The structure of child temperament as measured by the Polish versions of the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire and the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire: insight from the network psychometrics approach

Introduction The model proposed by Rothbart is one of the most frequently used models to describe children’s temperament. However, the structure of temperamental traits in children is not unambiguous. We examine this structure in children from 3 to 10 years of age using two different measures in a less often studied cultural context (i.e., central Europe), and using a recently developed and still less common approach to study the internal structure of scales (i.e., network psychometrics). Material and methods This paper examines the structure of temperamental dimensions in children using two different measures – the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) and the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire (TMCQ) – in two studies conducted on children aged 4-7 years (N = 178; CBQ) and aged 7-10 years (N = 189; TMCQ). We verified the structural validity of these measures with a bootstrapped exploratory graph analysis, which represents the network psychometric approach. Results Network psychometric analysis supported differentiation of three factors of temperamental traits in both groups of children. In addition, the construct validity of these instruments was supported through correlations of the temperament factors measured by the CBQ and the TMCQ with Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Shyness scales measured with the EAS Temperament Survey; and through confirmation of expected gender differences in the CBQ and TMCQ factors. Conclusions Our findings support a three-factor solution of temperamental traits in children representing Negative Affectivity, Effortful Control, and Surgency