The relationship between temperament and behavior in 3–7-year-old children during dental treatment

Abstract

Various factors affect child behavior in different situations such as in a dental clinic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between temperament and child behavior during routine dental treatment. The present study is a descriptive-analytic study that included 199 children aged 3-7-years from patients referred to a dental clinic of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in 2017-2018. The Children's Behavior Questionnaire, which is specific to children aged 3-7 years, was used to assess children's dental temperament. Children's behaviors during dental treatment were recorded using Frankl scale. Finally, the data were analyzed by the SPSS-16 statistical software. About 47.9% of the samples were female, with a mean temperament score of 4.79 which was significantly higher than males (P < 0.05). Almost 2.4% of children had completely negative behaviors and 2.8% had a completely positive behavior. The mean scores of fear (P = 0.008) and anger (P = 0.004) in children with completely negative behavior were higher than those with completely positive behavior. Moreover, the average scores of inhibitory control (P = 0.003) and perceptual sensitivity (P = 0.001) in completely positive children were higher than completely negative children. The results of the present study showed that girls had a better mean score of temperament than boys. The inhibitory control and perceptual sensitivity in completely positive children were significantly higher than negative children. In addition, a higher mean score of fear and anger was observed in completely negative children.