Temperament, basically, refers to the variations in the behavior and emotions of people. Temperament can also be defined as the part of the personality of every child with which they are born. An individual's temperament determines how he or she responds to the physical environment, objects, and people. Thomas and Chess came out with nine categories, which they believe are present as a person is born. These categories were then grouped into three basic classifications which define the nature of every child in relation to their temperament. Children can, therefore, be classified as easy, difficult or slow-to-warm-up. The theory of goodness of Fit suggests that children must be made compatible with their environment in order to keep their temperament in check. The gender of a child may also determine the kind of temperament of a child. This essay discusses temperament in children through a review of the theory of Goodness of Fit and also presents the issue of gender as a determinant of temperament in children.
Some of the main factors that influence temperament in children include the environment and inborn tendencies. Initially, it was believed that temperament is only influenced by an individual’s inborn characteristics or tendencies (Lemery et al., 1999). Recent research suggests that the environment plays quite a significant role in shaping the temperament of a child. Children brought in difficult home environments by difficult kind of patents, for instance, tend to have difficult temperaments ( Joyce et al., 2003) .
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The Goodness of Fit Theory
Thomas and Chess came up with nine categories of temperament, which are believed to come out after a person is born (Manis, 2016). These include the activity level, rhythmicity, approach-withdrawal, adaptability, responsiveness, reaction intensity, mood quality, distractibility, and persistence. For instance, a child can display mostly an active or an inactive stress. A child can be predictable or unpredictable in relation to his or her sleeping or eating patterns. All the nine categories are further grouped into three groups. Children can then be classified as easy, difficult or slow-to-warm-up. Easy children are those who usually display positive moods and approach new situations with ease. Such kids are easy to predict as they sleep after a specific period of time and also eat at a specific time. Difficult kids have irregular sleeping and eating patterns. These kids often experience negative moods and do not easily accept new things. Slow-to-warm-up kids, on the other hand, show a mild kind of behavior. They are generally slow and also withdraw in new situations just like difficult children. Slow-to-warm-up kids can be warmed up when they are approached appropriately.
The Goodness of Fit can be described as the compatibility between the temperament of a child and the environment. If a child’s temperament is not identified, respected and accommodated appropriately, a poorness of fit occurs. Teachers play a significant role in managing the temperament of various children. A teacher must, therefore, be aware of the different temperaments of the children in the class. There are those who like to engage in active learning while at the same time, there are those who like to learn peacefully while seated in class. However, studies have shown that most kids prefer active kind of learning to class-sitting. Teachers of younger kids should, therefore, provide the kids with more active learning routines rather than having them set in class for longer hours. The Goodness of Fit theory suggests that children can get to reach their potential if there exists goodness of fit.
Teacher, as mentioned above, can affect the temperament of children while in class. A good teacher who studies all his or her students and offers then the appropriate learning environment helps develop positive temperaments in kids. Kids may become bored, displeased and inactive if their teacher does not provide them with the proper learning environment and method. Children’s temperaments may also affect the teacher ( McClowry et al., 2013 . A teacher likes to work with easy children, as they are often positive, responsive and pleasant to be around. A teacher may also spend a lot of time with difficult kids in order to prevent inappropriate behaviors in class. Slow-to-warm-up children most of the time, end up not receiving much of the teacher's attention. For all children to benefit parents and teachers need to identify each child's temperament and work towards providing the child with the appropriate learning utilities, learning methods, and learning environment
Gender on Children’s Temperaments
Recent research has it that there are differences in the brain chemistry just like there are differences in the anatomical structure of boys and girls. The brain of most girls is better suited for empathizing with others while the brain for a majority of boys is suited for systemizing and predicting outcomes. However, there are other girls whose brains are better suited for systemizing and predicting outcomes just as there are boys with brains are suited for empathizing with others. The common stereotypes of both boys and girls can be true or misleading in various situations. Young girls are known to fear things and often burst into tears whenever to meet a strange thing or person. Boys are also known to be aggressive and often break things they come into contact with. Some girls, however, are aggressive just in nature and other boys fearful as well. Gender, therefore, influences the nature of children in relation to their temperament.
Studies show that girls are highly emotional and more talkative than boys. Boys, on the other hand, are more aggressive and physical. Communication can also be difficult with boys as compared to girls. Most mothers say that little girls are often more emotional than boys. They react quite fast to various situations and can have mixed emotional reactions to various situations in quick successions. A young girl can be smiling or laughing just before dinner, and then gets extremely weepy during the mealtime. They are easily impressed and easily displeased by events or things at the same time. On average, girls also talk more as compared to boys ( Else-Quest et al., 2006) . A young girl can talk until she goes to sleep. Boys, on the other hand, are often more aggressive and physical. Most boys like to play physical games rather than other soft games such as singing. Boys like to run around and play with their toys. Girls, as well as boys, can fit in any of the three classifications of temperament.
Conclusion
Temperament, as seen in the above discussions, is the variation in the emotional and behavioral characteristics of individuals. Temperaments of children are classified into three categories, that is, easy, difficult and slow-to-warm-up children. While temperaments are mainly known to be influenced by inborn tendencies, the environment can also shape up a child’s temperament. The gender of a child may also suggest the kind of temperament a child may have. The Goodness of Fit theory, which refers to the compatibility of a child's temperamental characteristic and the environment emphasizes the importance of identifying a kid's temperament.
References
Else-Quest, N. M., Hyde, J. S., Goldsmith, H. H., & Van Hulle, C. A. (2006). Gender differences in temperament: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin , 132 (1), 33.
Joyce, P. R., McKenzie, J. M., Luty, S. E., Mulder, R. T., Carter, J. D., Sullivan, P. F., & Cloninger, C. R. (2003). Temperament, childhood environment and psychopathology as risk factors for avoidant and borderline personality disorders. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry , 37 (6), 756-764.
Lemery, K.S., Goldsmith, H.H., Klinnert, M.D., & Mrazek, D.A. (1999). Developmental models of infant and childhood temperament. Developmental Psychology, 35 (1), 189-204.doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.35.1.189
Manis, Frank. (2016). The dynamic child (1 st ed). Pearson.
McClowry, S. G., Rodriguez, E. T., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Spellmann, M. E., Carlson, A., & Snow, D. L. (2013). Teacher/student interactions and classroom behavior: The role of student temperament and gender. Journal of Research in Childhood Education , 27 (3), 283-301.
