Measuring Preschool Children Temperament: Implications for Preschool Care and Education Practice
Keywords:
Downloads
Abstract
With the aim of measuring preschool children temperament, EASI temperament Survey has been applied. Preschool teachers (N=192), all female, rated a total of N=3275 children (1612 girls and 1639 boys) with mean age M 4.368 (SD=1.482) within age range between 7 months and 7.7 years. Validation for the instrument was run. Factor analysis on principal components with Oblimin rotation and reliability analysis were performed on data based on preschool teachers’ ratings. Three-factor solution has been determined: Emotionality, Activity and Sociability, which have explained 57.427% variance. As it was expected, impulsivity component was not replicated. Subscales inter-correlations and gender and age differences confirmed results from prior research. Overall, the findings were discussed within the frame of preschool children temperament development and variables related to the characteristics of observers. Several significant implications for preschool teachers practice and the quality of educational process have been emphasized
Downloads
References
Angleitner, A. & Ostendorf, F. (1994). Temperament and the big five factors of personality. In: C. F. Halverson, G. A. Kohnstamm & R. P. Martin (Eds), The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood (pp. 69-90). Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Google Scholar CrossrefArcus, D. (2001). Inhibited and uninhibited children: Biology in the social context. In T. Wachs & G. A. Kohnstamm (Eds.), Temperament in context (pp. 43-60). Mahwah, NJ. Erlbaum.
Google Scholar CrossrefBould, H., Joinson, C., Sterne, J. & Araya, R. (2013). The Emotionality Activity Sociability Temperament Survey: Factor analysis and temporal stability in a longitudinal cohort. Personality and Individual differences, 54, 628-633.
Google Scholar CrossrefBaltes, P. B. (1997). On the incomplete architecture of human ontogeny. American Psychologist, 52, 366–380.
Google Scholar CrossrefBates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., & Ridge, B. (1998). Interaction of temperamental resistance to control and restrictive parenting in the development of externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 34, 982-995.
Google Scholar CrossrefBerk, L. E. (2007). Psihologija cjeloživotnog razvoja (The psychology of life-span development. In Croatian). Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap.
Google Scholar CrossrefBould, H., Joinson, C., Sterne, J. & Araya, R. (2013). The Emotionality Activity Sociability Temperament Survey: Factor analysis and temporal stability in a longitudinal cohort. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 628-633.
Google Scholar CrossrefBrajša-Žganec, A. (2002). Roditeljske emocije i socio-emocionalni razvoj djece, Suvremena psihologija, 5(2), 319-321.
Google Scholar CrossrefBuss, A. & Plomin, R. (1975). A temperament theory of personality development. New York: Wiley.
Google Scholar CrossrefBuss, A. H. & Plomin, R. (1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Google Scholar CrossrefDiamond, S. (1957). Personality and temperament. New York: Harper.
Google Scholar CrossrefGoldsmith, H. H., Reiser-Danner, L. A., & Briggs, S. (1991). Evaluating convergent and discriminant validity of the temperament questionnaires for preschoolers, toddlers, and infants. Developmental Psychology, 27, 566–579.
Google Scholar CrossrefKochanska, G. (1997). Multiple pathways to conscience for children with different temperaments: From toddlerhood to age 5. Developmental Psychology, 33, 228-240.
Google Scholar CrossrefKochanska, G., Aksan, N., & Joy, M. E. (2007). Children’s fearfulness as a moderator of parenting in early socialization: Two longitudinal studies. Developmental Psychology, 43, 222-237.
Google Scholar CrossrefKovačić, S., Milotti, S. & Ranogajec-Benaković, K. (2006). Distribucija rezultata djece školskih obveznika na Upitniku temperamenta (EASI) i usamljenosti (The distribution of sschool aged children on EASI Temperament Survey and Loneliness Questionnaire. In Croatian). In: J. Jelčić, J. Lopižić, G. Lugović & Z. Sušanj (Eds.), Zbornik sažetaka – 14. godišnja konferencija hrvatskih psihologa "Ljudski potencijali kroz životni vijek", Šibenik (p. 12), Šibenik: Croatian psychological Association – Psychological Association Šibenik.
Google Scholar CrossrefLuby, J. L., Svrakic, D. M., McCallum, K., Przybeck, T. R. & Cloninger, C. R. (1999). The junior temperament and character inventory: Preliminary validation of a child self-report measure. Psychological Reports, 84(3c), 1127-1138.
Google Scholar CrossrefMathiesen, K. S. & Tambs, K. (1999). The EAS Temperament Questionnaire: Factor Structure, Age Trends, Reliability, and Stability in a Norwegian Sample. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40(3), 431-439.
Google Scholar CrossrefMerenda, P. F. (1999). Theories, models, and factor approaches to personality, temperament, and behavioral types: Postulations and measurement in the second millennium A.D. Psychological Reports, 85(3), 905-932.
Google Scholar CrossrefMihić, I. (2010). Procena kvaliteta sigurne baze u odnosu sa majkom na jaslenom uzrastu: primer skale (Secure base in mother-infant relations: an example of behavioral assessment measure. In Serbian). Primenjena psihologija, 4, 337-355.
Google Scholar CrossrefMinistry of science, education and sports of Republic of Croatia (2011). Nacionalni okvirni kurikulum za predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje, te opće obvezno i srednjoškolsko obrazovanje. [National curriculum framework for early and preschool care and education, obligatory primary and secondary school education. In Croatian.] Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of RC, Zagreb. http://public.mzos.hr/lgs.axd?t=16&id=18247.
Google Scholar CrossrefMunis, P., Greenfield, D. B., Henderson, H. A. & George, J’L. (2007). Development and validation of the Preschool Temperament Classification System for use with teachers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 440–450.
Google Scholar CrossrefNeale, M. C. & Stevenson, J. (1989). Ratter Bias in the EASI Temperament Scales: A Twin Study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(3), 446-455.
Google Scholar CrossrefNigg, J. T. (2006). Temperament and developmental psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(3–4), 395–422.
Google Scholar CrossrefRothbart, M. K. & Derryberry, D. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In: M. E. Lamb & A. L. Brown (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology (Vol 1, pp. 37-86). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Google Scholar CrossrefRothbart, M. K. & Mauro, J. A. (1990). Questionnaire Approaches to the Study of Infant Temperament. In J.W. Fagen & J. Colombo (Eds.), Individual differences in infancy: Reliability, stability, and prediction (pp. 411-429). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Google Scholar CrossrefSindik, J. & Basta-Frljić, R. (2008). Povezanost karakteristika temperamenta i spremnosti djece za školu (Connection between temperament features and readiness of children to attend school. In Croatian). Magistra Iadertina, 3(3), 147-169.
Google Scholar CrossrefSleddens, E. F. C., Hughes, S. C., O'Connor, T. M., Beltran, A., Baranowski, J. C., Nicklas, T. A. & Baranowski, T. (2012). The children's behavior questionnaire very short scale: Psychometric properties and development of a one-item temperament scale. Psychological Reports, 110(1), 197-217.
Google Scholar CrossrefSpinath, F. M. & Angleitner, A. (1998). Contrast efects in Buss and Plomin's EAS questionnaire: a behavioral-genetic study on early developing personality traits assessed through parental ratings. Personality and Individual Diferences, 25, 947-963.
Google Scholar CrossrefTatalović Vorkapić, S. & Lučev, I. (2014). Psychometric properties of the Croatian version of Pavlov’s Temperament Survey for Preschool Children. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 4(6), 193-200. doi:10.5923/j.ijpbs.20140406.02
Google Scholar CrossrefVasta, R., Haith, M., Miller, S. A. (1997). Dječja psihologija (Child psychology. In Croatian). Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap.
Google Scholar CrossrefZentner, M. & Bates, J. E. (2008). Child temperament: An integrative review of concepts, research programs, and measures. European Journal of Developmental Sciences, 2(1/2), 7-37.
Google Scholar CrossrefZuckerman, M. (1991). What is a basic factor and which factors are basic? Turtles all the way down. Personality and Individual Differences, 13(6), 675-681.
Google Scholar CrossrefZupančič, M. (2008). The Big Five: Recent developments in Slovene child personality research. Psihološka obzorja, 17(4), 7-32.
Google Scholar CrossrefDownloads
Published
Metrics
Almetric
Dimensions
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All articles are published under Creative Commons copyright (CC BY). Authors hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without restrictions, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles as the original source is cited.
