Introduction to Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology. Robert Weis
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temperament that helps them make sense of their experiences. These experiences, in turn, interact with their temperament and shape their personalities (Stifter & Dollar, 2016).
Parents of two or more children can appreciate differences in temperament. One child may be relatively quiet, easy to calm when upset, yet timid in new situations. His sibling, however, may cry at the slightest provocation, be a poor sleeper and picky eater, and act like a daredevil on the playground. Temperament helps to explain why biological siblings, who share 50% of their genes in common and are raised by the same parents, can behave so differently.
The New York Longitudinal Study provides us with the best data regarding the relationship between temperament in infancy and personality later in life. In this study, Stella Chess, Alexander Thomas, and Herbert Birch (1965) categorized children into one of three temperament clusters:
1 Easy children tended to show a high degree of positive emotions during parent–child interactions, engaged in regular daily routines, and were at ease with new people and situations. They could be soothed quickly when upset. These children were classified as “easy” because they presented fewer problems to their caregivers.
2 Difficult children tended to display more negative emotions and irritability during parent–child interactions; showed more intense reactions to environmental stimuli; and experienced problems establishing regular eating, sleeping, and toileting schedules. They were more easily upset by changes to their routines or surroundings. These children were labeled “difficult” because their behavior presented challenges to their caregivers.
3 Slow-to-warm-up children tended to show little activity and emotion during parent–child interactions and appeared apprehensive when confronted with new people or situations. These children were considered “slow-to-warm-up” because they needed more time to adapt to changes in their surroundings.
The researchers discovered that the same dimensions of temperament could be observed in children of all ethnicities and socioeconomic groups. Infants tended to show stable temperament by 2 to 3 months of age. Most important was the goodness-of-fit between the infant’s temperament and the demands and expectations of his or her environment. For example, a “difficult” baby raised by a single parent who is experiencing a high degree of stress might show more problems than a “difficult” baby raised by a single parent who has a safe home, a flexible job, and the support of family and friends.
Developmental psychopathologists explore the degree to which temperament might place children at risk for disorders later in life. For example, Jerome Kagan studied one dimension of temperament, emotional reactivity, which can be observed in 4-month-old infants. When presented with a novel stimulus, such as a dangling mobile, emotionally reactive infants appear distressed. In contrast, infants with low reactivity remained calm when presented with the same stimulus. When tested again at 14 and 21 months, reactive infants often displayed inhibition and fear in novel situations (e.g., when a clown entered the room), whereas infants low in reactivity tended to be more outgoing. Furthermore, children who were reactive in infancy and fearful as toddlers were at increased risk for developing anxiety disorders in later childhood (Fox et al., 2015).
It is important to remember that temperament does not determine personality or a child’s risk for psychopathology. However, temperament can affect children’s personality and subsequent interactions with others. For example, Nathan Fox conducted an impressive longitudinal study investigating the relationship between difficult temperament in infancy and the emergence of psychological disorders in adolescence and early adulthood. The study showed that young children with inhibited temperament were at increased risk for anxiety problems as young adults. However, children’s peer networks during adolescence largely explained the relationship between early temperament and later anxiety. Inhibited children who avoided social contact and developed smaller peer networks tended to develop anxiety disorders; in contrast, inhibited children who were able to establish supportive peer networks did not show increased anxiety. These findings suggest that temperament can place children on certain developmental pathways, but temperament alone does not determine children’s outcomes (Frenkel et al., 2015).
Attachment
Attachment refers to the emotional bond between caregiver and child that serves to protect and reassure the child in times of danger or uncertainty (Grossman, Bretherton, Waters, & Grossman, 2016). According to John Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980), the parent–child attachment relationship has three basic functions. Most important, the attachment relationship serves to protect the child from danger. Infants and young children are biologically predisposed to seek help from their parents when scared, upset, or unsure of their surroundings. At the same time, parents are predisposed to respond to their infant’s bids for attention and care (Pasco Fearon, Groh, Bakermans-Kranenburg, van IJzendoorn, & Roisman, 2016).
Second, attachment provides parent–infant dyads with an avenue for sharing positive emotional experiences. Through interactions with parents, infants learn about the natural reciprocity of social interactions and the give-and-take of interpersonal relationships.
Third, attachment helps infants learn to regulate negative emotions and behaviors. Initially, infants control anxiety and distress by relying on comfort from their caregivers. Over time, children develop internal working models, or mental representations of their caregivers, that help them cope with psychosocial stress. Infants learn to use these mental representations of their parents as a “secure base” from which to explore their surroundings and regulate their emotions and actions.
The quality of parent–child interactions over the first few years of life influences the initial quality of the attachment relationship. Parents who provide sensitive and responsive care to their children, by meeting their children’s needs in a consistent and developmentally appropriate fashion, usually develop secure attachment relationships with their children. Their children, in turn, come to expect sensitive and responsive care from their parents. At the same time, these children come to view themselves as worthy of receiving sensitive and responsive care from others.
In contrast, parents who do not provide sensitive and responsive care in a consistent fashion are likely to foster insecure attachment relationships with their children. When scared or upset, these children do not expect their parents to effectively meet their needs and help them regulate their emotions. They adopt internal working models of their parents as unavailable or inconsistent. At the same time, they may view themselves as unworthy of receiving attention and care from others.
Mary Ainsworth and colleagues (1978) identified three patterns of attachment that develop over the first few months of life. These patterns can be observed in the behavior of 12-month-old infants using the strange situation, a laboratory-based test. The strange situation occurs in a playroom and involves separating infants from their parents for short periods of time. Most infants experience distress when separated. However, researchers are primarily interested in how infants respond to their parents when they are reunited. Specifically, researchers observe whether infants are able to use their parents as a means to reduce distress and return to play (Image 2.8).
©iStockphoto.com/SolStock
Most children who participate in the strange situation show secure attachment relationships with their parents. These children use their parents as a secure base from which to regulate their emotions, control their behavior, and return to play. Although they usually show considerable distress during separation, they seek comfort and physical contact with their parents when they are reunited. After a little while, reassurance from caregivers soothes these infants, and they can return to exploring the room.
In contrast, some infants develop insecure–avoidant attachment relationships with their parents. When reunited with their mothers, these infants show passivity and disinterest. In fact, many of these infants actively avoid their parents’ bids for attention by turning away or ignoring them. Although these infants might be upset by separation, they appear uninterested or resentful of their parents