The goal of this dissertation was to examine environmental and biologically-based factors in parents and children that influence child aggression in a non-clinical sample. Externalizing problems are common in childhood and can persist into adolescence and adulthood. If not addressed, externalizing problems can have lasting and costly effects on families and society. Negative parenting and child temperament, specifically negative emotionality, may play a role in the development of child aggression. This study sought to investigate the influence of parental negative talk and child negative emotionality on childhood aggression in 4- and 5-year-old children and examining parent personality as a moderating factor in this process. The sample consisted of 174 twins and triplets and their parents that were recruited from the Southern Illinois Twins/Triplets and Siblings Study (SITTS). Parent negative talk and child aggression were examined during a 10-minute parent-child interaction task, and parent personality and child temperament were assessed via parent-completed questionnaires. Data were analyzed using multilevel regression modeling. Results indicated that parental negative talk and child aggression significantly predicted one another at a single point in time, but do not predict to later levels (e.g., age 4 negative talk predicted age 4 aggression, but not age 5 aggression). Negative talk was shown to be stable between ages 4 and 5. For children low in negative affect, high levels of aggression persisted from age 4 to age 5, whereas this was not true for children high in negative affect. However, children high in negative temperament dimensions were more susceptible to parental negative talk, and children with high temperamental negativity displayed more aggression when they received high levels of negative talk at both age 4 and age 5. Further, child negative temperament and parental neuroticism were correlated. Parents high in neuroticism displayed more negative talk when their children were engaging in more aggression; however, they displayed less negative talk than parents low in neuroticism when their children were engaging in low levels of aggression. Overall, these results have implications for clinical practice in working with children and their families seeking services for aggression at young ages.

Obesity, a common health condition in adolescence leading to severe medical complications, is assumed to be influenced by temperament factors. This paper investigates associations between reactive and regulative temperament, problematic eating behaviours, and excess weight. Several self-report instruments were completed by 130 adolescents (mean age 14.13 ± 0.61 years), including 27 overweight and obese individuals (20.8%). Bootstrap analysis revealed a mediating effect of restrained eating on the relation between reactive temperament and body mass index percentile, which differed according to gender: Restrained eating, which predicted weight gain, was more present in girls having a higher sensitivity to reward and in boys showing a higher sensitivity to punishment. No effect of regulative temperament was found. These results have important implications for weight management programs, as they suggest that reducing restrained eating by working on temperament may help to control weight.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of child temperament and its effect on the outcome of conscious sedation using the following agents: Chloral Hydrate (35mg/kg), Meperidine (2mg/kg), and Hydroxyzine (2mg/kg).The Emotionality, Activity, Sociability (EAS) Temperament Survey for Children was used to measure the child's temperament. The temperament survey measures three realms (Emotionality, Activity, Sociability/Shyness). The sedation outcomes were rated using the modified North Carolina Behavior Rating Scale (NCBRS) from 1-4 (Quiet, Annoyed, Upset, and Wild). The final sample population consisted of 34 children, 24 girls (71%) and 10 boys (29%), ranging in age from 0-9 years old (M=5.6 years old, SD=1.8 years old). The sample population showed moderate emotionality (M=2.56, SD=0.96, p=0.5707), high activity (M=4.15, SD=0.72, p=0.2423), high sociability (M=3.63, SD=0.60, p=0.7853), and moderate shyness (M=2.50, SD=0.86, p=0.9930). Of the critical events, local anesthesia (F=74%, M=1.31, SD=0.58) and rubber dam placement (F=77%, M=1.26, SD=0.51) showed the most disruptive behaviors. Correlation results showed no significant temperament influence on overall effectiveness of sedation for the EAS sub-scales. Individual EAS scores, moderate emotionality, high activity, high sociability, and moderate shyness, did not predict the overall effectiveness of the sedation in this population.

Thesis supervisor: Lee Anna Clark. Includes bibliographic references (p. 92-107).

[Truncated abstract] It is well known that cows produce more milk if they are comfortable at milking, because stress from milking may cause them milk ejection problems. Temperament is an intrinsic characteristic of the animals so may affect the level of comfort at milking, and stress from the milking process itself may have a greater impact on animals with nervous temperament than on those of nervous temperament. When the milking becomes a stressor, it may affect secretion of milk ejection hormones that, in turn, may affect milk yield and composition. There is little evidence for how animal temperament affects milk quality in different farm animals. In this thesis, I have examined the effects of temperament on quantity and quality of the milk from Merino ewes and Holstein cows. I also tested whether temperament affected the processing performance (clotting properties) of the milk from Merino ewes. The general hypotheses tested were: 1. Calm ewes would produce more milk of better quality than nervous ewes, and, consequently, the clotting properties would be better in the milk from calm ewes than from nervous ewes. 2. Calm cows would produce more milk of better quality than nervous cows.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1981.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1981.

The purpose of this diploma thesis is to describe the current findings on the relationship of temperament, dimensions of team communication and individual resilience. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces a findings of relevant theories of temperament, with focus on Cloninger's psychobiological concept. The topic of temperament continues by the definition of resilience and areas of particular application in occupational psychology is presented. Finally are presented a problems of team communication and related aspects of teamwork. The empirical part introduces the research realized with project teams of students from the University of Economics in Prague, in which 35 students from 7 project teams participated. The subject of the research was to determine possible correlation of team communication, temperament characteristics and their individual resilience. The main methods used in this work are a shortened version of the Cloninger inventory of TCI-56 (Adan, Serra-Grabulosa, Caci, & Natale, 2009), the standardized sociomapping questions (Bahboub, 2011) and the resilience scale CD-RISC-25 (Connor & Davidson, 2003). Research showed a evidence base of a link between the temperament dimension of persistence and the communication question of knowledge of others (r = 0.405, p = 0.0016). The...

The master thesis deals with theories of temperament from the perspective of their linkages with biological essence of man. In theoretical chapters, it is examined how research of temperament has evolved over time, and there are presented the most important biology- oriented theories, ranging from classical antique temperaments, to Pavlov's differentiation of personalities according the reactivity of nervous system, and finally to Eysenck's, Gray's and Cloninger's modern theories of temperament. Empirical research is dedicated to the testing of interdependencies between temperamental questionnaires. 4Elements Inventory test based on an element approach theory and Cloninger's TCI-R test representing biological approach in temperament observation were analyzed on a research sample, and correlation and regression analysis was performed. If we have to assign the most similar dimensions of both tests to each other according to content analysis, we would expect relationships between the Harm Avoidance and Fire (negative), Novelty Seeking and Air, Reward Dependency and Water and Persistence and Earth. The relationship of Novelty seeking and Air (r = 0.73) and negative relationship of Harm Avoidance and Fire (r = -0.74) were confirmed as the strongest relationships. The correlation between Reward...

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between noncognitive symptoms and premorbid temperament in a group with Alzheimer’s disease. The relationship between premorbid temperament and noncognitive symptoms can be used to understand symptom susceptibility and risk, caregiver burdens, as well as providing insights into the neuroanatomical substrates of temperament and noncognitive behaviour. Sixty-three primary caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients fulfilled the eligibility criteria for this study. Information regarding the noncognitive symptoms and premorbid temperament was procured from the primary caregivers. In fifty-one cases, a secondary caregiver also provided information about the premorbid temperament of the Alzheimer’s patient. The latter was obtained to enhance the reliability of retrospective data. The Behaviour Rating Scale for Dementia, the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour-Temperament Inventory, and the Blessed Dementia scale were used to elicit data on noncognitive symptomatology, premorbid temperament, and current cognitive status, respectively. ii Noncognitive symptoms were grouped into two clusters namely neuropsychiatric and neurobehavioural disturbances. The neuropsychiatric cluster included mood and psychotic symptoms and the neurobehavioural cluster included vegetative and overall behavioural dysregulatory symptoms. Results showed that there is a wide spectrum of noncognitive symptom manifestation in patients’ profiles and that the neurobehavioural dysregulatory symptoms are more common than the neuropsychiatric symptoms in this Alzheimer’s cohort. With regard to symptom manifestation and cognitive status, a Pearson product moment correlational analysis showed that a lower level of cognitive functioning is significantly associated with aggressive episodes and a higher level of cognitive functioning with manifestations of depressive symptoms. In terms of interrater concordance on premorbid temperament ratings, intraclass correlations were significant for five of the six temperament domains, thus indicating a reliable estimate of premorbid disposition. Canonical correlational analysis yielded two significant variates. The first variate indicated that Alzheimer’s disease patients with a proclivity for aggressive behaviours and general behavioural deregulation but lower depressive profiles, were premorbidly more emotionally reactive, had low sensory thresholds (high sensitivity), and greater cognitive deficit. The second variate showed that patients with Alzheimer’s disease who tended to manifest with depressive and dysregulatory behaviour appear to have been premorbidly perseverative in temperament with a low sensory threshold (high sensitivity) and the tendency to maintain and attain a low level of activity (stimulation). Taken together, the significant variates revealed a dimensional relationship between depressive symptoms, aggressive symptoms, and behavioural dysregulation; and sensory sensitivity, emotional reactivity, perseverance, and activity, with cognitive status serving as a moderating variable. In conclusion, the study indicated a dimensional relationship between specific premorbid temperament traits and noncognitive symptoms, thereby highlighting the possible predictive influence of premorbid temperament on noncognitive manifestations in Alzheimer’s disease patients. / Thesis (PhD (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted