I worked on a research project with my classmates that required attaining information on childhood temperaments and their implication on outcomes. The main focus of our research was on difficult temperament and its influence on anxiety levels in childhood.

1. HDFS 2300 Final Group Project: What are the Implications of Having a Difficult Temperament on
Anxiety Level in Childhood?
Hadley Chandler, Meryl Harvey, Abbey McIntosh, and Samicsha Rajesh
The limitations of the existing studies and the gaps
in the literatures are as follows:
● The definition of temperament and its measures
are not yet empirically derived across different
temperament literature. This causes confusion
when distinguishing core characteristics of a
specific temperament trait (Pérez-Edgar & Fox,
2005).
● The literature tends to vary when describing a
correlation between temperament and anxiety
disorders versus anxiety symptoms.
● Majority of the research on the topic of
temperament studies Western societies and their
interpretation of behaviors that make one
‘temperamentally high-risk’. This leads to a lack
of information regarding universal measurements
of temperament (Yazdkhasti & Harizuka, 2006).
● The sample sizes of most studies are relatively
small scales which raises a question of the
generalizability of the results.
Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. (1983). Manual for the child behavior checklist and revised child
behavior profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. (1986). Manual for the teacher’s report form and teacher version of
the child behavior profile. Burlington VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
Bates, J. E., Freeland, C. A. B., & Lounsbury, M. L. (1979). Measurement of infant difficultness. Child
Development, 794-803.
Cote, S. M., Boivin, M., Liu, X., Nagin, D. S., Zoccolillo, M., & Tremblay, R. E. (2009). Depression
and anxiety symptoms: Onset, developmental course and risk factors during early childhood.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(10), 1201–1208.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02099.x
Grant, V. V., Bagnell, A. L., Chambers, C. T., & Stewart, S. H. (2009). Early temperament prospectively
predicts anxiety in later childhood. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 54(5), 320–330.
https://doi.org/10.1177/070674370905400506
Lonigan, C. J., & Phillips, B. M. (2001). Temperamental influences on the development of anxiety
disorders. The Development Psychopathology of Anxiety (pp. 60-87). Oxford University Press.
Pérez-Edgar, K., & Fox, N. A. (2005). Temperament and anxiety disorders. Child and Adolescent
Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14(4), 681–viii. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2005.05.008
Strelau, J., & Zawadzki, B. (2010, August 17). Personality and Individual Differences. Fearfulness and
anxiety in research on temperament: Temperamental traits are related to anxiety disorders. 50(7),
907-915 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.008
Yazdkhasti, F., & Harizuka, S. (2006). The effects of temperament and perceived maternal rejection on
childhood anxiety and behaviour problems. School Psychology International, 27(1), 105–128.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034306062817
Proposed Methods Justification and Conclusion
Our research question is “What are the implications of
having a difficult temperament on anxiety level in
childhood?” This research is important because
anxiety is a prominent disorder in today’s society.
Studying different factors that can influence the
development of an anxiety disorder can help us better
understand how to promote preventative measures.
For example, if we know that a child has a difficult
temperament, we can take measures from a young age
to prevent the child from developing anxiety in the
future.
A difficult temperament was shown to predict anxiety
in children aged 6-7 years old and 8-9 years old.
(Grant et al., 2009). Prior research has linked early
temperamental traits to the later emergence of
psychopathology, particularly anxiety disorders.
Temperament and psychopathology can produce a
plethora of differing developmental outcomes.
(Pérez-Edgar & Fox, 2005). Difficult temperament of
a child, as determined at the age of 5 months, has
been found to be a significant factor in the
manifestation of anxiety symptoms as the child grows
older. The level of anxiety symptoms was found to
continue to rise with age. This increase may be as a
result of the environmental and developmental
changes which allow these symptoms to be more
explicit and readily detectable. (Cote et al., 2009).
Another study found that temperament later in
childhood had a stronger correlation to anxiety than
early temperament did. External factors may have the
ability to shift temperament as one grows through
infancy and childhood which could then influence the
individual's anxiety (Lonigan & Phillips, 2001).
A study conducted by Strelau and Zawadzki found
that emotional reactivity had the greatest correlation
to symptoms of anxiety disorders (2010). One way to
moderate the effects that high-risk temperaments have
in predicting anxiety and behavioral problems is
dependent on the child’s experiences of their mother’s
acceptance towards them (Yazdkhasti & Harizuka,
2006).
Literature Review
We decided to use a correlational study because it is our
goal to measure the association between difficult
temperament and anxiety. Temperament cannot be
manipulated. This makes a correlational study a great
option due to the ability to find strong, weak, and random
correlations.
The surveys chosen for this study have been widely used
in this type of research. This is a testament to their
reliability. By using surveys, we are able to assess both
parents and teachers in a way that gives us lots of
information from a reliable set of questions. It was
decided to rely on parent and teacher reports because of
their ability to compensate for each other in regards to
knowledge and bias. Parents tend to be the most
knowledgeable about their children, though tend to have
more bias. Teachers have less knowledge of the children
than the parents do, but also have less bias. Therefore,
using these parent and teacher groups will make up for
drawbacks. We are retrospectively testing temperament
in infancy because it is when temperament is developed,
thus is the best time to do so. The decision to use the age
groups of 4 to 11 years old was decided because it is
indicative of the ages in early and middle childhood,
which is the stage of life we want to study.
The participants of this study were children aged 4 to 11
years old. Temperament was assessed through a survey
given to the adult identified as knowing the child best. This
individual retrospectively completed the difficult
temperament scale of the Infant Characteristics
Questionnaire (ICQ; Bates, Freeland, & Lounsbury, 1979).
This survey has 7 items which are rated from 1 to 7. A
composite score was calculated, and a higher score implies a
more difficult temperament. Anxiety was measured through
surveys given to the same adult and the child’s primary
teacher. The adult completed The Child Behavior Checklist
(CBCL; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983) and the teacher
completed the CBCL: Teacher’s Report Form (Achenbach &
Edelbrock, 1986). An overall mean score was calculated
between the two surveys which indicated overall anxiety
level of the child. The children were split into two groups
based on their temperament – difficult and non-difficult. A
correlational study was conducted to test whether having a
difficult temperament or not was associated with higher
anxiety levels in childhood.
Percentage of adults aged 18 and over who experienced
symptoms of anxiety in the past 2 weeks, by symptom
severity and age group: United States, 2019 References
1
Significant quadratic trend (p < 0.05). 2
Significant linear trend (p < 0.05).
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey, 2019