This paper critically reviews the literature on the links between temperament and social development in children and adolescents. Social development is broadly defined to include externalizing and internalizing behaviour problems, prosocial behaviour and social competence. It concludes that there are clear links between specific dimensions of temperament and particular aspects of social development. Examples include the association of negative reactivity with externalizing behaviour problems, inhibition with internalizing behaviour problems, and attention regulation with school functioning. Theoretical and methodological issues to be confronted in future research are identified, including the need to investigate further the interactions between temperament and social context. Analysis of patterns of change in temperament, in relation to physiological changes and to such factors as parenting and socio-cultural expectations of children, promise to refine our understanding of how temperament works in context. Some practical implications which can be drawn from the research are also discussed.

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This publication tells the story of the Australian Temperament Project. It provides a concise digest of the many studies within the project, which is designed for readers wishing to access an overview of our research from infancy to adolescence. At the end of each section we indicate (by number) the published papers from the project which report more detail on each topic. References for these papers are listed at the end of the book. The Australian Temperament Project is a longitudinal study of the psycho-social development of a large and representative sample of Australian children born in Victoria between September 1982 and January, 1983. (By 'longitudinal', we mean a study of a particular sample group of people over a long period of time.) Our team of researchers, specialising in psychology and paediatrics, from the Royal Children's Hospital, LaTrobe University, and University of Melbourne, has followed the growth of these children, so far up to the age of 17-18 years. Our aim has been to trace the pathways to psycho-social adjustment and maladjustment across their lifespan.

The findings suggest that there are dual pathways from early inattentive behaviours to later inattention and reading problems, and from early reading difficulties to substantial impairments in later academic outcomes.

More frequent cannabis use was associated with modest increases in rates of depressive symptoms. This association was stronger in adolescence and declined thereafter. However, it was not possible from the available data to draw a definitive conclusion as to the likely direction of causality between cannabis use and depression.