Based on investment theories and guided by Mussel's (2013) intellect model, the present study investigated reciprocal relations over 1 year (2021-2022) between investment traits (need for cognition, achievement motives, epistemic curiosity) and fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities in 565 German elementary school children (298 girls;…

This study utilized data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 14,860) to examine whether early-life family income (age 0-5) predicted long-term academic achievement (age 16-18) and to investigate the role of executive function (EF) assessed multiple times across age 7-11 in explaining this association. Task-based EF was a…

This study examined teacher-child conflict as a possible mediator of the effects of temperamental anger and effortful control on subsequent externalizing behavior. Reciprocal influences between teacher-child conflict and externalizing behavior were also examined. Participants were 1,152 children (49% female; 81.6% non-Hispanic White) from the…

In one of the first open diffusion experiments with young children, a tool-use task that afforded multiple methods to extract an enclosed reward and a child model habitually using one of these methods were introduced into different playgroups. Eighty-eight children, ranging in age from 2 years 8 months to 4 years 5 months, participated. Measures…

Teacher-child relationships were examined as predictors of cortisol change in preschool children. Saliva for assays was collected from one hundred and ninety-one 4-year-olds (101 boys) in the mornings and afternoons on 2 days at child care, and before and after a series of challenging tasks and a teacher-child interaction session outside the…

Assessed relationships between early temperament and behavior problems in a longitudinal study of 850 children from age 3 to 15. Temperament dimensions at ages 3 and 5 were correlated in theoretically coherent ways with behavior problems that were independently evaluated by parents and teachers at ages 9 and 11 and by parents as ages 13 and 15.…

Mothers provided personality assessments of 350 ethnically diverse 12- and 13-year-old boys using the California Child Q-set procedure to allow the development of scales to measure 5 personality dimensions: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The resulting nomological network related these…

Findings argue for an increased emphasis on temperament research in the first postpartum months, for the development of more age-appropriate assessments, for the simultaneous use of multiple measures in such research, and for the continued inclusion of mothers as credible observers of infant behavior. (Author/RH)

Examined inhibitory control as a quality of temperament that contributes to internalization in toddler and preschool children. Children's internalization was observed while they were alone with prohibited objects, and in scenarios that occasioned violating standards of conduct, and were assessed using maternal reports. Found that inhibitory…

Latent growth curve modeling employed data from a longitudinal study of 451 sibling families to examine parents, siblings, and family economics as factors in individual differences in the developmental course of interpersonal aggression during adolescence. Findings suggest that individual change in interpersonal aggression during adolescence can…

Activity of 50 children whose motility had been monitored by an electronic activity monitor when they were neonates was again monitored by an ambulatory microcomputer when they were four to eight years old. Results are consistent with evidence from several longitudinal studies suggesting that individual activity characteristics tend to persist…

Early temperament was assessed at ages six, 13, and 24 months via mother ratings on age-appropriate versions of the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ). Home observations of mother-toddler interactions at age 24 months were made, and behavior sequence variables were analyzed. The 24-month form of the ICQ was developed in this study.…

Baseline and heelstick measures of behavioral state, heart period, vagal tone, and salivary cortisol were obtained from 50 full-term newborns. Mothers completed Rothbart's Infant Behavior Questionnaire when the infants reached six months of age. Greater reactivity to the heelstick was associated with lower scores on the…

Examined relations between temperament, ability estimation, and injury proneness from toddlerhood through school age. Found that children scoring high on Extroversion and low on Inhibitory Control as toddlers and preschoolers tended to overestimate their physical abilities and have more unintentional injuries at age 6. Children low on Extroversion…

Data on 11 samples of 1,012 toddlers used to construct and validate the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ) revealed that the component of negative affectivity (anger proneness and fearfulness) were independent, and item analysis suggested that shyness and other fears were independent as well. (MDM)