The current study examined the stability of temperament over time. Observers and mothers rated child behavior at eight timepoints across three assessment waves (8, 15, and 30 months of age). Internal consistency reliability of aggregates of the eight observer reports and eight mother reports were high. When considering single timepoint…

Reviews previous approaches to the study of successful ageing and details an alternative approach. Discussion of new ways to investigate successful ageing concentrates on the complementarity between quantitative and qualitative research strategies. (RJC)

Reviews test construction strategies used in the development of many current questionnaire measures of temperament and critiques these measures. Shows the selection of coefficient alpha as sole criterion for inferring unidimensionality to be insufficient, and suggests improvements for construction of temperament measures. (SKC)

This study of five month olds compared global maternal opinion with reports on direct observation by mothers and observers. A common set of behaviors thought to index temperament was evaluated. Observers recorded infant behaviors on two home visits. Mother-observer agreement for assessments based on home visits was significant. (SH)