Journal: Reflection on Temperament and Attachment

Journal: Reflection on Temperament and Attachment

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Utilizing the concepts of temperament and attachment, reflect on your own experiences as a child, those of a child you know, or those of a fictional child featured in media (book, film, television, etc.). Select concepts from temperament and attachment theories and apply those to your chosen example. Consider the three types of child temperament classification (Thomas & Chess, 1977), and consider the Ainsworth’s attachment styles for this assignment. Assess if these concepts present useful information for prevention, evaluation, or assessment of the behavioral problems that children may present during development.

Guidelines for Submission: Submit assignment as a Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Journal assignments must follow APA Style citations, and word count must be a minimum of 350 to a maximum of 750 words.

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Introduction 

Temperament is believed to be the infant’s behavioural disposition, which is a production of an internal manifestation of events associated with environmental and generational affects (deVries, 1948). There has been considerable debate between attachment and temperament theorists in the roles of temperament in attachment (Dirkin, 1998; Berk, 1997). Factors, which contribute to the attachment relationships strength, have recently been suggested as; behaviour (Notaro and Volling, 1999) and maternal sensitivity (Rosen and Rothbaum, 1993). However transitionally, it is likely that infant-parental relationships are influenced by individual differences (temperament) (Seifer et al, 1996). This essay will therefore present infant and caregiver temperament influences, on attachment relationship. Differences in maternal and paternal attachments formed with infants will also be discussed, concluding by summarising the temperament influence on attachment relationships.Nine dimensions of temperament are proposed in the Infant Temperament Questionnaire (ITQ): activity, rhythmicity, approach/withdrawal, threshold, adaptability, persistence, intensity, mood, and distractibility (deVries, 1984). However, the main characteristics which are generally discussed are; emotionality, distress-anger, fear and activity (Lemery et al 1999). Lengue, West and Sandler (1998) suggested, if infants have negative emotionality or are impulsive, internalising and externalising problems may result respectively. It….