This study examines infant temperament (inhibited and uninhibited styles) as a predictor of behavior in the kindergarten classroom. Thirty-one kindergarten children were observed in their classrooms for approximately 1.5 hours on each of four occasions between September and January. Fourteen children (8 girls, 6 boys) had been classified as high reactive at 4 months of age and inhibited at 14 and 21 months; 17 (7 girls, 10 boys) were low-reactive at 4 months, and uninhibited at 14 and 21 months. Modest evidence for continuity in temperament was found, and, as predicted, differences were most apparent for classroom behaviors that might be stressful for socially inhibited children. The results show some differences between girls and boys and describe trends in classroom behavior as children make the transition to kindergarten. These findings identify temperament as a factor that influences children's adjustment to kindergarten and contributes to a body of work that identifies early risk factors for later behavioral problems.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AAUW Educational Foundation. (1995). The AAUW report: How schools shortchange girls.New York: Marlowe and Company.
2.
AlexanderK. L., & EntwisleD. R. (1988). Achievement in the first 2 years of school: Patterns and processes.Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 53(2, Serial No. 218).
3.
ArcusD. (1991). The experiential modification of temperamental bias in inhibited and uninhibited children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
4.
AsendorpfJ. B. (1990). Beyond social withdrawal: Shyness, unsociability, and peer avoidance.Human Development, 33, 250–259.
5.
AsendorpfJ. B. (1991). Development of inhibited children's coping with unfamiliarity.Child Development, 62, 1460–1474.
6.
BanduraA. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
7.
BlairC. (2002). School readiness: Integrating cognition and emotion in a neurobiological conceptualization of children's functioning at school entry.American Psychologist, 57, 111–127.
8.
BoyceW. T., ChestermanE. A., MartinN., FolkmanS., CohenF., & WaraD. (1993). Immunologic changes occurring at kindergarten entry predict respiratory illnesses after the Loma Preita earthquake.Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 14, 296–303.
9.
BrobergA., LambM., & HwangP. (1990). Inhibition: Its stability and correlates in sixteen to forty month old children.Child Development, 61, 1153–1163.
10.
BurtsD. C., HartC. H., CharlesworthR., & KirkL. (1990). A comparison of frequencies of stress behaviors observed in kindergarten children in classrooms with developmentally appropriate vs. developmentally inappropriate instructional practices.Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 5, 407–423.
11.
BussA. H. (1980). Self-consciousness and social anxiety.San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Company.
12.
CalkinsS. D., FoxN. A., & MarshallT. R. (1996). Behavioral and physiological antecedents of inhibited and uninhibited behavior.Child Development, 97, 523–540.
13.
ConroyM. A., & BrownW. H. (2004). Early identification, prevention, and early intervention with young children at risk for emotional or behavioral disorders: Issues, trends, and a call for action.Behavioral Disorders, 29, 224–236.
14.
CoplanR. J., RubinK. H., FoxN. A., CalkinsS. D., & StewartS. L. (1994). Being alone, playing alone, and acting alone: Distinguishing among reticence and passive and active solitude in young children.Child Development, 65, 129–137.
15.
DelamontS. (1990). Sex roles and the school. (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
16.
EisenbergN., FabesR., MurphyB., MaszkP., SmithM., & KarbonM. (1995). The role of emotionality and regulation in children's social functioning: A longitudinal study.Child Development, 66, 1360–1384.
17.
EisenbergN., GuthrieI. K., FabesR. A., ReiserM., MurphyB. C., HolgrenR. (1997). The relations of regulation and emotionality to resiliency and competent social functioning in elementary school children.Child Development, 68, 295–311.
18.
EngferA. (1993). Antecedents and consequences of shyness in boys and girls: A 6-year longitudinal study. In RubinK., & AsendorpfJ. (Eds.), Social withdrawal, inhibition, and shyness in childhood (pp. 49–80). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
19.
EntwisleD. R., AlexanderK. L., PallasA. M., & CadiganD. (1988). A social psychological model of the school process over first grade.School Psychology Quarterly, 51, 173–189.
20.
EvansM. A. (1996). Reticent primary grade children and their more talkative peers: Verbal, nonverbal, and self-concept characteristics.Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 739–749.
21.
FliessJ. (1981). Statistical methods for rates and proportions.New York: Simon and Schuster.
22.
FoxN. A., RubinK. H., CalkinsS. D., MarshallT. R., CoplanR. J., PorgesS. W. (1995). Frontal activation asymmetry and social competence at four years of age.Child Development, 66, 1770–1784.
23.
FrancisB. (2000). Boys, girls and achievement.New York: Routledge/Falmer.
24.
FrenchJ., & FrenchP., (1984). Gender imbalances in the primary classroom: An interactional account.Educational Research Volume, 26(2), 127–136.
25.
GerstenM. S. (1986). The contribution of temperament to behavior in natural contexts. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
26.
GoldsmithH., AksanN., EssexM., SmiderN., & VandellD. (2001). Temperament and socioemotional adjustment to kindergarten: A multi-informant perspective. In WachsT., & KohnstammG. (Eds.), Temperament in context (pp. 103–138) Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
27.
GrossmanH., & GrossmanS. H. (1994). Gender issues in education.Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
28.
GurianM., & HenleyP. (2001). Boys and girls learn differently!San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
29.
HamreB., & PiantaR. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children's school outcomes through eighth grade.Child Development, 72, 625–638.
30.
HartD., HofmanV., EdelsteinW., & KellerM. (1997). The relations of childhood personality types to adolescent behavior and development: A longitudinal study of Icelandic children.Developmental Psychology, 33, 195–205.
31.
HendersonH., & FoxN. (1998). Inhibited and uninhibited children: Challenges in school settings.School Psychology Review, 27, 492–505.
32.
HowesC. (1988). Peer interaction of young children.Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 53(1, Serial No. 217).
33.
JewsuwanR., LusterT., & KostelnikM. (1993). The relation between parents’ perception of temperament and children's adjustment to preschool.Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8, 33–51.
KaganJ. (1997). Temperament and the reactions to unfamiliarity.Child Development, 68, 139–143.
36.
KaganJ., ArcusD., SnidmanN., & RimmS. (1995). Asymmetry of forehead temperature and cardiac activity.Neuropsychology, 9, 47–51.
37.
KaganJ., ReznickJ. S., & GibbonsJ. (1989). Inhibited and uninhibited types of children.Child Development, 60, 838–845.
38.
KaganJ., & SnidmanN. (1991). Infant predictors of inhibited and uninhibited profiles.Psychological Science, 2, 40–43.
39.
KaganJ., & SnidmanN. (2004). The long shadow of temperament.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
40.
KaganJ., SnidmanN., & ArcusD. (1992). Initial reactions to unfamiliarity.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 171–174.
41.
Kagan, J., Snidman, N., & Arcus, D. (1998). Childhood derivatives of high and low reactivity in infancy.Child Development, 69, 1483–1493.
42.
KaganJ., SnidmanN., ZentnerM., & PetersonE. (1999). Infant temperament and anxious symptoms in school age children.Development and Psychopathology, 11, 209–224.
43.
KerrM., LambertW. W., StattinH., & Klackenberg-LarssonI. (1994). Stability of inhibition in a Swedish longitudinal sample.Child Development, 65, 138–146.
44.
KochanskaG., & Radke-YarrowM. (1992). Inhibition in toddlerhood and the dynamics of the child's interaction with an unfamiliar peer at age five.Child Development, 63, 325–335.
45.
LaddG. W. (1990). Having friends, keeping friends, making friends, and being liked by peers in the classroom: Predictors of children's early school adjustment?Child Development, 61, 1081–1100.
46.
LaddG. W. (1996). Shifting ecologies during the five to seven year period: Predicting children's adjustment during the transition to grade school. In SameroffA. J., & HaithM. M. (Eds.), The five to seven year shift (pp. 363–386). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
47.
LaddG. W., BirchS. H., & BuhsE. (1999). Children's social and scholastic lives in kindergarten: Related spheres of influence?Child Development, 70, 1373–1400.
48.
LaddG. W., & PriceJ. (1987). Predicting children's social and school adjustment following the transition from preschool to kindergarten.Child Development, 58, 1168–1189.
49.
LoveJ. M., LogueM. E., TrudeauJ. V., & ThayerK. (1992). Sticking together: Strengthening linkages and the transition between early childhood education and early elementary schools. (Contract No. LC88089001). Portsmouth, NH: U.S. Department of Education.
50.
MaccobyE. E. (1988). Gender as a social category.Developmental Psychology, 24, 755–765.
51.
McCroskyJ. C., & RichmondV. P. (1991). Quiet children and the classroom teacher. (2nd ed.). (Contract No. RI88062001). Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
52.
McFadyen-KetchumS. A., BatesJ. E., DodgeK. A., & PettitG. (1996). Patterns of change in early childhood aggressive-disruptive behavior: Gender differences in predictions from early coercive and affectionate mother-child interactions.Child Development, 67, 2417–2433.
53.
National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). The condition of education, 1998. (NCES Publication No. 98–013). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
54.
NewmanD. L., CaspiA., MoffittT. E., & SilvaP. A. (1997). Antecedants of adult interpersonal functioning: Effects of individual differences in age 3 temperament.Developmental Psychology, 33, 206–217.
55.
OrthL. C., & MartinR. P. (1994). Interactive effects of student temperament and instruction method on classroom behavior and achievement.Journal of School Psychology, 32, 149–166.
56.
PiantaR. C. (1999). Enhancing relationships between teachers and children.Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
57.
PiantaR. C., & BallR. M. (1993). Maternal social support as a predictor of child adjustment in kindergarten.Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 14, 107–120.
58.
Rimm-KaufmanS. E., EarlyD., CoxM., SalujaG., PiantaR., BradleyR. (2002). Early behavioral attributes and teachers’ sensitivity as predictors of competent behavior in the kindergarten classroom.Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 23, 451–470.
59.
Rimm-KaufmanS. E., & PiantaR. C. (2000). An ecological perspective on children's transition to kindergarten: A theoretical framework to guide empirical research.Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 21, 491–511.
60.
Rimm-KaufmanS. E., & PiantaR., CoxM. (2000). Teachers’ judgments of success in the transition to kindergarten.Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15(2), 147–166.
61.
RosenthalR., & RosnowR. L. (1991). Essentials of behavioral research: Methods and data analysis.New York: McGraw-Hill.
62.
RubinK. H., & MillsR. S. L. (1988). The many faces of social isolation in childhood.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 916–924.
63.
SadkerM., & SadkerD. (1994). Failing at fairness: How America's schools cheat girls.New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
64.
SchwartzC. E., SnidmanN., & KaganJ. (1999). Adolescent social anxiety and outcome of inhibited temperament in childhood.Journal of the American Academic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 1008–1015.
65.
SkarpnessL. R., & CarsonD. K. (1987). Correlates of kindergarten adjustment: Temperament and communicative competence.Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2, 367–376.
66.
SleeP. T. (1986). The relation of temperament and other factors to children's kindergarten adjustment.Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 17, 104–112.
67.
SnidmanN., KaganJ., RiordanL., & ShannonD. (1995). Cardiac function and behavioral reactivity in infancy.Psychophysiology, 31, 199–207.
68.
ThorneB. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school.New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.
69.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Enrollment status of the population 3 years old and over, by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, nativity, and selected educational characteristics (Population Paper Listing-148). Washington, DC: Author.
70.
VollingB., & FeagansL. (1995). Infant day care and children's social competence.Infant Behavior and Development, 18, 177–188.
71.
WalkerH. M., & SpragueJ. R. (1999). Longitudinal research and functional behavior assessment issues.Behavioral Disorders, 24, 335–337.
72.
WoodwardS. A., LenzenwegerM. F., KaganJ., SnidmanN., & ArcusD. (2000). Taxonic structure of infant reactivity: Evidence from a taxometric perspective.Psychological Science, 11, 296–301.
73.
Zahn-WaxlerC. (1993). Warriors and worriers: Gender and psychopathology. [Special Issue.] Toward a developmental perspective on conduct disorder.Development and Psychopathology, 5, 79–89.
