Temperament and Children

The book presents an empirical model of commonly occurring individual differences in children that is derived from a large-scale research effort assessing parental and teacher perceptions of children in middle childhood. It examines eight characteristic behavioral traits, most of which have been widely shown to be present in infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children. The book demonstrates the importance of considering profiles of these relatively stable individual differences for the educational, social, and emotional life of the child. It describes characteristic behaviors of children within each profile - emphasizing the assets and liabilities of each - and how they are perceived by their parents, teachers, and peers. Chapters explore issues related to the most developmentally effective management of children exhibiting each profile type. In addition, the book addresses a critical need in child development, parenting, and teaching to understand the wide range of individual differences observed every day in school-aged children. Not only does this volume underscore that commonly occurring differences can be understood as being normal and do not suggest a pathology, it also discusses implications of the model in diagnosing pathology. The book describes what is known about the stability of temperament behaviors and profiles across the lifespan as well as the origins of these behaviors. Key topics addressed include: