Mother‐, Father‐, and Examiner‐Reported Temperament Across the First Year of Life

Abstract

The Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale (BNAS) was administered to 19 newborns, and their fathers completed the Broussard Neonatal Perception Inventory (NPl-l); at 1 year of age, the infants' fathers and mothers completed the Perception of Baby Temperament (PBT) scale. The 19 infants were first born, full-term, and the result of normal, vaginal deliveries. Relationships were found between examiner-reported temperament (BNAS) and both father- and mother-reported temperament at 1 year (PBT). Fathers were sensitive to the physical dimension of temperament and mothers were sensitive to the adaptive dimension. Three father-reported newborns behaviors (NPl-l) were related to father-reported temperament at 1 year (PBT). Little relationship between father- and mother-reported temperament (PBT) was found when infants were 1 year of age. Findings can be used to plan future research on newborn behavior, parental characteristics, and parental perceptions of 1-year-olds' temperaments.

Opening windows of opportunities: Evidence for interventions to prevent or treat depression in pregnant women being associated with changes in offspring's developmental trajectories of psychopathology risk

“…The NBAS is also an index of dysregulation, potentially an early sign of problems with self-regulation with possible fetal origins (Wachs, Pollitt, Cueto, & Jacoby, 2004). Newborns’ NBAS scores have been prospectively associated with adaptability at 4 months (Tirosh, Harel, Abadi, Berger, & Cohen, 1992), sensory threshold and adaptability at 8 months (Koniak-Griffin & Rummell, 1988), and at 1 year of age with adaptability (Jones & Parks, 1983) and likelihood of anxious/resistant relative to secure attachment relationships (Waters, Vaughn, & Egeland, 1980). Consistent with the idea of the NBAS being an index of dysregulation, the other of the two key child functioning constructs (i.e., three or more effect sizes and was significantly associated with treatment for depression) was the set of child functioning measures categorized as dysregulation.…”

Dopamine D4 receptor and serotonin transporter promoter in the determination of neonatal temperament

“…[27][28][29] The NBAS is also related to concurrent and later measures of temperament in infancy and early childhood. 28,[30][31][32] The heritability of the NBAS-defined clusters has not to our knowledge been directly examined in twin studies. However, the role of genes in determining infant temperament at a somewhat later developmental age has been studied using other testing instruments that measure related behavioral clusters similar to those assessed by the NBAS.…”

Understanding Positive Father-Child Interaction: Children's, Fathers', and Mothers' Contributions

“…An assessment of temperament taken closer to the child's first grade year may yield more accurate results. Also, mothers and fathers may perceive child temperament differently (Jones & Parks, 2007). A father's perception of his child's temperament has been reported to be a stronger predictor of fathering than a mother's perception (Wong, Mangelsdorf, Brown, Neff, Schoppe-Sullivan, & Sokolowski, in press).…”