Can temperament be understood at birth? The relationship between neonatal pain cry and their temperament: A preliminary study

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the pain cries of neonates at 3–5 days and temperament at 1 month of age, as rated by mothers. A total of 68 healthy neonates’ pain cries elicited by injection of the hepatitis B virus vaccine were analyzed and were categorized into “pre-part” and “post-part” cry by the determination of a regulatory point by observers, with a high consensus on spectrogram profiles. Differences in parameters between the pre-part and post-part of the pain cries and their association with the dimensions of temperament were analyzed. The results indicated that neonates who exhibited greater intensity pre-part crying had a more positive mood quality at 1 month, and those with shorter breath intervals after the regulatory point had a higher activity temperament score at 1 month. Moreover, the higher the pitch or the shorter the duration of the cry sounds in the post-part, the lower the adaptability score at 1 month. This study demonstrates that neonatal pain cry parameters could be used to understand subsequent temperament behavioral styles.