The link between learning problems and social-emotional difficulties is well documented and both are associated with temperamental risk factors. Whereas temperament refers to individual differences in biologically based dispositions for responding to and engaging with one's surroundings, developmental outcomes are the products of experiences as influenced by temperament in concert with other variables and the opportunities, challenges, and supports of the child's various contexts. A review of the research supports pathways between temperament and outcomes that are direct, indirect, bidirectional, and hierarchical. Interventions that are informed by temperament may address the various pathways through which temperament influences outcomes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbramsJ.C. (1991). The affective components: Emotional needs of individuals with reading and reading related disorders. Journal of Reading and Writing and Learning Disabilities International7, 171–182.
2.
AlexanderP.A.MurphyP.K. (1997). The research base for APA's learner-centered psychological principles. In LambertN.M.McCombsB.L. (Eds.), Issues in school reform: A sampler of psychological perspectives on learner-centered schools (pp. 33–60). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
4.
American Psychological Association Board of Educational Affairs. (1997). Learner-centered psychological principles: A framework for school redesign and reform [On-Line]. Available: http://www.apa.org/ed/lcp/html.
5.
BarghJ. A.ChartrandT. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being. American Psychologist, 54, 462–479.
6.
BarghJ.A.FergusonM.L. (2000). Beyond behaviorism: On the automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 925–945.
7.
Bassan-DiamondL.TeglasiH.SchmittP. (1995). Temperament and a story telling measure of self-regulation. Journal of Research in Personality, 29, 109–120.
8.
BelskyJ.FriedmanS.L.HsiehK. (2001). Testing a core emotion-regulation prediction: Does early attentional persistence moderate the effect of infant negative emotionality on later development?Child Development, 72(1), 123–133.
9.
BenderW.N. (1985). Differences between learning disabled and non-learning disabled children in temperament and behavior. Learning Disability Quarterly, 8, 11–18.
10.
BenderW.N. (1986). Teachability and personality of learning disabled children: Prediction of teachers' perceptions from personality variables. Learning Disabilities Research, 2, 4–9.
11.
BenderW.N. (1987). Behavioral indicators of temperament and personality in the inactive learner. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 20, 301–306.
BramlettR.K.ScottP.RowellR.K. (2000). A comparison of temperament and social skills in predicting academic performance in first graders. Special Services in the Schools, 16, 147–158.
14.
BussA.PlominR. (1975). A temperament theory of personality development. New York: Wiley-Interscience.
15.
BussA.PlominR. (1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
16.
CapaldiD.M.RothbartM.K. (1992). Development and validation of an early adolescent temperament measure. Journal of Early Adolescence, 12, 153–173.
17.
CardellC.D.ParmarR.S. (1988). Teacher perceptions of temperament characteristics of children classified as learning disabled. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 8, 497–502.
18.
CareyW.B. (1998) Temperament and behavior problems in the classroom. School Psychology Review, 27, 522–531.
19.
CaseL.P.SpeeceD.L.MolloyD.E. (2003). The validity of a response-to-instruction paradigm to identify reading disabilities: A longitudinal analysis of individual differences and contextual factors. School Psychology Review, 32, 557–582.
20.
CaspiA.HenryB.McGeeR.MoffittT.E.SilvaP.A. (1995). Temperamental origins of child and adolescent behavior problems: From age three to age fifteen. Child Development, 66, 55–68.
21.
CassidyJ.ParkeR.ButkovskyL.BraungartJ. (1992). Family-peer connections: The roles of emotional expressiveness within the family and children's understanding of emotions. Child Development, 63, 603–618.
22.
CheekJ.M.BussA.H. (1981). Shyness and sociability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 330–339.
23.
CicchettiD.RogoschF.A. (1996) Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development & Psychopathology, 8(4), 597–600.
24.
ClarkL.A.WatsonD. (1988). Mood and the mundane: Relations between daily life events and self-reported mood. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 54(2), 296–308.
25.
ClarkL.A.WatsonD.MinekaS. (1994). Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103(1), 103–116.
26.
DavidsonR.J. (1993). Parsing affective space: Perspectives from neuropsychology and neurophysiology. Neuropsychology, 7, 464–475.
27.
DepueR.A. (1996). A neurobiological framework for the structure of personality and emotion: Implications for personality disorders. In ClarkinJ.F.LenzenwegerM.F. (Eds.), Major theories of personality disorder (pp. 347–390). New York: The Guilford Press.
28.
DerryberryD.ReedM.A. (1994). Temperament and attention: Orienting toward and away from positive and negative signals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 1128–1139.
29.
DerryberryD.RothbartM.K. (1988). Affect, arousal, and attention as components of temperament. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 958–966.
30.
DerryberryD.RothbartM.K. (1997). Reactive and effortful processes in the organization of temperament. Development & Psychopathology, 9(4), 633–652.
31.
DerryberryD.TuckerD.M. (1991). The adaptive base of the neural hierarchy: Elementary motivational controls on network function. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 26 (pp. 289–342). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
32.
DeVriesM. (1987). Cry babies, cultures, and catastrophe: Infant temperament among the Masai. In Sheter-HughesN. (Ed.), Child survival (pp. 165–185). Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel.
33.
DienerE.EmmonsR.A. (1984). The independence of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 580–592.
34.
DienerE.SmithH.FujitaF. (1995). The personality structure affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 130–141.
35.
DixonW.E.SmithP.H. (2000). Links between early temperament and language acquisition. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 46, 417–440.
36.
EisenbergN.FabesR.A.GuthrieI.K.ReiserM. (2002). The role of emotionality and regulation in children's social competence and adjustment. In PulkkinenL.CapsiA. (Eds.), Paths to successful development: Personality in the life course (pp. 46–70). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
37.
FischerK.W.ShaverP.R.CarnochanP. (1990). How emotions develop and how they organise development. Cognition & Emotion, 4, 81–127.
38.
FletcherJ.M.MorrisR.D.LyonG.R. (2003). Classification and definition of learning disabilities: An integrative perspective. In SwansonH.L.HarrisK.R.GrahamS. (Eds.), Handbook of learning disabilities (pp. 30–56). New York: The Guilford Press.
39.
FuchsD.MockD.MorganP.L.YoungC.L. (2003). Responsiveness-to-intervention: Definitions, evidence, and implications for the learning disabilities construct. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 18, 157–171.
40.
FulkerD.W.EysenckS.B.G.ZuckermanM. (1980). The genetics of sensation seeking. Journal of Personality Research, 14, 261–281.
41.
GraczykP.A.WeissbergR.P.PaytonJ.W.EliasM.J.GreenbergM.T.ZinsJ.P. (2000). A framework for evaluating school-based programs that promote social and emotional learning. In BaronR.ParkerJ.D. A. (Eds.), The handbook of emotional intelligence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
42.
GrayJ.A. (1987). The neuropsychology of emotion and personality. In IversenS.D.StahlS.M.GoodmanE.C. (Eds.), Cognitive neurochemistry (pp. 171–190). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
43.
GrayJ.A. (1982). The neuropsychology of anxiety. New York: Oxford University Press.
44.
HamreB.K.PiantaR.C. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children's school outcomes through eighth-grade. Child Development, 72(2), 625–638.
45.
HinshawS.P. (1992). Externalizing behavior problems and academic underachievement in childhood and adolescence: Causal relationships and underlying mechanisms. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 127–155.
46.
HubbardJ.A.CoieJ.D. (1994). Emotional determinants of social competence in children's peer relationships. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 1–20.
47.
HurY.BouchardT.J.Jr. (1997). The genetic correlation between impulsivity and sensation seeking traits. Behavior Genetics, 27, 455–463.
48.
KaganJ.ReznickJ.S.SnidmanN. (1988). Biological bases of childhood shyness. Science, 240, 167–171.
49.
KaganJ.SnidmanN. (1999). Early childhood predictors of adult anxiety disorders. Biological Psychiatry, 46, 1536–1541.
50.
KaganJ.SnidmanN.ZentnerM.PetersonE. (1999). Infant temperament and anxious symptoms in school age children. Development & Psychopathology, 11(2), 209–224.
51.
KeoghB.K. (2003). Temperament in the classroom: Understanding individual differences. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
52.
LaddG.W.BurgessK.B. (2001). Do relational risks and protective factors moderate the linkages between childhood aggression and early psychological and school adjustment?Child Development, 72, 1579–1601.
53.
LarsenR.J. (1991). Personality and emotion. In DerlegaV.WinsteadB.JonesW. (Eds.), Contemporary research in personality (pp. 407–432). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
54.
LernerJ.V.LernerR.M. (1983). Temperament and adaptation across life: Theoretical and empirical issues. In BaltesP.B.BrimO.G.Jr. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 5). New York: Academic.
55.
LewickiP.HillT.CzyewskaM. (1992). Nonconscious acquisition of information. American Psychologist, 47, 792–801.
56.
LohrL.TeglasiH.FrenchM. (2004). Schemas and temperament as risk factors for emotional disability. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1637–1654.
57.
LosoyaS.EisenbergN.FabesR.A. (1998). Developmental issues in the study of coping. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 22, 287–313.
58.
LyonG.R.KrasnegorN.A. (Eds.). (1996). Attention, memory, and executive function. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
59.
MartinR.P. (1989). Activity level, distractibility, and persistence: Critical characteristics in early schooling. In KohnstammG.A.BatesJ.E.RothbartM.K. (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp. 451–461). New York: Wiley.
60.
MartinR.P.HolbrookJ. (1985). Relationship of temperament characteristics to the academic achievement of first grade children. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 3, 131–140.
61.
MartinR.WisenbakerJ.HuttenenM. (1994). Review of factor analytic studies of temperament measures based on the Thomas-Chess structural model: Implications for the big five. In HalversonC.F.KohnstammG.A.MartinR.P. (Eds.), The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
62.
MatthewsG.WellsA. (1999). The cognitive science of attention and emotion. In DalgleishT.PowerM. (Eds.), Handbook of cognition and emotion (pp. 171–192). Chichester, UK: John Wiley.
63.
MayerR.E. (2004). Should there be a three strikes rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction. American Psychologist, 59, 14–19.
64.
MaziadeM.CoteR.BoutinP.BoudreaultM.ThiviergeJ. (1986). The effect of temperament on longitudinal academic achievement in primary school. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 692–696.
65.
McClowryS.G.HalversonC.F.SansonA. (2003). A reexamination of the validity and reliability of the School-Age Temperament Inventory. Nursing Research, 52, 176–182.
66.
McClowryS.G.HegvikR.L.TeglasiH. (1993). An examination of the construct validity of the Middle Childhood Temperament Questionnaire. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 39, 279–293.
67.
MoggK.BradleyB.P. (1999). Orienting of attention to threatening facial expression presented under conditions of restricted awareness. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 713–740.
68.
MorrisonG.M.CosdenM.A. (1997). Risk, resilience, and adjustment of individuals with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 20, 43–60.
69.
MossH.B.BlackstonT.C.MartinC.TarterR.E. (1992). Heightened motor activity in male offspring of substance abusing fathers: Association with temperament, behavior and psychiatric diagnosis. Biological Psychiatry, 32, 1135–1147.
70.
MuravenM.TiceD.M.BaumeisterR.F. (1998). Self-control as limited resource: Regulatory depletion patterns. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 774–789.
71.
NewmanD.L.CaspiA.MoffittT.E.SilvaP.A. (1997). Antecedents of adult interpersonal functioning: Effects of individual differences in age-3 temperament. Developmental Psychology, 33, 206–215.
72.
NewmanJ.NoelA.ChenR.J.MatsopoulosA. (1998). Temperament, selected moderating variables and early reading achievement. Journal of School Psychology, 36, 215–232.
73.
NowickiE.A. (2003). A meta-analysis of the social competence of children with learning disabilities compared to classmates of low and average to high achievement. Learning Disability Quarterly, 26, 171–188.
74.
OettingE.R.DonnermeyerJ.F.TrimbleJ.E.BeauvaisF. (1998). Primary socialization theory: Culture, ethnicity, and cultural identification. The links between culture and substance use: IV. Substance Use and Misuse, 33, 2075–2107.
75.
PiantaR.C.WalshD.J. (1996). High-risk children in schools. New York: Routledge.
76.
PosnerM.I.RothbartM.K. (1998). Attention, self-regulation and consciousness. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: 353, 1915–27.
77.
PriorM.SmartD.SansonA.OberklaidF. (1999). Relationships between learning difficulties and psychological problems in preadolescent children from a longitudinal sample. Journal of the American Academy of Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 429–436.
78.
RahillS.TeglasiH. (2003). Processes and outcomes of story-based and skill-based social competency programs for children with emotional disabilities. Journal of School Psychology, 41, 413–429.
79.
RichardsonB.G.ShupeM.J. (2003). The importance of teacher self-awareness in working with students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Teaching Exceptional Children, 36, 8–13.
80.
RothbartM. (1989). Behavioral approach and inhibition. In ReznickJ.S. (Ed.), Perspectives on behavioral inhibition (pp. 139–157). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
81.
RothbartM.K.AhadiS.A. (1994). Temperament and the development of personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 55–66.
82.
RothbartM.K.AhadiS.A.HersheyK.FisherP. (2001). Investigations of temperament at three to seven years: The Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Child Development, 72, 1394.1408.
83.
RothbartM.K.BatesJ.E. (1998). Temperament. In DamonW. (series editor) and EisenbergN. (volume editor), Social, emotional, and personality development: Vol. 3, Handbook of child psychology (pp. 105–176). New York: Wiley.
84.
RothbartM.DerryberryD. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In LambM.BrownA. (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology. Boston: Erlbaum.
85.
RothbartM.K.MauroJ.A. (1990). Temperament, behavioral inhibition and shyness in childhood. In LeitenbergH. (Ed.), Handbook of social and evaluation anxiety (pp. 139–160). New York: Plenum.
86.
RuffH.A.RothbartM.K. (1996). Attention in early development: Themes and variations. New York: Oxford University Press.
87.
RustingC.LarsenR.J. (1995). Moods as sources of stimulation: Relationships between personality and desired mood states. Personality and Individual Differences, 18, 321–329.
88.
RutterM. (1987). Temperament, personality and personality disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 443–458.
89.
SansonA.HemphillS.A.SmartD. (2004). Connections between temperament and social development: A review. Social Development, 13, 142–170.
90.
SearsS.J.MilburnJ. (1990). School-age stress. In ArnoldL.E. (Ed.), Childhood stress (pp. 224–246). New York: Wiley.
91.
SmithJ.PriorM. (1995). Temperament and stress resilience in school-age children: A within-families study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 168–179.
92.
StrelauJ. (1983). A regulative theory of temperament. AustralianJournal of Psychology, 35, 305–317.
93.
StrelauJ. (1995). Temperament and stress: Temperament as a moderator of stressors, emotional states, and costs. In SpielbergerC.D.SarasonI.G. (Eds.), Stress and emotion: Anxiety, anger, and curiosity (Vol. 15, pp. 207–229). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
94.
StussD. (1992). Biological and physiological development of executive function. Brain and Cognition, 20, 8–23.
95.
SwansonH.L.MaloneS. (1992). Social skills and learning disabilities: A meta-analysis of the literature. School Psychology Review, 21, 427–442.
96.
SwansonH.L.SaezL. (2003). Memory difficulties in children and adults with learning disabilities. In SwansonH.L.GrahamS.HarrisK.R. (Eds.), Handbook of learning disabilities (pp. 182–198). New York: Guilford.
97.
TarterR.E. (1988). Are there inherited behavioral traits that predispose to substance abuse?Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 56(2), 189–196.
98.
TarterR.E.MossH.B.VanyukovM.M. (1995). Behavior genetic perspective of alcoholism etiology. In BegleiterH.KissinB. (Eds.), Alcohol and alcoholism (Vol. 1, pp. 294–326). New York: Oxford University Press.
99.
TeglasiH. (1998a). Temperament constructs and measures. School Psychology Review, 27(4), 562–583.
100.
TeglasiH. (1998b). Assessment of schema and problem-solving strategies with projective techniques. In HersenM.BellackA. (series eds.) and C. Reynolds (volume ed.), Comprehensive clinical psychology, Vol. 4: Assessment (pp. 459–499). New York: Elsevier Science Press.
101.
TeglasiH. (2001). Essentials of TAT and other storytelling instruments: Assessment. New York: Wiley.
102.
TeglasiH.EpsteinS. (1998). Temperament and personality theory: The perspective of cognitive-experiential self-theory. School Psychology Review, 27(4), 534–548.
103.
TeglasiH.HoffmanM.A. (1982). Causal attributions of shy subjects. Journal of Research in Personality, 16, 376–385.
104.
TeglasiH.MacMahonB. (1990). Temperament and common problem behaviors of children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 11, 331–349.
105.
TeglasiH.RothmanL. (2001). STORIES: A classroom-based program to reduce aggressive behavior. Journal of School Psychology, 39, 71–94.
106.
ThomasA.ChessS. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
107.
ThomasA.ChessS.BirchH.G. (1968). Temperament and behavior disorders in children. New York: New York University Press.
108.
WalkerS.BerthelsenD.IrvingK. (2001). Temperament and peer acceptance in early childhood: Sex and social status differences. Child Study Journal, 31, 177–192.
109.
WatsonD.ClarkL.A. (1991). Self- versus peer-ratings of specific emotional traits: Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 927–940.
110.
WatsonD.ClarkL.A.TellegenA. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.
111.
WatsonD.TellegenA. (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 219–235.
112.
WelshM.ParkeR.D.WidamanK.O'NeilR. (2001). Linkages between children's social and academic competence: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of School Psychology, 39, 463–482.
113.
WindleM.LernerR. (1986). Reassessing the dimensions of temperament individuality across the life span: The revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R). Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 213–230.
114.
ZeidnerM.MatthewsG.RobertsR.D.MacCannC. (2003). Development of emotional intelligence: Toward a multi-level investment model. Human Development, 46, 69–97.
115.
ZelazoP.D.CarterA.S.ReznickJ.S.FryeD. (1997). Early development of executive function: A problem solving approach. Review of General Psychology, 1(2), 198–226.
116.
ZuckermanM. (1983). Biological bases of sensation seeking, impulsivity, and anxiety. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
117.
ZuckermanM. (1994). Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases of sensation-seeking. New York: Cambridge University Press.
