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Publication #FAR0077

Understanding Your Child's Temperament1

Diana Converse and Donna Davis2

When my second child (and son) was born, I immediately knew that everything I thought I'd figured out about parenting had just gone out the window. While my sons come from the same parents and environment, there is little about their personalities that you'd find in common. Learning about their temperaments and how to manage their differences was an adventure.

In fact, all children are born with their own style of interacting with or responding to the world. In a groundbreaking study in the 1950s, researchers identified nine temperament characteristics, or behavior traits, that clinicians and researchers continue to use today. The researchers found that these nine traits were present at birth and continued to influence development throughout life (Child Development Institute., n.d.).

The nine temperament traits include a child's activity level, their rhythm or lack of rhythm in sleeping and eating habits, and approach or withdrawal (for example, does the child shy away from new people or make friends with every stranger)? Three additional temperament traits include adaptability, intensity, and a child's typical mood (Child Development Institute., n.d.)..

A child's persistence and attention span are also examined for temperament, as well as their sensory threshold, or their ability or inability to tolerate external stimuli, such as loud noises or bright lights. The final trait is distractibility: the child's ability to shut out external distractions and stay with an activity (Child Development Institute., n.d.)..

As parents understand and embrace their children's temperaments, they can usually also better respond to their children, hopefully making the adventure of parenthood a more pleasant ride.

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our Web site at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/372.mp3

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References

Child Development Institute. (n.d.) Temperament and your child's personality. Retrieved September 27, 2007, from http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/temperament_and_your_child.htm

Oliver, K.K. (2002). Understanding your child's temperament. The Ohio State University Extension. Retrieved September 27, 2007, from http://ohioline.osu.edu/flm02/FS05.html

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR0077, one of a series of the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published March 2009. In the interest of time or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Diana Converse, Extension Agent III, Hillsborough County; and, Donna Davis, Senior Producer, Family Album Radio, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences; Cooperative Extension Service; Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; University of Florida; Gainesville, FL 32611. Reviewed by Kate Fogarty and Suzanna Smith, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, University of Florida.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.