it is now widely agreed that not all babies are born alike. Parents with difficult-
to-manage babies are often troubled by descriptions of the “typical ”newborn
who sleeps whenever put into a crib, eats meals on a regular schedule, and re-
sponds to parental attention with calm, loving sounds. Fortunately, most popu-
lar baby books today assure parents that some babies are going to be more
active and more emotional than others.
Consistent with common observation, researchers also find gender differ-
ences in temperament (Else-Quest, Hyde, Goldsmith, & Van Hulle, 2006).Girls are more likely than boys to exhibit an effortful control temperament,
which includes the ability to focus attention and exercise control over impul-sive urges. On the other hand, boys are more likely than girls to be identifiedwith a surgency temperament. This temperament pattern includes high levels
of activity and sociability. These gender differences can be seen in children asyoung as 3 months of age.
Can we look at temperament levels in preschool children and determine
what kind of adult personalities they will have? To a certain degree, the an-
swer is “Yes.”Consider the results of an ongoing longitudinal study con-
ducted in Dunedin, New Zealand (Caspi, 2000; Caspi et al., 2003; Moffitt
et al., 2007). Ninety-one percent of the children born in this town between
April 1, 1972, and March 31, 1973, were tested for temperament at age 3.
The researchers identified three temperament types in these toddlers. The
well-adjusted children exhibited self-control and self-confidence and were ca-
pable of approaching new people and situations with little difficulty. The un-
dercontrolled children were impulsive and restless and easily distracted. The
inhibited children were fearful, reluctant to get involved in social activities,
and uneasy in the presence of strangers. The investigators examined personal-
ity development and behavior at several points as the children moved through
childhood and adolescence and into their young adult years. Although the
well-adjusted children became relatively healthy, well-adjusted adults, the un-dercontrolled and inhibited children ’s lives were different. During the elemen-
tary school and adolescent years, undercontrolled children were more likelyto have problems with fighting, lying, and disobeying at both school andhome. As young adults, they were more likely to experience legal, employ-
ment, and relationship problems. Inhibited children showed more signs of
worrying and fussing when growing up, and as adults they were less sociallyengaged and more likely to suffer from depression. Although temperament by
no means is the sole determinant of adult personality and behavior, this study
and others make the case that temperament plays an important role in per-sonality development.
The process through which general temperaments develop into personal-
ity traits is complex and influenced by a large number of factors (Caspi,1998; Rothbart & Ahadi, 1994; Rothbart, 2007). Although the child ’s gen-
eral level of emotionality or activity points the development of personality ina certain direction, that development is also influenced by the child ’s experi-
ences as he or she grows up (Ganiban, Saudino, Ulbricht, Neiderhiser, &
Reiss, 2008). For example, a highly emotional child has a better chance ofTemperament 231