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The Role of Temperament in Conceptualizations of Mental Disorder

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Critical Thinking in Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis

Part of the book series: Essential Clinical Social Work Series ((ECSWS))

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Abstract

This chapter describes how understanding individual differences in temperament and the role of temperamental traits and variation in human development can shed valuable light on the origins, assessment, and treatment of dysfunction. It begins by defining temperament as enduring, constitutionally based individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation—that is, in how an individual responds to the challenges and opportunities offered by both stressful and promotive environments—and traces the development of these traits during a child’s maturation. Aspects of temperament including effortful control, affect modulation, soothability, and stimulation tolerance are thus affected by environment, experience, and parental behavior, as well as by genetic disposition. In addition, the chapter reviews current research on ways of measuring and assessing temperament, including both observational and longitudinal studies, and explores the relationship between temperament and dysfunction. Vulnerability to dysfunction is thus seen as strongly affected by the “goodness of fit” between an individual and his or her environment, rather than as something residing in the individual.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

    Mary K. Rothbart

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  1. Mary K. Rothbart
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Correspondence to Mary K. Rothbart .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA

    Barbara Probst

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Rothbart, M.K. (2015). The Role of Temperament in Conceptualizations of Mental Disorder. In: Probst, B. (eds) Critical Thinking in Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis. Essential Clinical Social Work Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17774-8_7

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