High- and low-reactive temperamental profiles: Longitudinal implications.

This study was a follow-up to a longitudinal investigation of the relation between an early temperamental classification of high and low reactivity and behavior and attitudes expressed a decade later (n = 131). There were three goals of the study. Because of the conflicting reports regarding the consistency of mother and children reports, this study used a multi-method approach and investigated the relationship between children's self-reports, parents' assessments, and independent assessments of the children's behaviors. Children and their mothers were interviewed extensively. For a more independent evaluation of children's behavior, their classroom teachers were also briefly interviewed. In addition, an in-home interviewer rated the child on a range of behaviors, and children's behaviors in an unfamiliar setting, a university laboratory, were observed. There was consistency across these reports of children's behavior. Second, the current study represented a unique opportunity to explore the long-term implications of early reactivity to novelty on several areas of functioning in middle childhood. In particular, presence of anxious symptoms and fearfulness was assessed as was shyness and social competence, and oppositional defiant behaviors. Children originally classified as high reactive were rated as more anxious by their mothers, but they did not express significantly more anxieties than those originally classified as low reactive. Moreover, there were no differences in reported levels of fear. High Reactive children were more likely to report being shy and also considered more shy by observers. There were no differences in the reported levels of problem behavior. The final goal of this project was to construct a picture of bi-directional parent-child influences on the development of child behaviors and attitudes. It was found that parents of children originally classified as high reactive were more likely to isolate their children and less likely to use reason than mothers of children originally classified as low reactive. Mothers of high reactive children who were likely to isolate and unlikely to use reason considered their children more anxious and more argumentative than mothers of high reactive children who used the opposite parenting style. Other child outcomes were examined, including sociability, shyness, and oppositional defiant behavior.PhDDevelopmental psychologyPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123598/2/3096104.pd