Abstract
This study examined the relationships between temperament characteristics and skill deficits in two groups of kindergarten children, one in Ohio and one in Taipei, Taiwan. The purposes of the study were to estimate the relationship between temperament and levels of skills manifested and to explore possible cross-cultural differences. Teachers and parents assessed children on the Barclay Early Childhood Assessment System to determine deficits in particular skill areas. Teachers also rated the same children on the Martin Temperament Assessment Battery. Pearson correlations between the two measurements were calculated separately for the two cultural groups. Almost half of the predictors of skill deficits were common to both groups. Children with high skill deficits from both cultures were more distractible, less sociable, more emotional, and likely to be male. This study suggests that there are close relationships between skill deficits in kindergarten children and certain temperament characteristics and that these relationships are quite similar across these two cultures.
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