temperament</strong><br />
superconstruct in middle childhood, <strong>and</strong> subscales belonging to the broad categories of<br />
infant positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity showed differential developmental paths. It<br />
must, however, be acknowledged, that in Rothbart’s more recent work, a more fine-<br />
grained measure of infant <strong>temperament</strong> has been developed (Gartstein & Slobodskaya,<br />
2003); if this more recent version of IBQ with more subscales had been used, some of<br />
the present heterotypic continuities might even have proved to be homotypic in nature.<br />
As an example of heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong>, higher ratings of infant activity level<br />
predicted, besides higher activity in middle childhood, also aspects of later extraversion,<br />
e.g., approach anticipation <strong>and</strong> high-intensity pleasure, especially in mother-ratings.<br />
However, higher infant activity also showed developmental associations with a lower<br />
level of inhibitory control <strong>and</strong>, especially for fathers, with a higher tendency to express<br />
anger <strong>and</strong> less ability to soothe oneself. In developmental research, a high activity level<br />
has typically been associated with the development of extraversion, but also to<br />
impulsivity <strong>and</strong> poor behavioral control in young children (Hagekull & Bohlin, 1998;<br />
John, 1990; see also Caspi et al., 2005; Eaton, 1994). The present associations are thus<br />
in line with previous research, linking the activity-aspect of surgency with anger <strong>and</strong><br />
60
externalizing behavior (Putnam & Stifter, 2005; Rothbart et al., 2001; Rothbart et al.,<br />
2000b). With the father, the child’s initially higher activity level may have, more often<br />
than with the mother, resulted in manifestations of this less controlled <strong>and</strong> more<br />
negative aspect of extraversion. For example, during a more active, outgoing <strong>and</strong><br />
challenging interaction with the father (Paquette, 2004), even an active <strong>and</strong> energetic<br />
infant/child may be also susceptible to frustration <strong>and</strong> anger.<br />
Higher infant smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter in maternal <strong>and</strong> paternal ratings also predicted<br />
aspects of effortful control, like a stronger tendency to get pleasure from low-intensity<br />
stimuli, <strong>and</strong> higher levels of self-soothing <strong>and</strong> attentional capacities. This sign of<br />
positive affectivity in the infant may be a marker of self-regulatory capacity, i.e. reflect<br />
the developmental change from a largely reactive dimension in infancy towards a more<br />
effortfully controlled behavior in the service of cultural st<strong>and</strong>ards during childhood<br />
(Ahadi et al., 2003; Putnam et al., 2001; Rothbart et al., 2001). Early positive affect may<br />
also allow for the development of self-regulation by allowing more frequent encounters<br />
with experiences that are cognitively <strong>and</strong> affectively challenging, leading to greater<br />
opportunities to develop willful control, or, it may be that infants who display more<br />
positive emotionality elicit guidance from parents that may facilitate the development of<br />
attentional skills underpinning effortful control (Putnam et al., 2008).<br />
For infant fear <strong>and</strong> distress to limitations, that reflect the broad construct of negative<br />
affectivity, especially the associations of infant distress to limitations with a broader<br />
range of characteristics of negative affectivity in middle childhood supported earlier<br />
findings, showing different paths of development from infant fear <strong>and</strong><br />
frustration/distress-proneness (Derryberry & Rothbart, 2001; Goldsmith et al., 1999;<br />
Rothbart et al., 2000b). Further, while higher infant distress/frustration predicted later<br />
fear, depicting heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> in both parents’ ratings, it also predicted lower<br />
soothability, while initially higher fear, in turn, predicted also fewer signs of low<br />
intensity pleasure <strong>and</strong> smiling <strong>and</strong> laughter in both parents’ ratings. These inverse<br />
associations between early negative affect <strong>and</strong> later difficulties in the ability to recover<br />
from distress or excitement <strong>and</strong> a lack of expressed positive affect are in concordance<br />
with the suggestions of developmental interaction between traits, i.e., that<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>al negative reactivity may compromise the effective development of<br />
61
attentional <strong>and</strong> inhibitory mechanisms, or that early negative reactivity may<br />
compromise the development of expressions of positive affect (Putnam et al., 2008).<br />
Further, the heterogeneity of subscale-level behaviors, reflecting common underlying<br />
processes suggests the value of aggregating across narrowly delineated <strong>temperament</strong><br />
characteristics. Accordingly, at the level of latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs, no<br />
statistically significant differences between the mother- <strong>and</strong> father- rated predictive<br />
paths between infancy <strong>and</strong> middle childhood were found. The developmental links<br />
between affectively positive <strong>and</strong> well adjusted characteristics in infancy (i.e., smiling<br />
<strong>and</strong> laughter, orienting capacities <strong>and</strong> soothability) <strong>and</strong> later effortful control were<br />
especially noteworthy in both parents’ ratings, being, again, in line with the literature on<br />
the associations between positive affectivity <strong>and</strong> well functioning, adaptive control<br />
abilities. These early-emerging tendencies to focus attention, to enjoy calm activities,<br />
<strong>and</strong> benefit from <strong>parental</strong> soothing may also contribute to later regulation of negative<br />
emotions (Gaertner, Spinrad, & Eisenberg, 2008; Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003; Putnam et<br />
al., 2008; Robins, John, Caspi, Moffitt, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1996; Rothbart et al.,<br />
2001).<br />
Continuity of negative affectivity from infancy to middle childhood was also<br />
consistently shown in father- <strong>and</strong> mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong>. However, for the father-<br />
rated high negative affectivity (i.e., distress to limitations <strong>and</strong> fear) in infancy, a<br />
developmental trend towards low levels of effortful control-related characteristics (e.g.,<br />
inhibitory control, low-intensity pleasure, perceptual sensitivity) in middle childhood<br />
appeared, as also in subscale-level associations, somewhat more emphasized. Here, too,<br />
early negative reactivity can be assumed to compromise the development of effortful<br />
control (Putnam et al., 2008). It has, for example, been suggested that excess crying<br />
during early infancy may hamper the development of self-regulatory skills (Stifter &<br />
Spinrad, 2002).<br />
In developmental literature, it has been shown that the child’s self-regulative<br />
capacities develop <strong>and</strong> manifest in transaction with the caregiving environment (e.g.,<br />
Cole, Teti, & Zahn-Waxler, 2003; Eisenberg, Zhou, & Spinrad, 2005; Feldman,<br />
Greenbaum, & Yirmiya, 1999), <strong>and</strong> some variance in parent ratings of the<br />
manifestations of effortful control has been suggested to emerge due to caregivers’<br />
unique experiences with the child (Putnam et al., 2006; Carson & Parke, 1996; Paquette,<br />
62
2004). Parental agreement of the child’s effortful control in the current study was also a<br />
bit lower than for the other scales, a trend seen in other research as well: effortful-<br />
control-related characteristic are suggested to be somewhat less discernible or more<br />
variably expressed in the presence of different interaction partners (Majd<strong>and</strong>zic & van<br />
den Boom, 2008).<br />
While the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> is the same, where ever the child is, its overt<br />
manifestations may, to some extent, depend on the circumstances. In that respect, it can<br />
be suggested that mothers <strong>and</strong> fathers elicit somewhat different aspects of their child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>al behavior in their individual style of interaction with the child. Due to<br />
these behavioral differences in the contexts of relationships, both parents can also be<br />
“right” about their child’s <strong>temperament</strong>, while the two views may represent somewhat<br />
different aspects of reality, especially in the characteristics of effortful control.<br />
For example, observations comparing father–child <strong>and</strong> mother-child interaction have<br />
found that fathers frequently engage in play behaviors aimed at making the child more<br />
excited (see Paquette, 2004). Hence, with a playfully stimulating father, who may<br />
actively encourage the child’s exploration of the environment, these amplifying<br />
interactions may ultimately reach a limit; the over-stimulation of a more fearful or<br />
distress-prone infant/child may lead to a situation where the child’s control abilities do<br />
not quite meet the challenge. Some children may also find it more difficult to calm<br />
down the emotional aftermath of the situation (Paquette, 2004; Parke, 1994; Rorthbart<br />
et al., 2001). Further, the traditional role of fathers may, in some families, mean that the<br />
father usually interacts with the infant/child after his day at work, i.e., in the evening<br />
time, when the child’s mood <strong>and</strong> control abilities, as well as energy level may vary as a<br />
function of fatigue.<br />
Further, in the combined model of 109 fathers <strong>and</strong> 109 mothers, the predictive<br />
association between high activity <strong>and</strong> later extraversion (c.f. Eaton, 1994) was similar,<br />
but it did not reach statistical significance. However, in the models involving only<br />
mothers (n = 231) or only fathers (n = 115), the paths from infant activity to later<br />
extraversion were statistically significant. This predictive path from early activity to<br />
later extraversion was also shown in the recent study of Putnam <strong>and</strong> his colleagues<br />
(2008), where infant’s higher activity was associated with later characteristics belonging<br />
under the construct of extraversion (activity, high-intensity pleasure, impulsivity).<br />
63
Enriching <strong>and</strong> complementing the current study, the person-centered approach<br />
(Asendorpf & van Aken, 1999; Bergman & Magnusson, 2001) to <strong>continuity</strong> of mother-<br />
rated <strong>temperament</strong> types further showed that <strong>temperament</strong> characteristics in infancy <strong>and</strong><br />
in middle childhood clustered to form profiles indicative of three theoretically-based<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> types: relatively high levels of activity <strong>and</strong> positive characteristics in<br />
infancy <strong>and</strong> a lack of negative affectivity in infancy <strong>and</strong> middle childhood clustered in a<br />
type labeled as “resilient”. High activity in infancy <strong>and</strong> high negative affectivity in<br />
infancy <strong>and</strong> middle childhood, combined with relatively weak child self-regulative<br />
capacities, clustered in a type labeled “undercontrolled”. Furthermore, characteristics of<br />
infant activity <strong>and</strong> positive affectivity that did not rise to the average, accompanied with<br />
an average level of infant negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> with low childhood extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
relatively high levels of effortful control <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity clustered in a type<br />
labeled “overcontrolled”. These three profiles parallel the three widely established types<br />
depicting <strong>personality</strong> in childhood <strong>and</strong> in adulthood, namely the resilient,<br />
undercontrolled, <strong>and</strong> overcontrolled profiles, respectively (Asendorpf et al., 2001;<br />
Asendorpf & van Aken, 1999; Caspi & Silva, 1995; Robins et al., 1996).<br />
The current results thus provide further support for the <strong>continuity</strong> of childhood<br />
<strong>personality</strong> types by offering a theoretically fruitful way of illustrating how the infant<br />
<strong>and</strong> childhood <strong>temperament</strong> characteristics cluster to form stable <strong>temperament</strong> types that<br />
resemble <strong>personality</strong> types shown in <strong>personality</strong> research. The distinction between the<br />
internalizing (“overcontrolled”) <strong>and</strong> the externalizing (“undercontrolled”) negative<br />
affectivity in the profiles is likely to be related to the level of the infant’s initial activity,<br />
<strong>and</strong> to the activity of approach <strong>and</strong> self-regulation systems. The less intensive, relatively<br />
passive <strong>and</strong> fearful children may, for instance, begin to regulate their fear through<br />
inhibition (Kochanska & Knaack, 2003; van Brakel, & Muris, 2006) which, along with<br />
the originally low activity level, serves to further restrict approach behaviors <strong>and</strong> overt<br />
expression <strong>and</strong> sharing of affect. Inhibition may also begin to attenuate the child’s<br />
positive affect, resulting in internalizing emotions (Derryberry & Rothbart, 1997).<br />
It has also been suggested that extraversion (high activity <strong>and</strong> approach tendency)<br />
gives direction to manifestations of negative emotions in frustrating situations: while a<br />
high level of extraversion may lead the child to increase his or her external force, a<br />
lower level of extraversion may lead to more internalized reactions (Putnam et al., 2001,<br />
64
2008). The different types of negative affectivity are thus assumed to result from<br />
combined initial reactivity <strong>and</strong> developmental interactions between reactivity <strong>and</strong> self-<br />
regulation (Derryberry & Rothbart, 1997, 2001).<br />
4.2 Developmental transaction between parent <strong>and</strong> child<br />
characteristics<br />
4.2.1 Transactional development of <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong> child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
The <strong>continuity</strong> estimates of infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> reported in the first two studies<br />
still leave room for contextual factors. Thereby, the third study aimed at complementing<br />
our knowledge of reciprocal child-to-parent <strong>and</strong> parent-to-child effects in the<br />
development of <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits. More specifically, I<br />
examined stability <strong>and</strong> change in <strong>parental</strong> self-rated <strong>personality</strong> traits of extraversion<br />
<strong>and</strong> neuroticism in relation to the parents’ views of their child’s <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
affectivity sumscores <strong>and</strong> activity level from the infant’s age of six months to the<br />
child’s age of five <strong>and</strong> a half years.<br />
The concurrent <strong>and</strong> over-time correlations between <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> were essentially similar in both parents’ ratings, but also showed some<br />
differences in the salience of associations. Both parents’ higher extraversion at both<br />
time points associated with the infant’s higher positive affectivity <strong>and</strong> the child’s higher<br />
effortful control, <strong>and</strong> fathers’ higher extraversion at follow-up also associated with the<br />
child’s higher extraversion, while mothers’ higher extraversion at follow-up associated<br />
with the infant’s/child’s lower negative affectivity. This may be suggested to reflect the<br />
fathers’ more playful <strong>and</strong> exploration-encouraging interaction with the child (Paquette,<br />
2004), that may elicit similar behavior from the child; for mothers, positive interaction<br />
with the child may attenuate the risk of overstimulation-related negative affect. Further,<br />
the over-time associations between infant’s higher negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong><br />
lower extraversion <strong>and</strong> higher neuroticism at follow-up were more salient for fathers:<br />
the infant’s higher negative affect may have reduced the opportunities for paternal<br />
positive interaction with the child, resulting in lower paternal extraversion <strong>and</strong> higher<br />
neuroticism five years later. However, when the differences in the mother- <strong>and</strong> father-<br />
rated cross-paths between <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> the infant’s/child’s <strong>temperament</strong><br />
65
were tested, no statistically significant differences between maternal <strong>and</strong> paternal<br />
ratings were shown.<br />
In the final multilevel model, parents’ self-rated <strong>personality</strong> traits extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
neuroticism exhibited the expected high stability over five years, but also changed over<br />
time in relation to parents’ views of their child’s <strong>temperament</strong>. As hypothesized,<br />
perceiving the infant as higher in positive affectivity predicted an increase in <strong>parental</strong><br />
extraversion over five years. Furthermore, <strong>parental</strong> views of the infant’s higher activity<br />
level predicted a decrease in <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism over five years. Higher infant<br />
negative affectivity was not, however, significantly associated with an increase in<br />
<strong>parental</strong> neuroticism or a decrease in extraversion.<br />
Johnson et al. (2005) proposed that stability <strong>and</strong> intensification of a <strong>personality</strong> trait<br />
may result from a combination of genetic <strong>and</strong> continuing environmental influences.<br />
This goes well with the current results showing an increase in <strong>parental</strong> extraversion in<br />
response to perceived higher infant positive affectivity. Trait extraversion in itself<br />
associates with attention to positive interpersonal information <strong>and</strong> feedback (Uziel,<br />
2006). Living with a <strong>temperament</strong>ally positive child may have acted as an<br />
environmental constancy factor for the extraverted parent (Fraley & Roberts, 2005;<br />
Sameroff, 1995), thus contributing to the stability of <strong>and</strong> increase in <strong>parental</strong><br />
extraversion. The more extraverted parent may also have engaged in a parent–child<br />
interaction that fits <strong>and</strong> strengthens his/her own extraversion-related characteristics<br />
(Scarr & McCartney, 1983).<br />
To underst<strong>and</strong> the predictive association between the infant’s higher <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
activity <strong>and</strong> a decrease in <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism, the potential significance of the infant’s<br />
activity for the parent–child relationship should be considered. First, children’s activity<br />
level has been shown to be relatively stable from infancy onwards in the current data as<br />
in other studies (Putnam et al., 2006), <strong>and</strong> it may therefore be considered an important<br />
<strong>and</strong> enduring component at the core of the parent–child relationship. This characteristic<br />
of the relationship, stemming from the infant’s constitutional characteristics, is also<br />
beyond the control <strong>and</strong> selection of the parent (Johnson et al., 2005). Second, active<br />
infants have also been shown to be in less need of adult stimulation, with respect to the<br />
development of their cognitive abilities <strong>and</strong> mastery motivation (Wachs, 1987, 1992) or<br />
exploratory behavior (G<strong>and</strong>our, 1989). Thereby, with an initially active infant, the<br />
66
effects that <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism might have on the interaction with the child may not be<br />
able to reduce the infant’s lively <strong>and</strong> initiative behavior towards the parent.<br />
In <strong>personality</strong> research, the closest parallel to <strong>temperament</strong>al activity is perhaps in<br />
the energy or activity dimension within the extraversion factor (McCrae & John, 1992).<br />
Because high <strong>temperament</strong>al activity has thus been shown to underpin later extraversion<br />
(Blatny, Jelinek, & Osecka, 2007; Eaton, 1994; Hagekull & Bohlin, 1998), the child’s<br />
initially higher activity may also be accompanied by higher levels in other extraversion-<br />
related characteristics like positive affect, approach anticipation, lack of shyness <strong>and</strong><br />
sociability (Blatny et al., 2007; Rothbart et al., 2001). In the current data, the infant’s<br />
activity was, likewise, more strongly associated with the infant’s positive than negative<br />
affectivity. These extraversion-related characteristics of <strong>temperament</strong> have also been<br />
shown to be highly stable over the early years (Berdan, Keane, Calkins, 2008). Like a<br />
more active child, a child high in positive reactivity may also become activated at lower<br />
levels of <strong>parental</strong> stimulation (Rothbart, 1986).<br />
On the other h<strong>and</strong>, as Neyer <strong>and</strong> Lehnart (2007) propose, higher neuroticism may in<br />
itself include a high motivation for change. It is also important to acknowledge that<br />
higher <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism <strong>and</strong> related characteristics do not necessarily or<br />
automatically decrease the positive qualities of parenting, such as <strong>parental</strong><br />
responsiveness, tracking, or compliance to the children (Kochanska et al., 2004). It may<br />
be suggested that an infant, seen by the parent as high in activity, may promote positive<br />
qualities in a parent, or offer a chance for change by continuously challenging the parent<br />
to be more active <strong>and</strong> responsive. This process between the parent <strong>and</strong> the child could,<br />
over time, facilitate a change for the better in the parent’s neuroticism-related<br />
characteristics <strong>and</strong> feelings.<br />
One explanation for the lack of effect of infant negative affectivity in increasing<br />
<strong>parental</strong> neuroticism could be that the negative affectivity factor comprises the separate<br />
components of distress to novelty (fear) <strong>and</strong> distress to limitations. These<br />
characteristics, which at the age of six months are not differentiated enough to show any<br />
independent effects, may still differ somewhat in their overt expression, resulting in a<br />
somewhat less consistent effect on feelings <strong>and</strong> behaviors related to <strong>parental</strong><br />
neuroticism (see e.g., Rubin et al., 1999). The existing literature does not report entirely<br />
67
consistent associations between infant’s negative <strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics <strong>and</strong><br />
parenting experience either (Boivin, Pérusse, & Dionne, 2005; Rohtbart, 1986).<br />
The current results further suggest that extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism in adulthood<br />
may differ in terms of their susceptibility to environmental influence (see Fleeson,<br />
2007). In other words, experiences may differentially influence an individual’s<br />
development, because the impact of the environment is mediated by individual<br />
differences in the organism; even though Belsky’s differential susceptibility hypothesis<br />
originally refers to differences in the susceptibility of individuals high or low in specific<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>- or <strong>personality</strong> characteristics (Belsky, 1997), it could also be suggested<br />
that <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> characteristics per se, for example positive or negative<br />
affectivity, activity, neuroticism or extraversion, are differentially susceptible to<br />
environmental influence. Parental extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism may thus differ in terms<br />
of the degree to which parenting experiences in general may affect, i.e. increase or<br />
decrease, the level of that trait. Or, developmental changes in these <strong>parental</strong> traits may<br />
also differ according to specific environmental characteristics, like the child’s unique<br />
<strong>temperament</strong>.<br />
In terms of social investment theory, the parenting role comes with its own set of<br />
expectations <strong>and</strong> contingencies that calls for behaving in a certain fashion (Roberts et<br />
al., 2006a). In this study, the roles that the parents were committed to may have differed<br />
according to their perceptions of <strong>temperament</strong>al differences in their children (see e.g.,<br />
Paris & Helson, 2002; Sameroff & Fiese, 2000; Sirignano & Lachman, 1985), <strong>and</strong> these<br />
roles may have also differently contributed to the patterns of <strong>continuity</strong> <strong>and</strong> change in<br />
extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism. It can also be suggested that parents may change simply<br />
through learning generalization: while in the middle of the everyday interaction with the<br />
child, parents observe themselves acting in a certain way, <strong>and</strong> gradually come to a<br />
different opinion about themselves that eventually generalizes across domains (Roberts<br />
et al., 2006a).<br />
In Costa <strong>and</strong> McCrae’s <strong>personality</strong> model (McCrae et al., 2000), an individual’s self-<br />
concept is considered largely as a function of basic <strong>temperament</strong>al tendencies. The<br />
dynamic interaction of basic tendencies with the environment produces characteristic<br />
adaptations that comprise, for example, social relationships, skills, <strong>and</strong> habits.<br />
Successful coping with parenting situations with <strong>temperament</strong>ally unique children can<br />
68
e assumed to require a permanent reorganization of one’s priorities <strong>and</strong> characteristic<br />
adaptations to the environment: one could thus ask whether these characteristic<br />
adaptations can, over time, moderate parents’ own feelings <strong>and</strong> behaviors, <strong>and</strong> thereby<br />
also gradually modify their more ‘stable’ or basic self-concept, reflected in measures of<br />
extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism. Or, in other words, characteristics of extraversion <strong>and</strong><br />
neuroticism may shift over time along a continuous dimension extending from the<br />
trait’s core to its surface, <strong>and</strong> the core trait may become more unstable due to significant<br />
relationship experiences (Asendorpf & Van Aken, 2003).<br />
In addition to showing evidence of change in <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong>, our findings<br />
suggest that parents’ <strong>personality</strong> traits may change their views of their child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> over time. We found that parent’s own higher-rated extraversion promoted<br />
higher ratings in the child’s effortful control, while higher <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism<br />
promoted ratings of the child’s higher negative affectivity. These predictive associations<br />
are well in line with the voluminous literature showing that the more positive <strong>parental</strong><br />
characteristics contribute positively to the child’s development, while the less favorable<br />
<strong>parental</strong> characteristics may increase the risk for adverse development of the child (e.g.,<br />
Gartstein & Bateman, 2008; Propper & Moore, 2006; Spinrad et al., 2007; Stright et al.,<br />
2008). For example, parents’ extraversion-related positive affect during play may<br />
stimulate children’s interest in a task or refocus waning attention, as well as create a<br />
positive environment that increases enjoyment of such efforts (Gaertner et al., 2008).<br />
In this transactional setting, parents’ ratings of positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity in<br />
infants also showed theoretically relevant heterotypic <strong>continuity</strong> over five years (see<br />
also Putnam et al., 2008). The predictive paths between <strong>temperament</strong> sumscores, i.e.,<br />
the paths from higher positive affectivity in infancy to higher effortful control in middle<br />
childhood, <strong>and</strong> the paths from higher negative affectivity to lower effortful control <strong>and</strong><br />
higher negative affectivity in middle childhood were as hypothesized, <strong>and</strong> similar to<br />
those shown between latent <strong>temperament</strong> sumscores in Studies I <strong>and</strong> II. In addition, in<br />
the multilevel analysis, the infant’s higher negative affectivity sumscore also predicted<br />
lower extraversion in middle childhood.<br />
In recent literature, the construct positive affectivity has been shown to be a<br />
heterogenic composite, associated concurrently <strong>and</strong> longitudinally with both<br />
extraversion- <strong>and</strong> effortful control-related characteristics (Kochanska, Aksan, Penney,<br />
69
& Doobay, 2007). The infant’s own basic predisposition to positive affect, along with<br />
early signs of self-control, may explain the association between positive affect <strong>and</strong><br />
effortful control especially in the parent–child interaction (see Kochanska et al., 2007);<br />
as suggested by Putnam <strong>and</strong> his colleagues (2008), early emerging tendencies to focus<br />
attention <strong>and</strong> benefit from <strong>parental</strong> soothing may contribute to later regulation of<br />
emotions, while positive affect (tendency to smile <strong>and</strong> laugh) may also lead the child to<br />
experiences that promote the development of willful control <strong>and</strong> attention, or elicit<br />
guidance from parents that facilitates the development of attentional skills underpinning<br />
effortful control.<br />
The stability of parents’ views of the child’s negative affectivity over five years may<br />
reflect developmental <strong>continuity</strong> in the child’s negatively tuned reactions <strong>and</strong> behavior<br />
within the family context, due to the child’s own constitutional characteristics, as well<br />
as environmental characteristics (Scarr & McCartney, 1983). The path from the infant’s<br />
perceived higher negative affect sumscore to lower extraversion <strong>and</strong> effortful control in<br />
middle childhood may thus reflect initial difficulties in controlling fear <strong>and</strong> frustration<br />
within everyday situations, or a developmental process where negative emotion <strong>and</strong><br />
attentional processes continually <strong>and</strong> mutually influence one another across time,<br />
leading to a somewhat compromised development of attentional <strong>and</strong> inhibitory<br />
mechanisms in the more negatively affective infant (Gaertner et al., 2008; Stifter &<br />
Spinrad, 2002). At least, the challenge to control him- or herself <strong>and</strong> to approach new<br />
situations may be harder for the easily frustrated or fearful infant.<br />
In this transactional model, the child’s extraversion-sumscore did not contain aspects<br />
of anger-frustration or self-control which, in the other three studies, loaded significantly<br />
on the latent extraversion-superconstruct, presumably explaining the association<br />
between higher infant negative affect <strong>and</strong> higher child extraversion in those three<br />
studies. In this third study, the association between higher infant negative affectivity<br />
<strong>and</strong> lower child extraversion-sumscore may be explained by predictive associations<br />
between infant’s higher fearfulness <strong>and</strong> subsequent higher shyness <strong>and</strong> lack of<br />
extraverted characteristics like approach anticipation <strong>and</strong> high-intensity pleasure.<br />
I also examined whether <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> their views of the child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> showed parallel change over time (i.e., simultaneous change in parent <strong>and</strong><br />
child that was not explained by the predictive associations between infant <strong>and</strong> parent<br />
70
characteristics at baseline <strong>and</strong> at follow-up). Obviously, I cannot determine which, that<br />
is the parent or the child, or some other environmental or individual aspect of the parent<br />
or the child promoted the change. However, I found that an increase in the ratings of the<br />
child’s negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> a decrease in positive-affectivity- <strong>and</strong> attention-related<br />
characteristics from infancy to middle childhood were associated with an increase in<br />
<strong>parental</strong> neuroticism, while <strong>parental</strong> extraversion <strong>and</strong> infant/child <strong>temperament</strong> did not<br />
show any parallel change. These associations are well in line with what is reported in<br />
the literature (e.g., Belsky et al., 1991; Kochanska et al., 2004; Propper & Moore,<br />
2006), <strong>and</strong> complement the picture of transactional development between <strong>parental</strong><br />
<strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> infant/child <strong>temperament</strong>.<br />
4.2.2 Transactional development of maternal stress <strong>and</strong> child<br />
<strong>temperament</strong><br />
In the fourth study, maternal perceived overall stress was considered as an important<br />
situational factor that may, besides the more constitutional <strong>personality</strong> characteristics,<br />
influence mothers’ behavior <strong>and</strong> feelings at home. Maternal overall stress also belongs<br />
to the likely significant contextual elements in the early development of <strong>temperament</strong>,<br />
even though the child’s <strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics may, in turn, also act as<br />
significant contributors of stability or change in the level of mothers’ perceived amount<br />
of stress. Therefore, the fourth study aimed to explore the longitudinal relations between<br />
maternal perceptions of stress <strong>and</strong> mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong>al development of the child<br />
from infancy to middle childhood.<br />
Support for the hypotheses that mothers’ experience of overall stress would predict<br />
an increase in mothers’ ratings of <strong>temperament</strong>al maladjustment over time, <strong>and</strong> at the<br />
same time, mother-rated <strong>temperament</strong> traits in infancy would predict either an increase<br />
or a decrease in maternal stress was found. However, these effects were not shown in<br />
the same model, i.e., <strong>temperament</strong> did not influence <strong>and</strong> was not influenced by maternal<br />
stress in the same model. These results essentially complement prior, mainly cross-<br />
sectional, findings on the relations between <strong>parental</strong> stress <strong>and</strong> child behavior, by<br />
extending the period in question to cover the most important developmental phases in<br />
early childhood.<br />
71
Maternal experience of stress proved to be a rather stable mental state from the<br />
infant’s age of six months to five <strong>and</strong> a half years. In terms of changes in maternal stress<br />
over time due to child <strong>temperament</strong>, we found only one significant path from infant<br />
activity level to decreased maternal stress in the childhood period, controlling for the<br />
level of initial maternal stress. This finding that a decrease in maternal stress was<br />
associated with the parents’ views of their infant as high in <strong>temperament</strong>al activity goes<br />
well in line with the finding that higher infant activity also reduced <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism<br />
over this five-years period, <strong>and</strong> justifies the suggestions of the potential significance <strong>and</strong><br />
favorable effects of the infant’s activity for the parent–child relationship.<br />
The more energetic <strong>and</strong> active the child is, the more likely he/she will also be to<br />
continue interaction-eliciting behavior with the mother, regardless of the mother’s level<br />
of stress. Thereby, as in the case of <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism, the effects that maternal<br />
overall stress might have on her behavior towards the child, for example a tendency to<br />
withdraw from interaction (Repetti & Wood, 1997), may not be able to reduce the<br />
infant’s lively <strong>and</strong> initiative behavior. For the mother, focusing on the active child may<br />
serve as an everyday means of forgetting the other stresses of life: these less stressed,<br />
frequently occurring <strong>and</strong> intensive moments between mother <strong>and</strong> child may thus<br />
eventually attenuate maternal perceptions of her overall stress. Further, the more active<br />
child may not raise as much worry in a parent as a child that seems more vulnerable,<br />
timid or fearful does.<br />
It seemed that the changes in <strong>temperament</strong>al development from infancy to middle<br />
childhood originating in maternal stress during the infancy period were more prominent<br />
than changes in maternal stress. Changes in <strong>temperament</strong> included an increase in anger<br />
<strong>and</strong> a decrease in attentional focusing, as well as a decrease in soothability. At the level<br />
of latent <strong>temperament</strong> superconstructs of positive <strong>and</strong> negative affectivity, defined as in<br />
the first two studies, maternal stress in the infancy period predicted a higher level of<br />
child negative affectivity over time when infant negative affectivity was controlled for.<br />
These results are in line with prior knowledge of parent-effects on child development<br />
(Crnic et al., 2005). Maternal stress is thus likely to affect <strong>temperament</strong>al development<br />
in terms of both reactive (e.g., anger) <strong>and</strong> self-regulative functioning (attentional<br />
focusing <strong>and</strong> soothability). Similarly, the increase found in <strong>temperament</strong>al negative<br />
affectivity encompasses both internalizing aspects of child behavior (e.g., fearfulness,<br />
72
shyness, sadness, <strong>and</strong> discomfort) as well as indicators of low self-regulation (low<br />
attentional focusing, low soothability, <strong>and</strong> low inhibitory control).<br />
Earlier research has shown how <strong>parental</strong> stress experiences are related to parent–<br />
child interactions (Patterson, 1983; Snyder, 1991). Repetti <strong>and</strong> Wood’s (1997) notion of<br />
maternal withdrawal from the interaction due to stress is of particular interest with<br />
reference to the current findings. It could be hypothesized that <strong>parental</strong> stress-originated<br />
withdrawal reduces the moments of shared attention between the dyad, moments that<br />
are essential for the development of attention <strong>and</strong> self-regulation (Morales, Mundy,<br />
Crowson, Neal, & Delgado, 2005). In the current study, the predictive associations<br />
between higher maternal stress <strong>and</strong> the child’s reduced attentional <strong>and</strong> self-soothing<br />
capacities <strong>and</strong> ability to control anger/frustration complement these suggestions.<br />
4.3 General conclusions<br />
The current longitudinal study provided evidence for the theoretically relevant<br />
<strong>continuity</strong> of mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> from infancy to middle childhood,<br />
within the developmental psychobiological framework of Rothbart <strong>and</strong> her colleagues<br />
(Rothbart & Bates, 2006). It was also shown that the types characterizing childhood<br />
<strong>and</strong> adulthood <strong>personality</strong> may share common ground with <strong>temperament</strong> types from<br />
infancy onwards. Furthermore, the view that the development of children’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> is also sensitive <strong>and</strong> differentially susceptible to variability in contextual<br />
factors, represented in this study by <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> traits <strong>and</strong> perceived overall<br />
stress (Belsky, 1997; Van den Boom, 1994; Wachs, 2006), was also supported.<br />
For the adult <strong>personality</strong> traits extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism, high stability over five<br />
years was shown. However, it was also shown that the unique environmental forces<br />
within a family that individually affect <strong>temperament</strong>al development in a child may not<br />
disappear in adulthood: the development of parents’ <strong>personality</strong> traits seemed to be<br />
susceptible to their perceptions of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong>. Similarly, parents’<br />
experience of more situational factors, represented in this study by maternal perceptions<br />
of overall stress, also seemed to be susceptible to experiences with the child.<br />
The continuities <strong>and</strong> associations between parents’ <strong>and</strong> infants’/children’s<br />
characteristics found in this study were independent of child gender. The cross-lagged<br />
paths between <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> were also similar for mothers <strong>and</strong> fathers,<br />
73
fitting with evidence showing that the rank-order stability of adult <strong>personality</strong> (Caspi et<br />
al., 2005), <strong>and</strong> the extent to which various environmental factors affect individual<br />
differences in men’s <strong>and</strong> women’s personalities <strong>and</strong> associated characteristics (e.g.,<br />
Ansell & Pincus, 2004; Costa & McCrae, 1988; Neyer & Asendorpf, 2001) are<br />
unaffected by gender. In terms of stress, the associations between maternal stress <strong>and</strong><br />
child <strong>temperament</strong> were, as in previous studies (Deater-Deckard & Scarr, 1996), also<br />
independent of child gender. While the current study investigated only maternal stress,<br />
similar indications <strong>and</strong> associations can be assumed for both parents’ stress (Deater-<br />
Deckard, & Scarr, 1996; Deater-Deckard et al., 1994).<br />
4.4 Weaknesses <strong>and</strong> strengths of the study<br />
There are limitations to this study that that should be borne in mind in the interpretation<br />
of the findings. First, there were no intermediate assessments of <strong>temperament</strong> between<br />
infancy <strong>and</strong> five-<strong>and</strong>-a-half years of age available: intermediate assessments certainly<br />
would have specified more exactly the developmental paths of <strong>temperament</strong>. For the<br />
third <strong>and</strong> fourth study, examining the developmental transaction between <strong>parental</strong><br />
<strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> stress <strong>and</strong> the child’s <strong>temperament</strong>, one limitation is related to the lack<br />
of micro-level interactional patterns between parent–child dyads that would illuminate<br />
the paths between the predictor <strong>and</strong> outcome variables in a more detailed fashion.<br />
In <strong>temperament</strong> research, the question of objectivity in measuring child behavior<br />
according to <strong>parental</strong> reports is also still open to debate (Kagan, 1994, 1998; Seifer et<br />
al., 2004). Kagan (1998), for example, noted that parents may be prone to form an<br />
unintended but consistent disposition towards the child, although the prior experiences<br />
of the child may not have been that consistent. However, sources of observational error<br />
exist also in artificial laboratory settings, for example errors related to the characteristics<br />
of the rater, or effects of the situation or measure on child behaviors, or interactions<br />
between rater characteristics <strong>and</strong> child behavior (Rothbart & Goldsmith, 1985). Further,<br />
in the more objective assessment settings, only a limited set of behaviors can be evoked.<br />
Especially in the case of positive affectivity, some children could be less likely to<br />
express positive affect in the laboratory, relative to other more familiar settings where<br />
the parents are able to see this behavior (Gartstein & Marmion, 2008; Rothbart &<br />
Goldsmith, 1985). The unfamiliar laboratory setting may also make the child exhibit<br />
74
more fearful reactions than what is representative of his/her general level of fearfulness<br />
in everyday life (Rothbart & Goldsmith, 1985). Accordingly, recent evidence points to<br />
greater predictive validity <strong>and</strong> greater situational consistency of parent-ratings in<br />
comparison to these more objective perceptions (Majd<strong>and</strong>zic & van den Boom, 2007;<br />
Pauli-Pott et al., 2003). Because <strong>temperament</strong> exerts its effect on the child’s everyday<br />
life, Rothbart’s measures also allow the empirical investigation of <strong>temperament</strong> in<br />
various situations <strong>and</strong> social contexts. The possibility of <strong>parental</strong> inaccuracy <strong>and</strong> bias is<br />
further minimized by asking for frequencies of recent, specific, <strong>and</strong> concrete behaviors<br />
in response to common everyday stimuli (Rothbart, 1981; Rothbart et al., 2001). The<br />
items in the infant <strong>and</strong> child behavior questionnaires are also worded in a simple <strong>and</strong><br />
straightforward manner, in order to minimize misinterpretation (Putnam et al., 2001).<br />
The relatively small sample sizes <strong>and</strong> response rates in this study also restrict the<br />
external validity of the findings. Especially, due to the inclusion criteria for family units<br />
in Study II <strong>and</strong> III, i.e., both parents had to provide complete data on all of the study<br />
variables at the baseline <strong>and</strong> at the follow-up, the drop-out rate was relatively high.<br />
Even though the study sample was representative of the initial population,<br />
generalizations should still be drawn with caution.<br />
Further, using the same informant for parents’ as well as infant’s/child’s<br />
characteristics evokes the question of shared method variance. However, the important<br />
advantage of path analysis <strong>and</strong> the analysis of correlated change is that it reduces shared<br />
method variance: because the path coefficients control for the indirect paths, which<br />
contain the full bias, the error is, at least partly eliminated (Neyer & Asendorpf, 2001).<br />
Beyond that, it should also be acknowledged that the causality between parent <strong>and</strong> child<br />
cannot be considered straightforward enough to enable the isolation of any single factor<br />
as the sole origin of a developmental outcome. In other words, the analyses of cross-<br />
paths <strong>and</strong> correlated change in the present study are unable to provide conclusive<br />
evidence of causal effects, because the study designs did not allow us to rule out<br />
alternative explanations, such as the coaction of other, for example genetic- or<br />
community-level -factors, that push the development forward.<br />
75
4.5 Theoretical <strong>and</strong> clinical implications<br />
Characteristics of <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>temperament</strong> are theoretically <strong>and</strong> empirically related<br />
(Caspi et al., 2005; Rothbart et al., 2000a), <strong>and</strong> closely associated with individuals’ well<br />
being <strong>and</strong> psychosocial adjustment (e.g., Auerbach et al., 2008; Costa & McCrae, 1980;<br />
Eisenberg, et al., 2007; Hampson, 2008; Löckenhoff, Sutin, Ferrucci, & Costa, 2008;<br />
Nigg, 2006; Ramos, Guerin, Gottfried, Bathurst, & Oliver, 2005; Roberts et al., 2007;<br />
Steel, Schmidt, & Shultz, 2008). While no clear consensus yet exists concerning the<br />
exact nature of <strong>temperament</strong> or <strong>personality</strong>, an integrated underst<strong>and</strong>ing of the<br />
constructs, their development <strong>and</strong> associations with environmental influences <strong>and</strong><br />
various clinically relevant outcomes is of increasing interest for both researchers <strong>and</strong><br />
clinicians. Therefore, evidence of <strong>continuity</strong>, as well as every association between<br />
changes in the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> is both theoretically <strong>and</strong><br />
clinically meaningful.<br />
In the current study, <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> were seen as broadly overlapping<br />
domains, with <strong>temperament</strong> providing the primarily biological basis for the developing<br />
<strong>personality</strong> (Caspi et al., 2005; Costa & McCrae, 2000; Goldsmith et al., 1987; Rothbart<br />
et al., 2000a). Besides the genetic association between <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong><br />
(e.g., Goldsmith et al., 1987), it was also acknowledged that <strong>temperament</strong> develops <strong>and</strong><br />
includes also later appearing elements, which further relates <strong>temperament</strong> to the<br />
construct of <strong>personality</strong>. Temperament <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> were also considered most<br />
meaningful in social contexts.<br />
Thereby, the results of the current study were in line with the definition of<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> as early appearing individual differences that; first, are relatively stable<br />
across situations; second, are not all visible at birth, but become visible during time; <strong>and</strong><br />
third, are shaped by both hereditary <strong>and</strong> environmental factors. Interaction between<br />
different <strong>temperament</strong> dimensions during development was also acknowledged. Further,<br />
it was acknowledged that the same environment may have a unique influence on the<br />
level of more than one dimension of <strong>temperament</strong> or <strong>personality</strong> at the same time.<br />
For <strong>temperament</strong>, the results of the current study were in line with Rothbart’s<br />
theoretical framework, highlighting especially the developmental coherence of positive<br />
<strong>and</strong> negative affectivity, as well as the interplay between reactivity <strong>and</strong> self-regulation<br />
in growth from infancy to middle childhood (Rothbart & Bates, 2006), from the<br />
76
perspectives of both of the child’s parents. The predictive validity of both parents’<br />
ratings was also supplemented, which further emphasizes the importance of both<br />
parents in developmental research. The confirmatory factor solution, shown to fit the<br />
data well among six to seven years olds in Rothbart et al. (2001), was also replicated in<br />
this Finnish sample. Thereby, as an additional contribution, the current study further<br />
validated the measures <strong>and</strong> constructs of Rothbart <strong>and</strong> her colleagues (Rothbart et al.,<br />
2001).<br />
The individual level <strong>temperament</strong> profiles further illustrated how the common basis<br />
of <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> can be profiled in terms of infant/child <strong>temperament</strong><br />
dimensions. In a more practical or clinical sense, the resilient, under- <strong>and</strong> overcontrolled<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> types showed how the early <strong>temperament</strong> variables may assume their<br />
actual meaning in relation to other variables in an individual’s profile (Janson &<br />
Mathiesen, 2008).<br />
The current study also highlighted the relevance of <strong>temperament</strong> as a relational <strong>and</strong><br />
interactional construct (e.g., Rothbart & Bates, 2006), in which individual differences in<br />
ways of regulating experiences are particularly susceptible to social influences. Instead<br />
of conceptualizing <strong>temperament</strong> only as a set of traits inherent in the child, <strong>temperament</strong><br />
was, thus, also seen as a set of individual differences in the way children regulate<br />
experience (Rothbart & Bates, 2006). In terms of theory-based change or lawful<br />
dis<strong>continuity</strong> (Caspi & Roberts, 1999), the results of the present study were in line with<br />
literature suggesting that the development of infant <strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>and</strong> especially the<br />
characteristics related to the development of negative affectivity <strong>and</strong> attentional <strong>and</strong><br />
self-regulative capacities may be affected, besides genetic influence, by the unique<br />
environment of the infant (Belsky, 1997; Belsky, Goldsmith et al., 1999; Hsieh, &<br />
Crnic, 1998; Gilissen, Bakermans-Kranenburg, van IJzendoorn, & van der Veer, 2008;<br />
Kochanska, 1995, 1997), here conceptualized as <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> experienced<br />
overall stress.<br />
For adult <strong>personality</strong> traits extraversion <strong>and</strong> neuroticism, theory-based high rank-<br />
order stability over five years was shown (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000; Terracciano et<br />
al., 2006). However, despite high consistency, evidence of the possibility of<br />
theoretically relevant non-normative change in these <strong>temperament</strong>-based <strong>personality</strong><br />
traits, due to important <strong>and</strong> enduring interpersonal relations (Neyer & Asendorpf, 2001;<br />
77
Robins et al., 2002) was also gained. More specifically, the current study suggests that<br />
individuals seem to be able to maintain their level of extraversion, perhaps even in less<br />
favorable environments, <strong>and</strong> be able to utilize a chance, at least in the form of the<br />
child’s positive affectivity, to become more extraverted. In the case of neuroticism, <strong>and</strong><br />
also in the more situational experience of life as stressful, this study suggests that<br />
individuals may be prone to detect reasons for decreasing the levels of these less<br />
favorable behaviors <strong>and</strong> feelings (see Neyer & Asendorpf, 2001), while also the risk for<br />
cumulative effects of the more negative parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics seem to be true<br />
for higher <strong>parental</strong> neuroticism <strong>and</strong> negatively tuned situational experiences like higher<br />
<strong>parental</strong> overall stress.<br />
The similarities found in the <strong>temperament</strong>-associations for neuroticism <strong>and</strong> stress are<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>able, as individuals who score high on neuroticism are also known to be<br />
easily overwhelmed by stressful experiences (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1992). However,<br />
whereas self-ratings of neuroticism rise from a range of individual <strong>temperament</strong>-based<br />
characteristics, parents’ perceptions of stress may also result from situational factors,<br />
like objectively higher amounts of stressful phenomena in their life. Parental experience<br />
of life as stressful, caused by either environmental or individual-level causes, may still<br />
have a detrimental effect on the proximal processes between parent <strong>and</strong> child, evidenced<br />
here as increases in negative aspects of child <strong>temperament</strong>.<br />
In a transactional sense, the predictive associations <strong>and</strong> simultaneous change between<br />
parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics detected in this study may have involved both evocative<br />
<strong>and</strong> reactive person–environment transactions that, within a family, may be suggested to<br />
lead to discontinuities as well as continuities in <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong>, causing<br />
simultaneous change (Scarr & McCartney, 1983). Or it may have been that parents <strong>and</strong><br />
children proactively created environments that fitted <strong>and</strong> strengthened their<br />
characteristics, <strong>and</strong> these environments further promoted their genetically concordant<br />
characteristics (Scarr & McCartney, 1983). The current study also provided evidence of<br />
how these within-family experiences may differentially influence an individual’s<br />
development, in terms of <strong>temperament</strong>- or <strong>personality</strong>-related differences in<br />
susceptibility of unique environments in childhood as in adulthood. In terms of Belsky’s<br />
(1984) ecological model, the idea of intertwined developmental influence between the<br />
78
three main classes of factors within a family, namely the parents’ own <strong>personality</strong> traits,<br />
perceived overall stress <strong>and</strong> the child’s <strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics, was supported.<br />
Considering the developmental relevance of <strong>parental</strong> views, it may be suggested that<br />
the over-time <strong>continuity</strong> of <strong>parental</strong> views of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong>, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
bidirectional influences between parent’s views of their own <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong> the child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> may be those that matter the most, because this is the intimate <strong>and</strong><br />
enduring environment that is probably the most influential for both parent <strong>and</strong> child.<br />
Whether parents’ individual characteristics shape their subjective interpretations of their<br />
child or not, these interpretations are those that come to life between parent <strong>and</strong> child.<br />
Similarly, <strong>parental</strong> perceptions of situational characteristics like overall stress can be<br />
viewed as a combination of objective stressful events, coping processes <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong><br />
factors that together form the outcome variable of perceived stress, which may then put<br />
a strain on the everyday interaction of the parent <strong>and</strong> the child.<br />
Further, considering the clinical relevance of early <strong>temperament</strong>, a child’s<br />
<strong>temperament</strong> as it interacts with the environment, here conceptualized as the interaction<br />
between parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics may be a better predictor of developmental<br />
outcomes than <strong>temperament</strong> alone (Rothbart & Putnam, 2002). Given the increasing<br />
evidence of the influence of contextual characteristics upon central nervous system<br />
development (e.g., Nelson & Bloom, 1997; Schore, 2001), it can be assumed that the<br />
proximal processes between parent <strong>and</strong> child could also have an influence on the<br />
constitutional underpinnings of <strong>temperament</strong>al characteristics. Within <strong>personality</strong> trait<br />
theory, it is also acknowledged that an increased underst<strong>and</strong>ing of the mechanisms or<br />
correlates of rank-order change in the <strong>temperament</strong>-based <strong>personality</strong> traits may further<br />
allow the development of effective therapeutic interventions even during adulthood<br />
(McCrae, 2001).<br />
Furthermore, the predictive associations, along with the parallel changes in parents’<br />
self-rated neuroticism <strong>and</strong> overall stress <strong>and</strong> the child’s <strong>temperament</strong> highlight the<br />
importance of paying attention to the cumulative effects of parents’ self-representations<br />
<strong>and</strong> the child’s <strong>temperament</strong>, at least when evaluating the developmental risks or<br />
planning any therapeutic endeavors for a specific family (see e.g. Gartstein & Sheeber,<br />
2004; Martorell & Bugental, 2006). Additional clinical relevance for recognizing the<br />
negative cumulative effects of parent <strong>and</strong> child characteristics comes from the existing<br />
79
esearch showing that especially the more negative or challenging <strong>temperament</strong>al<br />
characteristics in a young child are more susceptible to the harmful influence of less<br />
optimal <strong>parental</strong> characteristics (Belsky, 1997).<br />
However, the present study also suggests that, if offered a strong <strong>and</strong> enduring<br />
enough environmental chance for change, parents’ <strong>and</strong> children’s reasonably stable<br />
psychological characteristics may also be changed for the better. It may be proposed<br />
that extraversion <strong>and</strong> individual <strong>temperament</strong>-dimensions linked with that trait can be<br />
considered as buffering or protective factors in the child’s as well as in the adult’s life,<br />
especially within their intertwined development during the child’s early years.<br />
In sum, the current study showed that parent-rated <strong>temperament</strong> shows moderate to<br />
high levels of <strong>continuity</strong> from infancy to middle childhood, <strong>and</strong> that the <strong>continuity</strong> of<br />
mother- <strong>and</strong> father-rated <strong>temperament</strong> is quantitatively <strong>and</strong> qualitatively similar.<br />
Theoretically relevant links between childhood <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>personality</strong> types were<br />
also shown. Furthermore, this study offered evidence of concurrent <strong>and</strong> predictive<br />
bidirectional associations between child <strong>temperament</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>parental</strong> <strong>personality</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
perceived stress. Thereby, this study also emphasizes the importance of paying attention<br />
to the transactional effects of parents’ <strong>personality</strong>- <strong>and</strong> stress-related characteristics <strong>and</strong><br />
views of the child’s <strong>temperament</strong>, especially when evaluating the risks <strong>and</strong> protective<br />
factors for a specific family.<br />
80
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