Characteristics And Types Of Childhood Temperament
The infant temperament has been an area much studied by theorists of clinical and developmental psychology. Among them, it is worth highlighting Thomas and Chess. Through their studies, this pair of American psychiatrists created a classification on the characteristics and types of childhood temperament. His research is, today, a benchmark for understanding children’s temperament.
About temperament
The term “temperament” has different meanings. However, most scientists agree with the following meaning: “a temperamental predisposition refers to a distinctive profile of feelings and behaviors that originate in the child’s biology and appear early in development.”
In reality, temperamental traits are not learned behaviors, but rather behaviors that are present at birth. Therefore, temperament has a genetic component.
Now, over time, temperament also develops and will eventually determine the child’s personality. In such a way that our personality will be the result of the interaction of the child’s temperament with the environment.
According to the researchers, temperamental characteristics help to understand the complex psychology of the child. Therefore, if parents and educators know these characteristics, we can better understand the child’s reactions and help him in his education and well-being.
Next, we will see what traits or characteristics define childhood temperament and what types of temperament exist. We will do this based on the research of child psychiatrists Thomas and Chess.
Characteristics of childhood temperament
The study by Thomas and Chess consisted of observing the characteristics of 141 children from 85 families. From their study, they identified nine traits or characteristics of childhood temperament. These characteristics, already present at birth, will configure the origins of the personality. Let’s see each one of them:
- Activity level. It has to do with the child’s motor activity. It is observed how often the infant moves in the daily interaction with the parents and during the hours of sleep or wakefulness.
- Rhythmicity. Indicates the regularity of biological functions. These are the sleep-wake, nutrition-deposition cycles, etc.
- Approach / avoidance. Determine the child’s disposition to novel situations, places, people or things. That is, it evaluates the initial response that the child has to new stimuli and to new people.
- Adaptability. The ability to adapt to the stimuli evaluated in the previous point is observed. Thus, it describes how the infant copes with changes or transitions.
- Intensity. It refers to whether the child is more or less expressive. The intensity of response to emotions such as joy, sadness or anger is observed.
More characteristics of the childhood temperament
- Sensory threshold. Defines the sensitivity that the little one shows to physical stimuli, such as noise, temperature, light, etc. Thus, the level of stimulation that the child needs to respond to a stimulus is observed.
- Mood. Determine the number of positive or negative responses the infant shows. A positive disposition reflects cheerful and expansive children. On the contrary, a negative disposition reflects serious and irritable children.
- Distractability. Indicates the level of concentration to be distracted by external stimuli when the child performs a task. Likewise, distractibility has to do with how these external stimuli interfere with the child’s behavior.
- Persistence / attention. It determines the ability of the infant to continue with an activity when it is difficult or when obstacles appear.
Types of childhood temperament
According to Thomas and Chess, the combination of these nine behavior patterns gives rise to three types of childhood temperament: difficult, easy and slow reacting children. Three types of children that parents easily recognize. Let’s look at each of them.
Difficult children (10%)
Children with this type of temperament are irregular when it comes to eating and sleeping. Likewise, they are children with a high level of activity and little capacity to adapt, which is why they tend to reject and withdraw from novel or strange situations.
Regarding their mood, they are irritable and aggressive, with little emotional self-regulation and a negative mood. Faced with external stimuli, they respond intensely.
Easy kids (40%)
Easy children are children with high rhythmicity. They show interest in new experiences and novel situations. They also have the ability to adapt well to changes. Your responses to emotions are of low or moderate intensity. Easy children have a positive mood, they are cheerful and affectionate.
Slow reacting children (10%)
Slow-reacting children are not very active and not accessible, that is, shy and fearful children. Faced with the unknown, their first reaction is to move away, but over time, they adapt to changes. Like difficult children, they have a negative mood and a reaction of low or moderate intensity to external stimuli.
This type of temperament causes that the little ones have difficulties to initiate social relations. This is due to their hesitancy, shyness, and poor accessibility.
To keep in mind about the characteristics and types of childhood temperament
Research suggests different parenting strategies based on a child’s temperament. Thus, children with difficult temperaments require more restrictive control and a lower level of parental negativity. Slow-reacting toddlers need to be encouraged to explore novel situations, and in fearful children, gentle and moderate parental discipline is good.
Therefore, as parents and educators, we should know the characteristics and temperament type of our children. This fact will help us to better understand and understand the little one and his reactions.
