This study examined associations between mother, father, and experimenter reports of anger and fear reactivity in 28 six-month-old infants. Results showed that within parents, infant fear and anger were positively associated for fathers but not mothers. Between parents, mother and father reports of anger were highly associated but not fear. Father reports of anger and experimenter reports of anger were positively associated, but father and experimenter reports of fear were not. The results suggest infants may be rated differently on fear in different contexts by parents versus experimenters, and that parents do not always agree on fear but do agree on anger ratings. Limitations included small sample size.

1. Rating Reactivity: Correlations between Parent and Experimenter Reports of Infant Temperament
Stephanie Fusting and Diane M. Lickenbrock
Department of Psychological Sciences, Western Kentucky University
Background
Summary & Conclusions
Method
Participants
 Twenty-eight families (mother, father, and 6-month old
+/- 14 days participated).
 The families were predominately European American
(infants were 89.3% European American, 3.6% African
American, and 7.1% other), middle-class families.
 Mothers’ average age was 30 (Range: 22-44) and
fathers’ average age was 32.14 (Range: 22-49).
Procedure and Measures
 Parent-report of infant temperamental anger and fear
reactivity was reported by the parents at home using
the anger and fear subscales of the Infant Behavior
Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R; Gartstein & Rothbart,
2003).
 Experimenter-report of temperamental irritability and
fear reactivity was completed using an adapted Infant
Behavior Record (IBR; Bayley, 1969; Stifter & Corey,
2001) by two experimenters at the end of a laboratory
visit. The scores were averaged to create an overall
measure of Anger and Fear reactivity.
 Each visit included tasks from the Laboratory
Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB,
Goldsmith & Rothbart, 1996) that measured infant
fear (e.g., masks), anger (e.g., gentle arm restraint),
and joy (e.g, peek-a-boo with parents), as well as
two parent-infant play tasks (e.g, Still-Face
Paradigm, Tronick et al., 1978; free-play task).
Results: Descriptive Statistics
 Individual differences in temperament early in life are
crucial in the social and emotional development of
children (Stifter, 2002).
 Anger and fear, specific components of negative
temperamental reactivity, are predictors of future
inhibitory problems in children (He et al., 2010).
 Previous studies have reported a moderate correlation
between mother-report and experimenter-report of
positive reactivity (Stifter et al., 2008).
 Previous studies have failed to assess correlations
between father-report and experimenter-report.
The Current Study
The goal of the current study is to examine associations
between mother, father, and experimenter reports of
anger and fear reactivity.
 Overall, there seemed to be a lack of significant findings with mothers. This could be due to a difference in social
relationships between the mother-infant and father-infant dyads.
 Future studies should examine the role of infant affect and regulation to further examine how infants react and regulate differently
with each parent.
 These results seem to suggest that both parents seem to perceive infant anger to a similar degree, but not infant fear.
 Future studies should further examine the criteria which parents use to identify that their child is fearful, and the methods used to
soothe them. Parents could then better collaborate to understand the emotional state of their child.
 Similarly, father report and experimenter report was correlated for anger responses, but not fear responses.
 These findings suggest that perhaps infants were rated as less fearful at home by the fathers, but more fearful in the lab by
experimenters, due to the unfamiliar situations, people and setting. On the other hand, it is possible that fathers might not
accurately perceive fear responses in their infants.
 Due to the sample size, the results should be examined with caution. Future analyses will examine if differences in rating can
be affected by individual differences in infant temperament and reactivity when rated by mothers and fathers.
n=28 Min/Max M(SD)
Mother Fear 1.13-5.13 2.51 (.93)
Mother Anger 1.88-5.13 3.71 (.87)
Father Fear 1.13-4.75 2.61 (.89)
Father Anger 2.13-5.69 3.78 (.94)
Experimenter Report Anger 1.50-7.50 4.14 (1.65)
Experimenter Report Fear 4.67-6.33 5.57 (.42)
Results: Correlations
Mother
Fear
Mother
Anger
Father
Fear
Father
Anger
Experimenter
Report
Anger
Experimenter
Report
Fear
Mother Fear 1.00 .17 .33†
Mother Anger .27 1.00 .11 -.14
Father Fear .20 .14 1.00 .34† .07
Father Anger .23 .61** .50** 1.00 .47* .21
Note: **p<.01, *p<.05, † p<.10
 Within-parent results
 Infant fear and anger are positively associated for fathers, but not for
mothers.
 Between-parent results
 Mother reports of anger are highly associated with father reports of
anger, but not between mother and father report of fear.
 Parent-report vs. experimenter-report results
 Father reports of anger and experimenter reports of anger show a
positive association; reports of fear by fathers and experimenters do
not.
Data Analysis Plan
 Descriptive statistics were run for the study variables.
 Within- and between-parent correlations were run to
examine the correlation between mother-report and
father-report of fear and anger.
 Correlations were run to test the correlation between
parent-report and experimenter-report of
temperament.
Special thanks to Angelica Soto-Freita and Manooch Saeedi for their help with the data management on this study.
Correspondence can be addressed to stephanie.fusting868@topper.wku.edu. Do not cite without permission.