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. 2015 May-Jun;86(3):844-63.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.12367. Epub 2015 Apr 12.

Infant temperament: stability by age, gender, birth order, term status, and socioeconomic status

Marc H Bornstein  1 , Diane L Putnick  1 , Maria A Gartstein  2 , Chun-Shin Hahn  1 , Nancy Auestad  3 , Deborah L O'Connor  4
Affiliations

Infant temperament: stability by age, gender, birth order, term status, and socioeconomic status

Marc H Bornstein et al. Child Dev. 2015 May-Jun.

Abstract

Two complementary studies focused on stability of infant temperament across the 1st year and considered infant age, gender, birth order, term status, and socioeconomic status (SES) as moderators. Study 1 consisted of 73 mothers of firstborn term girls and boys queried at 2, 5, and 13 months of age. Study 2 consisted of 335 mothers of infants of different gender, birth order, term status, and SES queried at 6 and 12 months. Consistent positive and negative affectivity factors emerged at all time points across both studies. Infant temperament proved stable and robust across gender, birth order, term status, and SES. Stability coefficients for temperament factors and scales were medium to large for shorter (< 9 months) interassessment intervals and small to medium for longer (> 10 months) intervals.

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