Showing 1 - 9 of 9 Items

Date: 2021-02-01

Creator: Elsa Lucia Escalante-Barrios, Sonia Mariel Suarez-Enciso, Samuel P. Putnam, Helen Raikes, Sergi, Fàbregues

Access: Open access

While the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Very Short Form of the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ-VSF) have been assessed in the US and Europe in samples composed of middle-and high-income parents with high levels of education, no studies have tested the instrument in low-income Spanish-speaking populations living in low-and middleincome countries. To fill this gap, our cross-sectional study assessed the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the CBQ-VSF version in a sample of 315 low-income and low-educated parents with preschool children living in the Caribbean Region of Colombia. While our findings revealed problems that were similar to those identified in previous assessments of the CBQ-VSF Spanish version, they also showed unique problems related to the sociodemographic characteristics of our sample, containing many individuals with a low income and low educational level. Most of the participants gave extreme responses, resulting in a notable kurtosis and skewness of the data. This article describes how we addressed these problems by dichotomizing the variables into binary categories. Additionally, it demonstrates that merely translating the CBQ-VSF is insufficient to be able to capture many of the underlying latent constructs associated with low-income and low-educated Latino/Hispanic populations.

Date: 2008-07-01

Creator: Samuel P. Putnam, Mary K. Rothbart, Maria A. Gartstein

Access: Open access

Longitudinal continuity was investigated for fine-grained and factor-level aspects of temperament measured with the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R), Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (ECBQ), and Children's Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ). Considerable homotypic continuity was found. Convergent and discriminant validity of the measures was supported, as all fine-grained dimensions exhibited stability across adjacent measurement periods, and all scales found on both the ECBQ and CBQ were most highly correlated with their equivalent scales. At the factor level, Surgency and Negative Affect factors were stable across all time points, and Effortful Control/Regulatory Capacity was stable across adjacent time periods. High-Intensity Pleasure, Activity Level, and Impulsivity contributed strongly to continuity of Surgency, and Sadness, Frustration, and Falling Reactivity played strong roles in the continuity of Negative Affect. Heterotypic continuity was also found. High levels of Infant Surgency predicted high toddler Effortful Control, whereas high toddler Surgency predicted low Effortful Control in preschoolers. Infant Surgency dimensions especially predicted Toddler Attention Shifting and Low-Intensity Pleasure, and toddler Activity Level was most closely associated with later deficits in Effortful Control. Inverse relations were also obtained between Negative Affect and Effortful Control, with substantial negative connections between toddler Negative Affect and preschool Attention Focusing and Inhibitory Control. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Date: 2021-12-01

Creator: Lea Takács, Samuel P. Putnam, Catherine Monk, Hannah G. Dahlen, Charlene, Thornton, František Bartoš, Anastasia Topalidou, Lilian L. Peters

Access: Open access

The aim of this prospective longitudinal study was to examine the association between Cesarean section (CS) and child development and behavior. The sample consisted of 256 children who were born at term without serious perinatal pathologies. Their development and behavior was assessed at the age of four using Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3), Children’s Behavior Questionnaire and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between CS and child outcomes. CS was associated with better scores in the Problem Solving domain of the ASQ in the whole sample. After stratifying by child sex, the positive association between CS and the Problem Solving domain was significant in boys, while no association was found in girls. Girls were rated less optimally in the Gross Motor domain of the ASQ when born via CS. Mode of birth was not associated with behavioral outcomes.

Date: 2016-01-01

Creator: Maria A. Gartstein, Samuel P. Putnam, Rachel Kliewer

Access: Open access

Examined relationships between temperament, measured via parent report at 4 months and structured laboratory observations at 12 months of age, and a school readiness battery administered at about 4 years of age (N =31). Scores on the School Readiness Assessment of the Bracken Basic Concept Scale (BBCS) were related to infant Positive Affectivity/Surgency (PAS), with infants described as demonstrating higher levels of PAS at 4 months of age later demonstrating greater school readiness in the domains of color, letter, and number skills. Regulatory Capacity/Orienting (RCO) at 4 months also predicted color skills, with more regulated infants demonstrating superior pre-academic functioning in this area. Analyses involving laboratory observations of temperament provided additional information concerning the importance of infant Positive Affectivity/Surgency, predictive of letter skills and overall school-readiness scores later in childhood. Results are discussed in the context of implications for theory and research, as well as early education settings.

Date: 2021-06-01

Creator: Lea Takács, Jiří Štipl, Maria Gartstein, Samuel P. Putnam, Catherine, Monk

Access: Open access

Objective: Exposure to stress in pregnancy has been shown to affect fetal development with short- and long-term physiological and behavioral consequences for the offspring. Although social support is known to lower perceived stress, no prior study has investigated the buffering role of social support in the context of prenatal stress effects on infant temperament. The aim of this study was to examine interactive effects of prenatal stress and social support on several dimensions of infant temperament at 9 months postpartum. Study design: A total of 272 mothers completed the Perceived Stress Scale and the Perceived Social Support Scale in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Infant temperament was assessed by mothers at 9 months postpartum using the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire. Linear regression models were performed to assess the effects of perceived stress, social support, and their interaction on infant temperament. Results: Prenatal stress interacted with social support, such that prenatal stress increased infant unpredictability when social support was below -0.5 SD. Conclusions: Prenatal stress was found to be a risk factor for infant temperamental unpredictability when combined with low social support perceived by the mother during pregnancy. Support of others, not previously examined in this context, can reduce the impact of prenatal stress.

Date: 2012-04-01

Creator: Larissa M. Gaias, Katri Räikkönen, Niina Komsi, Maria A. Gartstein, Philip A., Fisher, Samuel P. Putnam

Access: Open access

Cross-cultural differences in temperament were investigated between infants (n=131, 84 Finns), children (n=653, 427 Finns), and adults (n=759, 538 Finns) from the United States of America and Finland. Participants from both cultures completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, Childhood Behavior Questionnaire and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Across all ages, Americans received higher ratings on temperamental fearfulness than Finnish individuals, and also demonstrated higher levels of other negative affects at several time points. During infancy and adulthood, Finns tended to score higher on positive affect and elements of temperamental effortful control. Gender differences consistent with prior studies emerged cross-culturally, and were found to be more pronounced in the US during childhood and in Finland during adulthood. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2012 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Date: 2017-11-01

Creator: Joyce Weeland, Alithe Van den Akker, Meike Slagt, Samuel Putnam

Access: Open access

When interacting with other people, both children's biological predispositions and past experiences play a role in how they will process and respond to social–emotional cues. Children may partly differ in their reactions to such cues because they differ in the threshold for perceiving such cues in general. Theoretically, perceptual sensitivity (i.e., the amount of detection of slight, low-intensity stimuli from the external environment independent of visual and auditory ability) might, therefore, provide us with specific information on individual differences in susceptibility to the environment. However, the temperament trait of perceptual sensitivity is highly understudied. In an experiment, we tested whether school-aged children's (N = 521, 52.5% boys, Mage = 9.72 years, SD = 1.51) motor (facial electromyography) and affective (self-report) reactivities to dynamic facial expressions and vocalizations is predicted by their (parent-reported) perceptual sensitivity. Our results indicate that children's perceptual sensitivity predicts their motor reactivity to both happy and angry expressions and vocalizations. In addition, perceptual sensitivity interacted with positive (but not negative) parenting behavior in predicting children's motor reactivity to these emotions. Our findings suggest that perceptual sensitivity might indeed provide us with information on individual differences in reactivity to social–emotional cues, both alone and in interaction with parenting behavior. Because perceptual sensitivity focuses specifically on whether children perceive cues from their environment, and not on whether these cues cause arousal and/or whether children are able to regulate this arousal, it should be considered that perceptual sensitivity lies at the root of such individual differences.

Date: 2009-12-01

Creator: Vivian Caroline Klein, Samuel P. Putnam, Maria Beatriz Martins Linhares

Access: Open access

International research has increasingly considered temperament as a relevant personal variable in child developmental pathways. The purpose of the present study was to describe the methodology for translation to Portuguese (Brazil) of three child temperament assessment instruments based on Rothbart's theoretical approach. An original translation was modified, based on feedback by two professional translators, three bilingual psychologists, and a sample of 15 Brazilian mothers. A backtranslation by a professional translator was then assessed by the authors of the original (English language) instruments. For the final version of the measure, authors of the original instrument judged that 100% of items were consistent with the original items, and a second sample of 15 Brazilian mothers identified no problems with the Portuguese items.

Date: 2006-07-01

Creator: Samuel P. Putnam, Maria A. Gartstein, Mary K. Rothbart

Access: Open access

This article describes the development, reliability, and factor structure of a finely differentiated (18 dimensions) parent-report measure of temperament in 1.5- to 3-year-old children, using a cross-sectional sample (N = 317) and a longitudinal sample of primary (N = 104) and secondary (N = 61) caregivers. Adequate internal consistency was demonstrated for all scales and moderate inter-rater reliability was evident for most scales. Longitudinal stability correlations were primarily large over 6- and 12-month spans and moderate to large from 18 to 36 months. Factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure of Surgency/Extraversion, Negative Affectivity, and Effortful Control. In both samples and for both primary and secondary caregivers, older children received higher scores for Attention Focusing, Discomfort, Inhibitory Control, and Positive Anticipation. Primary caregivers rated females higher in Fear, and lower in High-intensity Pleasure, than males; secondary caregivers rated females higher than males in several aspects of Effortful Control. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.