Past research has focused extensively on the influence of temperament and mother-child interactions for the development of psychopathology. However, there is a paucity of research that has examined the role of natural variations in temperament and mother-child interactions on socioemotional outcome in samples of low-risk typically developing children. Furthermore, most research has investigated temperament and mother-child interactions in separate studies. Accordingly, the present work addressed three issues: 1) the short-term and long-term continuity of temperament and joint attention in typically developing children; 2) the predictive value of temperament and joint attention for socioemotional outcome in typically developing children; and 3) joint attention behaviours in a clinical sample of children. Temperament was assessed through maternal report on the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) beginning when children were between 18 and 3 7 months of age while joint attention was assessed through direct observation. All the IBQ subscales showed 9-month continuity and 4 of the 6 IBQ subscales showed moderate to high stability. Although there was 9-month continuity for all the joint attention measures, only 4 out of the 7 joint attention behaviors showed low to moderate levels of stability. There was little 4-year continuity or stability of temperament. Cross-sectional relations were found between temperament and socioemotional outcome at both 18 and 37 months of age as well as 69 and 88 months of age. Established joint attention, measured when children were between 18 and 37 months of age, significantly predicted internalizing behaviours in typically developing children between the ages of 69 and 88 months. Significant differences in joint attention were also found in a clinical sample of children with internalizing disorders between the ages of 5 and 8 years. The present results suggest that some ofthe same temperament and joint attention behaviours that are associated with atypical development are also associated with typical variations in socioemotional development. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal