Abstract
Temperamental characteristics emerge early in life and can shape children's development, adjustment and behaviour. We aimed to investigate the association between early infant temperament and later childhood psychiatric disorder in a community sample. This prospective, population-based study used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). In a sample of 7318 children, we investigated whether temperamental characteristics assessed at the ages of 6 months and 24 months are associated with an independent diagnosis of psychiatric disorder ascertained at age 7 years. After adjusting for confounders, temperamental characteristics assessed at 6 and 24 months of age were associated with psychiatric disorder at age 7 years. In particular, intensity of emotional reaction at age 6 months was associated with later disorder (adjusted odds ratio = 1.56; 95% confidence interval 1.19, 2.04; P = 0.002). These associations were stronger in girls and in those children with high levels of intensity at both 6 and 24 months of age. Temperamental characteristics involving high levels of emotional intensity within the first year of life are longitudinally associated with psychiatric disorder in mid-childhood, suggesting that the roots of psychiatric disorder may, in some cases, lie very early in life.
Highlights
Temperament reflects constitutionally based characteristics involving domains such as emotional regulation, affect, adaptability, activity and inhibition (Thomas & Chess 1977)
There has been little work investigating the role of early infant temperament as a risk factor across a range of childhood psychiatric disorders and it is unclear as to which children might benefit from further monitoring by health professionals working with children
Previous work has mainly either addressed the association between ‘difficult’ temperament and later problems or the association between specific temperament domains and specific psychiatric outcomes but, in contrast, there has been little work investigating the association between early infant temperament and the broad range of childhood psychiatric disorders
Summary
Temperament reflects constitutionally based characteristics involving domains such as emotional regulation, affect, adaptability, activity and inhibition (Thomas & Chess 1977). There has been little work investigating the role of early infant temperament as a risk factor across a range of childhood psychiatric disorders and it is unclear as to which children might benefit from further monitoring by health professionals working with children. Previous work has mainly either addressed the association between ‘difficult’ temperament and later problems or the association between specific temperament domains and specific psychiatric outcomes but, in contrast, there has been little work investigating the association between early infant temperament and the broad range of childhood psychiatric disorders. We aimed to investigate the association between early infant temperament and later childhood psychiatric disorder in a community sample. Methods This prospective, population-based study used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). In a sample of 7318 children, we investigated whether temperamental characteristics assessed at the ages of 6 months and 24 months are associated with an independent diagnosis of psychiatric disorder ascertained at age 7 years
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