Latent-variable confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the dimensional structure of adolescent temperament from a sample of 436 adolescents. The ninedimensional model proposed by A. Thomas and S. Chess in 1977 was extended by including a bidimensional structure of Mood (including both positive and negative affectivity) and a dimension of Ego Control tapping resiliency and flexibility. All 11 dimensions were statistically reliable and a superiorfit was obtained with a correlated, rather than an orthogonal, model. Results indicated that the factors of Threshold, Intensity, and Distractibility may not be developmentally consistent nor conceptually homogeneous. Moreover, modelfit statistics underscored that a single nomothetic model could not adequately account for the variability underlying the temperamental styles of these adolescents. Separate primary models reflecting temperamental "systems" of Cognitive-Diligence, Sociability/Resilience, and Wgor/Mobility also were tested. Findings suggest that extension of temperament assessment from infancy and childhood to adolescence is developmentally appropriate, although further elucidation of temperamental styles consistent with adult personality is warranted.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Angleitner, A.
, & Riemann, R. (1991). What can we learn from the discussion of personality questionnaires for the construction of temperament inventories? In J. Strelau & A. Angleitner (Eds.), Explorations in temperament: Internationalperspectives on theory and measurement (pp. 191-204). New York: Plenum.
2.
Bentler, P. M.
(1978). The interdependence of theory, methodology, and empirical data: Causal modeling as an approach to construct validation. In D. B. Kandel (Ed.), Longitudinal research on drug use: Empiricalfindings and methodological issues (pp. 267-302). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
3.
Bentler, P. M.
(1980). Multivariate analysis with latent variables: Causal modeling. Annual Review of Psychology, 31, 419-456.
4.
Bentler, P. M.
(1989). EQS structural equations program manual. Los Angeles: BMDP Statistical Software.
5.
Bender, P. M.
(1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238-246.
6.
Berger, M.
(1982). Personality development and temperament. In Temperamental differences in infants and young children (pp. 176-190). CibaFoundation Symposium 89, London: Pitman.
7.
Block, J. H.
, & Block, J. (1980). The role of ego-control and ego-resiliency in the organization of behavior. In W. A. Collins (Ed.), Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 39-101). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
Blos, P.
(1979). The adolescent passage: Developmental issues. New York: International Universities Press.
9.
Bollen, K. A.
(1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: Wiley.
10.
Bollen, K. A.
(1990). Overall fit in covariance structure models: Two types of sample size effects. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 256-259.
11.
Buss, A. H.
(1989). Temperaments as personality traits. In G. A. Kohnstanm, J. E. Bates, & M. K. Rothbart (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp. 49-58). New York: Wiley.
12.
Buss, A. H.
, & Plomin, R. (1975). A temperament theory ofpersonality development. New York: Wiley.
13.
Buss, A. H.
, & Plomin, R. (1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
14.
Capaldi, D. M.
, & Rothbart, M. K. (1992). Development and validation of an early adolescent temperament measure. Journal of Early Adolescence, 12, 153-173.
15.
Chess, S.
, & Thomas, A. (1991). Temperament and the concept of goodness of fit. In J. Strelau & A. Angleitner (Eds.), Explorations in temperament: International perspectives on theory and measurement (pp. 15-28). New York: Plenum.
16.
Chou, C. -P.
, & Bentler, P. M. (1990). Model modification in covariance structure modeling: A comparison among likelihood ratio, Lagrange multiplier, and Wald tests. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 115-136.
17.
Costa, P. T., Jr.
, & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Four ways five factors are basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 653-665.
18.
Czeschlik, T.
(1992). The Middle Childhood Temperament Questionnaire: Factor structure in a German sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 205-210.
19.
Derryberry, D.
, & Rothbart, M. K. (1988). Arousal, affect, and attention as components of temperament. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 958-966.
20.
Digman, J. M.
(1989). Five robust trait dimensions: Development, stability, and utility. Journal of Personality, 57, 195-214.
21.
Eccles, J.
, Wigfield, A., Flanagan, C., Miller, C., Reuman, D., & Yee, D. (1989). Self-concepts, domain values, and self-esteem: Relations and changes in early adolescence. Journal of Personality, 57, 283-310.
22.
Erikson, E. H.
(1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
23.
Eysenck, H. J.
, & Eysenck, S. B. (1969). Personality structure and measurement. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
24.
Fullard, W.
, McDevitt, S. C., & Carey, W. B. (1984). Assessing temperament in one-to-three-year-old children. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 9, 205-217.
25.
Fullard, W.
, Simeonsson, R. J., & Huntington, G. S. (1989). Sociocultural factors in temperament. In G. A. Kohnstamm, J. E. Bates, & M. K. Rothbart (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp. 523-536). New York: Wiley.
26.
Funder, D. C.
, & Block, J. (1989). The role of ego-control, ego-resiliency, and IQ in delay of gratification in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1041-1050.
27.
Goldsmith, H. H.
, Rieser-Danner, L. A., & Briggs, S. (1991). Evaluating convergent and discriminant validity of temperament questionnaires for preschoolers, toddlers, and infants. Developmental Psychology, 27, 566-579.
28.
Goldsmith, H. H.
, & Rothbart, M. K. (1991). Contemporary instruments for assessing early temperament by questionnaire and in the laboratory. In J. Strelau & A. Angleitner (Eds.), Explorations in temperament: International perspectives on theory and measurement (pp. 249-272). New York: Plenum.
29.
Hegvik, R. L.
, McDevitt, S. C., & Carey, W. B. (1982). Middle Childhood Temperament Questionnaire. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 3, 197-200.
30.
Hofstee, WK.B.
(1991). The concepts of personality andtemperament. In J. Strelau &A. Angleitner (Eds.), Explorations in temperament: International perspectives in theory and measurement (pp. 177-188). New York: Plenum.
31.
Hubert, N. C.
, Wachs, T. D., Peters-Martin, P., & Gandour, M. J. (1982). The study of early temperament: Measurement and conceptual issues. Child Development, 53, 571-600.
32.
Josselson, R.
(1980). Ego development in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 133-210). New York: Wiley.
33.
Keating, D. P.
(1990). Adolescent thinking. In S. S. Feldman & G. R. Elliott (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 54-89). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
34.
King, N. J.
, Ollendick, T., & Gullone, E. (1991). Negative affectivity in children and adolescents: Relations between anxiety and depression. Clinical Psychology Reviews, 11, 441-459.
35.
MacCallum, R. C.
, Roznowski, M., & Necowitz, L. B. (1992). Model modifications in covariance structure analysis: The problem of capitalization on chance. Psychological Bulletin, 111,490-504.
36.
Marcia, J.
(1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 159-187). New York: Wiley.
37.
Marsh, H. W.
, Balla, J. R., & McDonald, R. P. (1988). Goodness-of-fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis: The effect of sample size. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 391-410.
38.
Matheny, A. P.
(1980). Bayley's Infant Behavior Record: Behavioral components and twin analyses. Child Development, 51, 1157-1167.
39.
McClowry, S. G.
, Hegvik, R. L., & Teglasi, H. (1993). An examination of the construct validity of the Middle Childhood Temperament Questionnaire. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 39, 279-293.
40.
Persson-Blennow, I.
, & McNeil, T. F. (1981). Temperament characteristics of children in relation to gender, birth order, and social class. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 51, 710-714.
41.
Prior, M.
, Crook, G., Stripp, A., Power, M., & Joseph, M. (1986). The relationship between temperament and personality: An exploratory study. Personality and Individual Differences, 7, 875-881.
42.
Rindskopf, D.
, & Rose, T. (1988). Some theory and applications of confirmatory second-order factor analysis. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 23, 51-67.
43.
Rothbart, M. K.
, & Derryberry, D. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In M. E. Lamb & A. L. Brown (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 37-86). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
44.
Rothbart, M. K.
, & Posner, M. I. (1985). Temperament and the development of self-regulation. In L. C. Hartlage & C. F. Telzrow (Eds.), The neuropsychology of individual differences: A developmental perspective (pp. 93-123). New York: Plenum.
45.
Rutter, M.
(1987). Temperament, personality, and personality disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150,443-458.
46.
Rutter, M.
, Graham, P., Chadwick, O., & Yule, W. (1976). Adolescent turmoil: Fact or fiction. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17, 35-56.
47.
Seltzer, V. C.
(1989). The psychosocial worlds of the adolescent: Public and private. New York: Wiley.
48.
Simmons, R.
, & Blyth, D. (1987). Moving into adolescence: Impact of pubertal change and school context. New York: de Gruyter.
49.
Skinner, H. A.
(1986). Toward the integration of classification theory and methods. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90, 68-87.
50.
Strelau, J.
(1983). Temperament, personality, activity. New York: Academic Press.
51.
Tanaka, J. S.
(1987). "How big is big enough?": Sample size and goodness of fit in structural equation models with latent variables. Child Development, 58, 134-146.
52.
Tanaka, J. S.
, & Huba, G. J. (1984). Confirmatory hierarchical factor analysis of psychological distress measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46,621-635.
53.
Thomas, A.
, & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
54.
Thomas, A.
, Chess, S., & Birch, H. G. (1968). Temperament and behavior disorders in children. New York: New York University Press.
55.
Thomas, A.
, Chess, S., Birch, H. G., Hertzig, M. E., & Kom, S. (1963). Behavioral individuality in early childhood. New York: New York University Press.
56.
Warr, P.
, Barter, J., & Brownbridge, G. (1983). On the independence of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 644-651.
57.
Watson, D.
, & Tellegen, A. (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 219-235.
58.
Watson, D.
, Clark, L. A., & Carey, G. (1988). Positive and negative affectivity and their relation to anxiety and depression disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 346-353.
59.
Watson, D.
, Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.
60.
Werts, C. F.
, Linn, R. L., & Joreskog, K. G. (1974). Intraclass reliability estimates: Testing structural assumptions. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 34, 25-33.
61.
Windle, M.
(1988). Psychometric strategies of measures of temperament: A methodological critique. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 11, 171-201.
62.
Windle, M.
(1989). Temperament and personality: An exploratory interinventory study of the DOTS-R, EASI-IT, and EPI. Journal of Personality Assessment, 53, 487-501.
63.
Windle, M.
(1991). The difficult temperament in adolescence: Associations with substance use, family support, and problem behaviors. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 310-315.
64.
Windle, M.
(1992). Revised dimensions of temperament survey (DOTS-R): Simultaneous group confirmatory factor analysis for adolescent gender groups. Psychological Assessment, 4, 228-234.
65.
Windle, M.
, Hooker, K., Lemerz, K., East, P. L., Lemer, J. V., & Lerner, R. M. (1986). Temperament, perceived competence, and depression in early and late-adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 22, 384-392.
66.
Windle, M.
, & Lemer, R. M. (1986). Reassessing the dimensions of temperamental individuality across the lifespan: The Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R). Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 213-230.
67.
Wolfe, V. V.
, Finch, A. J., Saylor, C. F., Blount, R. L., Pallmeyer, T. P., & Carek, D. J. (1987). Negative affectivity in children: Amultitrait-multimethod investigation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 245-250.
