MULTIDIMENSIONAL SOURCES OF INFANT TEMPERAMENT

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 98  (2) , 203-231
Abstract
The impact of several prenatal and perinatal factors was examined on infant outcome according to a conceptual system of hypothetical models of influence. Couples [75] expecting their 1st child were recruited and interviewed in the last trimester of pregnancy, providing demographic data and measures of the pregnancy experience and expectations of parenting. Childbirth information was obtained from hospital records, and infant behaviors were measured at 3 days of age by the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. The antecedent variables are apparently intercorrelated in that older, more highly educated and financially secure couples are more likely to have a satisfying pregnancy and to be confident about childbirth and parenting than their younger, more anxious counterparts. Two statistical methods.sbd.partial correlation and path analysis.sbd.were used to analyze relative relationships with infant behaviors. Most of the antecedent variables (parental characteristics of age and socioeconomics, parental pregnancy orientation and use of obstetric anesthesia) must apparently be considered sources of infant behaviors. The imprecision of inferring a single causal pathway of parental or perinatal influence on infant temperament was discussed.