Individual differences in preschool children: temperament or personality?

Abstract

Individual differences among adults have generally been conceptualized in terms of personality theory and traits. In contrast, individual differences among very young children (birth to kindergarten) have generally been conceptualized in terms of temperament theory and traits. The present study compares and contrasts measures of temperament and personality in a sample of preschool children. Temperament traits were assessed with a well-established measure (the Rothbart CBQ), and a new preschool rating instrument was used to assess personality traits from the five-factor framework (M5-PS). Indeed, a key purpose of this study was to further the development of the M5-PS. Data were gathered on 122 preschool children who were rated by their teachers. Significant correlations were found between the temperament trait Surgency and the personality trait Extraversion, between the temperament trait Negative Affect and the personality trait Neuroticism, and between the temperament trait Effortful Control and the personality trait Conscientiousness. The overall pattern of correlational data suggests that individual differences in preschool children can be adequately described using the five-factor theory, and that this framework may effectively subsume traditional theories of temperament. Preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the M5-PS is offered.

The interaction between temperament and the family environment in adolescent substance use and externalizing behaviors: Support for diathesis–stress or differential susceptibility?

“…The "adventurous" temperament traits identified in this review have been associated with high extraversion and agreeableness and low neuroticism and conscientiousness using the Big Five personality approach (De Pauw & Mervielde, 2010). Specifically, (a) high activity level was associated with high extraversion (Hagekull & Bohlin, 2003), (b) low effortful control and high impulsivity were associated with low conscientiousness (Digman & Shmelyov, 1996;Grist & McCord, 2010;Shafer, 2001) and (c) low negative affectivity was associated with low neuroticism (Grist & McCord, 2010;Hagekull & Bohlin, 2003;Shafer, 2001;Watson & Clark, 1992), low conscientiousness (Farrell, Brook, Dane, Marini, & Volk, 2015;Grist & McCord, 2010) and high agreeableness (Farrell et al, 2015;Shafer, 2001). Besides one study which was prospective (Hagekull & Bohlin, 2003), other studies were concurrent.…”

High effortful control is associated with reduced emotional expressiveness in young children

“…Low and high intensity expressions were differentially associated with child traits. Specifically, high intensity negative expressions predicted higher neuroticism and lower agreeableness and conscientiousness (traits correlated with EC in children and adults; Cumberland-Li, Grist & McCord, 2010;Jensen-Campbell et al, 2002), whereas low intensity negative expressions showed the opposite associations with these traits. These findings suggest that children who engage in a greater number of low intensity expressions and fewer high intensity expressions have more adaptive personality traits of planfulness and compliance, as one would expect for those higher in EC.…”

The M5–PS–35: A Five-Factor Personality Questionnaire for Preschool Children

“…Four of the five scales-Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism-have shown excellent internal reliability in several studies (e.g., Grist & McCord, 2009;Hurt & Grist, 2010;Litty, 2007;McCord, 2006). These same scales correlate very well with similar constructs as measured by established temperament scales (e.g., Grist & McCord, 2010;Scheck & Grist, 2008). However, the Openness scale has thus far performed poorly in terms of both internal reliability and convergent validity.…”

“…This is a major increase in reliability for Openness to Experience. Coefficient alphas as well as mean interitem correlations are presented in Table 5. PHASE 2-VALIDATION STUDY Grist and McCord (2010) compared preschool teacher ratings of children in their classrooms on the M5-PS-90 and the three temperament scales of the Child Behavior Questionnaire. We reanalyzed their data using the 35-item set.…”

“…Evidence is rapidly accumulating that this theoretical framework is indeed very applicable to the preschool age range and could supplant traditional temperamental models in describing individual differences in young children (see, e.g., Abe & Izard, 1999;Asendorpf & Denissen, 2006;De Pauw, Mervielde, & Van Leeuwen, 2009;Grist & McCord, 2010;Halverson et al, 2003). There has also been research with self-report measures developed for young children ages 5 to 7 (Measelle, John, Ablow, Cowan, & Cowan, 2005).…”