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A system for classifying a constellation of behavioral characteristics that is present at birth and relatively stable over childhood and adolescence.
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In the late 1950s, the child psychiatrists Alexander Thomas (1914–2003) and Stella Chess (1914–2007) launched a 30-year longitudinal study, known as the New York Longitudinal Study of Child Temperament (NYLS). The impetus for the study was the clinicians’ increasing disenchantment with the prevailing, at that time, environmental views of children’s behavioral problems as a consequence of unfit, poor parenting. In their clinical practice, they observed numerous instances of children raised in caring families, who nevertheless displayed some sort of psychopathology, as well as cases of lack of behavioral problems in the context of dysfunctional parenting. It became clear that the existing theories regarding parenting as the only source of influence provided unsatisfactory and...
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References
Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1996). Temperament: Theory and practice. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1999). Goodness of fit: Clinical applications from infancy to adult life. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
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Bidjerano, T. (2011). Thomas and Chess Classification of Infant. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2912
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2912
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9
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