Early life environment and a childs temperament

Early life environment and a baby birds natureThe question of how dependent a childs temperament is on their environment, biology and primaeval(a) single(a) differences has been the subject of a satisfactory deal debate in the world of psychology. To critic bothy discuss to what extent much(prenominal) factors pack on temperament, we should consider what this destination means- individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation (Rothbart, 1998, p.105-76). This definition considers the childs emotional responses somatogenic ability how passionate or responsive the child is and how regulated their quiescency and eating habits are, for example. Possible influences on temperament are nature, including subjective characteristics, and nurture, the childs archean life environment and cordialisation.A childs early life environment itself is bear on by a number of factors, such as companionable-economic emplacement provokeing shade school entry age and extracurricular activities to name a few. For the draw a bead on of this essay, the focus will be on social-economic status and parenting.Firstly, individual differences were famous for dimensions such as distractibility and intensity of reaction in children in beguiler Thomas (1987, as cited in Roberta, 2009) development of the 9 NYLS (New York Longitudinal Study) dimensions on child temperament. Some newborns were found to cry a lot louder than early(a)s if hungry, which showed more than than than apparent intensity in the childs temperament. This indicates that temperament is a result of innate(p) characteristics as at such a young age, little environmental influence is likely to have taken place. Behavioural profiles were excessively produced employ the dimensions and 3 types of temperament were developed from this Easy, Difficult and Slow to warm up, which were simply identifiable in children as young as 2-3 years superannuated. thither is rais e that caregivers awareness of such individual differences is highly important as this can consider the childs socialisation process developing in early life. For example, those with a Difficult temperament might have more burning reactions and harsher parenting techniques procedured as a result may not always be helpful. Therefore, though sides of a childs temperament can be seen as innate, environmental factors and social influences in any case hold a degree of influence. upgradeing behaves should be adapted to a Difficult child in order for the parent to optimise their ability to nurture their childs temperament. The NYLS dimensions are still in use today and the construct of child difficultness has been further developed and utilize in many some other measures. However, this could cause issues when considering such research as results will depend on which measure and definition of difficultness is organism referred to.Secondly, Kagans (1994) work (as cited in Chess A lexander, 1996) studied temperament by overly using a biological approach. 43 children had their spunk rates save and were observed and rated during 2 simple laboratory tasks. Statistical analysis was use to assess the difference between behavioural inhibitions of the children. Inhibition serves certain social functions such as preventing impulse acts, for example, losing your temper and hitting someone. This relates to impulsivity as an aspect of ones temperament. It was found that inhibited children had a higher and more stable heart rate than uninhibited children. At approximately 5.5 years old, there were a number of significant correlations between heart rate and physiological factors such as pupil dilation during cognitive stress and adrena edge levels. This suggests that individual physiological differences are indicative of varying temperaments in children, in line with other biological studies (Fox Calkins, 1993 as cited in Rubin et al., 1993). Neverthe little, Kagan c ommented that environmental factors should be investigated overly in order to gain a full picture.The imports of social-economic status can be seen in Dearing et al.s (2001) work investigating associations between children time-worn 1-36 months and effects of changes in family income by 36 months. Results showed a significant effect of income on children from poor families but no significant effects of income on non-poor families. For families in poverty, childrens school readiness expressive language and positive social behaviours were negatively moved(p) and behavioural problems more prominent and vice versa. such research gives support for environment affecting a childs temperament, even at the early age of 36 months. Also, a higher risk for negative outcomes at 36 months was found for those that had spent longer in poverty. withal so, associations cannot be directly translated as causal relationships. It is difficult to be certain that extraneous variables, such as parent ing communicable ability and school standards did not affect the results recorded. Differences could have been due to variables other than family income but the effect of the distance spent in poverty discourages this assumption.Parenting practices and child temperament were investigated using the questionnaire method. Parent perceptions of toddlers social wariness and shyness at 2 years old predicted their preferences for socialisation strategies at 4 years old (Rubin, Nelson Hastings Asendorpf, 1993). Observations of child-parent interactions were excessively recorded. It seemed that those parents perceiving their children to be shy, somewhat limited their childs opportunities for independence. This was more evident in those parents that were more anxious. Such parenting styles could make it more difficult for self-regulation to develop and for potential interactions with other children to take place. Those children less capable of self-regulation at an early age may develop i ndependent feeding skills later than others for example, which would probably negatively affect temperament with more irritability occurring during meal times. So not barely are parenting styles an influence on temperament, parents perceptions of their childs abilities and temperament (inclusive of the factors defined by Rothbart, 1998) and how this affects their child-rearing is also extremely relevant. As parent perceptions were being studied, the questionnaire method used is kinda fitting. Despite this, we should take into account social desirability bias and lease characteristics potentially affecting validity. For example, parents may be unwilling to convey their children as shy due to partaking in psychological research.Studies on partner offs have been carried out in attempt to determine whether biological or environmental factors attribute to a childs temperament. Spinath Angleitner (1998) collected separate mother and father ratings on 354 monozygotic and dizygotic tw ins ranging from ages 2-14. The twins Emotionality, Activity, Sociability and Shyness were also assessed using the EAS Temperament Survey (Buss Plomin, 1984, as cited in Spinath Angleitner, 1998). On all EAS dimensions, except Emotionality, dizygotic twins showed negative or near-zero correlations and the similarities between monozygotic twins were more than half those held by dizygotic twins. As dizygotic twins are expected to experience similar environmental stimulation, it seems that the much stronger correlations between monozygotic twins similarities would arguably be explained by their genetic similarity. Related findings seem to be obtained in further behavioural genetic science research (Kimberly Saudino, 2005) which supports the importance of innate characteristics in temperament. Nevertheless, we cannot be sure whether parents ratings were affected by demand characteristics and therefore, the validity of the similarity ratings made between the twin pairs. It could even be argued that similarities were rated on perceive zygosity that is to say, perhaps parents and rating family members perceived more similarities between monozygotic twins because of their physical similarities. Experimental methods would conceivably be more useful for identifying the genetic factors contributory to temperament, but familial observations over time may well be more valid, realistic observations of child temperament and similarities. Although such research may suggest that the greater monozygotic correlations support the importance of biology in child temperament, results do not explain how relevant it is and certainly does not definitively give evidence for the nature or nurture debate. For more clarity, it seems that a combination of methods should be used to explore the dimensions of temperament. Perhaps teacher ratings could have been used in addition to parent and family member ratings alone. Exploring more within-family differences (Kimberly Saudino, 2005) to account for differential discussion of children within the same family, for example, offers more insight to why different family members temperament can vary across a whole range of behaviour.A greater understanding of the influences on child temperament has major pragmatic implications. For example, certain teaching techniques may help Difficult children focus more in school and increase their productivity as a result. biologic influences are arguably less important, as it would imply that temperament is less changeable than a lot of research seems to suggest. For example, a child of softened to warm up temperament, whilst explicable by nature, could benefit greatly from practice of specifically identified socialisation skills. In addition, labelling children with certain temperaments could prove insalubrious to their developing temperament during early years and being aware of this is exceptionally important.To conclude, there is evidence to advocate both nature and nurture contributions to child temperament. Although there is significant evidence for biologys role in temperament, there seems to be a general consensus that environmental factors are ultimately of higher importance, as human experiences and surroundings are so varied from person to person. To get around understand child temperament, we should look at the interaction of such biological and environmental factors more closely rather than isolating them. A good example is portrayed by Chess Alexander (1987, as cited in Roberta, 2009), where individual differences from birth are apparent, but, what marks a difference is how those innate characteristics are dealt with by parents, and the effect this will have on other social interactions and thus, how child temperament is developed early on in life.