Question

Temperement: Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1968) introduced the labels "difficult," "easy," and "slow-to-warm-up" to characterize different temperament styles of infants and young children. The labels convey much value-laden information that might inspire the following questions

What are the messages implicit in these labels?

Would any parent want to have a difficult or slow-to-warm-up infant?

Would there be advantages to informing parents of their child’s temperament style?

How might the label affect parent-infant interactions?

Are there other, less value-laden labels that might describe the same temperament styles?

What would be a good fit for a child with one of these temperaments?

Answer 1

Following are the answers to all your questions:

Question: What are the messages implicit in these labels?

Answer: Although not all infants and children fall under one of these labels, around 65% do. Children are usually categorized under the three given temperamental labels, which give the following messages:

• Difficult: The label indicates such children who are fussy over things and are irritated easily. They also cry excessively and tend to be quite emotional. With irregular patterns of sleep and food, difficult infants or children are actually difficult for parents to handle.
• Easy: Easy children are good at adapting to their environment and new experiences in life. Their emotions are mostly positive and they sleep and eat well.
• Slow-to-warm-up: As the label suggests, children in this temperamental category are slow while adapting to their environment or new experiences in life. However, they can catch up when repeatedly motivated. They initially shy away from new people or situations, as well as have low level of activity.

Question: Would any parent want to have a difficult or slow-to-warm-up infant?

Answer: Most parents would not want to have such infants or children, as it is difficult to manage their temperament. They want kids with easy temperament. However, if the temperament of these children matches the temperament of their parents, they may like their children as they are. Thus, it also depends on how the children fit in their environment.

Question: Would there be advantages to informing parents of their child’s temperament style?

Answer: Yes, there would be advantages to informing parents, especially when their child has slow-to-warm-up or difficult temperament. It will help parents in understanding and predicting their behavior, majorly the unacceptable behavior. In such a case, parents would be able to take corrective measures to motivate their slow-to-warm-up child or control the negative behavioral patterns of their difficult child.

Question: How might the label affect parent-infant interactions?

Answer: According to the research of Thomas, Chess and Birch, as the temperamental styles of infants usually continue through their childhood, a label may leave a significant impact on the parent-infant interactions. For example, parents who know that they have infants with difficult temperament would try to keep their hyperactivity under control, correct their bad eating patterns, make them sleep on time, give them proper toilet training, etc.

If a difficult child wants to eat at 3 am, the parents would want to regularize his/her hunger patterns so the child does not create eating troubles in future. Similarly, for a slow-to-warm-up child, the parents may create a bubbly, creative and inspiring room where they can live in a livelier environment. However, all such parent-infant interactions may not simply change by giving a label to the baby, but by gaining a correct understanding of what that label means and how to tackle an infant, later a child, with that label.

Question: Are there other, less value-laden labels that might describe the same temperament styles?

Answer: A few other researchers describe the same temperament styles but with less value-laden labels. For instance, Jerome Kagan labelled infants on ‘reactivity’. According to Kagan’s research, infants are either “highly reactive” or “low reactive”. However, this research also studies infants over long term when they reach childhood or teenage. At later stages, children may not be categorized under these labels, as their environment may change some of their temperamental traits. Thus, this research is less value-laden as compared to the research of Thomas, Chess, and Birch.

Question: What would be a good fit for a child with one of these temperaments?

Answer: For a child with one of these temperaments, the good fit would mean his/her compatibility with his/her environment and people surrounding him/her. For example, some difficult children may match their difficult parents, but some other difficult children may not match their easy parents. Thus, their goodness of fit depends on how they fit in their surroundings.