ABSTRACT
In 1987, several temperament researchers came together to discuss and come to some agreement about the concept of temperament (Goldsmith, Buss, Plomin et al., 1987). They converged on several points, including two principles: that temperament represents individual differences, and is constitutionally based. Whereas it was agreed that temperament is modifiable, each theorist believed temperament to be a personological rather than relational construct. Such a view likely influenced researchers to investigate how children’s temperament directly affected parenting behaviors. Operating on the assumption that parents react differentially to their children’s predispositions to react emotionally, for example, temperament researchers have examined how extremes in temperament such as infant “difficultness” impact parenting ability. In both of her reviews, Crockenberg (1986; Crockenberg & Leerkes, this volume) has made excellent points about the effects of temperament on the family, specifically parental behavior and perceptions, pointing out that these effects are largely conditional. In other words, infant temperament’s affect on the environment is likely moderated by other aspects of the environment. Crockenberg and Leerkes concluded that there is still more thinking and research to be accomplished, particularly around the conceptualization and measurement of “difficult” temperament and parental sensitivity, and made some important suggestions for getting this task underway. In this response to their review, data from two studies conducted in my laboratory will be presented to further illustrate the points raised. In addition, comments about the methods used when investigating child effects on the family, specifically how maternal sensitivity was measured, will be offered.
