The major question asked in the present study was whether temperamental differences
mediated the infants' response to the early environment (organismic specificity). A
corollary question involved the nature of the relationship between temperament and
cognitive-intellectual development. Subjects were 100 six-month-old infants who were
observed in their homes three times over a three-week period. Home observations were
coded into social and physical environmental parameters. During this time period
infant temperament and level of sensorimotor development were independently
assessed. Canonical and univariate analyses revealed the following relationships:
(1) Infants classified as temperamentally "easy" were more sensitive to
environmental parameters than temperamentally "difficult" babies; when environmental
influences were relevant for "difficult" infants, they tended to have a negative
impact upon development. (2) Temperamental characteristics associated with
difficultness were also associated with an inability to coordinate specific
sensorimotor schemes. Implications of the above for our understanding of early
environmental action were discussed.
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