[Study on the relationship between toddler temperament and development (second report)--the relationship between toddler temperament and developmental delay]

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between toddler temperament and developmental delay, and to examine whether the result could be adapted to the health practice of mother and child. As the conceptual framework, we used A. J. Sameroff's transactional model. Questionnaires concerning toddler temperament, rearing environment and toddler development were sent to mothers whose children were scheduled to receive 1 year and 6 months child health examinations, and collected 306 responses. We assessed the developmental status of 41 children among the 306 by means of the Japanese edition of the Denver Developmental Screening Test. All 306 children were classified into either the developmental delayed group (30) or the normal group (275). The data analyses were conducted both quantitatively and qualitatively with the following results. Compared with normal children, developmentally delayed children showed these characteristics: (1) The temperamental category scores of adaptability and persistence were higher, indicating low adaptability and persistence. The prevalence of difficult child, slow to warm up (STWU) child and intermediate high child was relatively higher, with STWU child the highest. (2) The score for the rearing environment was lower. (3) There were cases where disagreement between a child's temperament and the mother's rearing behavior had an influence on the child's development. As a conclusion, these results indicate that a child's temperament must be considered developmental and child-rearing counseling in child health examinations.