Adolescent development involves transition and potential for change. That potential, however, may be somewhat constrained by one’s temperament. Temperament emerges as a key factor in fostering stability and resisting change since it involves how individuals tend to react to situations, such as through their levels of excitability, responsivity, or arousability, and how they self-regulate that reactivity through their typical mental processes and behavioral responses. Much of the research dealing with temperament has involved young children and pre-teens (see Roberts and DelVecchio 2000). However, since temperament fundamentally involves how individuals experience and respond to situations, it clearly emerges as a factor relevant to adolescent adjustment and development. Recent research that does examine the place of temperament in adolescence and young adulthood supports the proposition that temperament can play a key role in adolescent development. Indeed, researchers now maintain...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bates, J. E. (1987). Temperament in infancy. In J. D. Osofsky (Ed.), Handbook of infant development (pp. 1101–1149). New York: Wiley.
Bouchard, T. J., Jr., & McGue, M. (2003). Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences. Journal of Neurobiology, 54, 4–45.
Buss, A. H., & Plomin, R. (1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Caspi, A. (2000). The child is father of the man: Personality continues from childhood to adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 158–172.
Caspi, A., Harrington, H., Milne, B., Amell, J. W., Theodore, R. F., & Moffitt, T. E. (2003). Children’s behavioral styles at age 3 are linked to their adult personality traits at age 26. Journal of Personality, 71, 495–513.
Chess, S., & Thomas, A. (1985). Temperament in clinical practice. New York: Guilford.
Colder, C. R., & Chassin, L. (1997). Affectivity and impulsivity: Temperament risk for adolescent alcohol involvement. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 11, 83–97.
Davies, P. T., & Windle, M. (2001). Interparental discord and adolescent adjustment trajectories: The potentiating and protective role of intrapersonal attributes. Child Development, 72, 1163–1178.
Lynam, D. R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Wikstron, P. O., Loeber, R., & Novak, S. (2000). The interaction between impulsivity and neighborhood context on offending: The effects of impulsivity are stronger in poorer neighborhoods. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 563–574.
Masi, G., Mucci, M., & Favilla, L. (2003). Temperament in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders and in their families. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 33, 245–259.
Matthews, G., Deary, I. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2003). Personality traits (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., Ostendorf, F., Angleitner, A., Hrebickiova, M., Avia, M. D., et al. (2000). Nature over nurture: Temperament, personality, and life span development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 173–186.
Newman, D. L., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1997). Antecedents of adult interpersonal functioning: Effects of individual differences in Age 3 temperament. Developmental Psychology, 33, 206–217.
Nigg, J. T. (2006). Temperament and developmental psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 395–422.
Reiss, D. (1995). Genetic influence on family systems: Implications for development. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 543–560.
Roberts, B. W., & DelVecchio, W. F. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 3–25.
Rothbart, M. K., & Bates, J. E. (1998). Temperament. In N. Eisenberg & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (Social, emotional, and personality development, Vol. 3, pp. 105–176). New York: Wiley.
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., & Evans, D. E. (2000). Temperament and personality: Origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122–135.
Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype-environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424–435.
Steinberg, L. (2007). Risk-taking in adolescence: New perspectives from brain and behavioral science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 55–59.
Whittle, S., Yücel, M., Fornito, A., Barrett, A., Wood, S., Lubman, D., et al. (2008). Neuroanatomical correlates of temperament in early adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 47, 682–693.
Windle, M., & Windle, R. C. (2006). Adolescent temperament and lifetime psychiatric and substance abuse disorders assessed in young adulthood. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 15–25.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Levesque, R.J.R. (2011). Temperament. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_343
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_343
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1694-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1695-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science