In 1960, Dr. Stella Chess and Dr. Alexander Thomas published their research on Temperaments and Behavior Disorder in Children “at the New York University Press.
The research is still widely used in pediatric psychiatry and others.
I love their research too.
It is a study that scientifically proves the Korean word “Innate nature is difficult to be changed(天性 亂改 천성 난개)”.
Let me introduce more of that study.
Their research shows that children are born with the following 9 kinds of temperaments:
1. Activity level
The level of activity, such as how active or passive each child is, is determined according to the level of activity of the motor nervous system and musculoskeletal system that each child has from birth.
2. Rhythmicity/regularity versus irregularity
They are born with the temperament that determines the rhythm of life, such as the interval between the hungry and eating, the interval between each breastfeeding, the interval between bowel movement and urination, the interval between sleeping and waking.
3. Approach and withdrawal
They are born with a temperament that determines how easily accessible or atrophic they are and when they first encounter a new food, the toy, or approach a stranger for the first time.
4. Adaptability
Adaptability is the temperament that determines how easily a child can adapt to a new environment, how hard he can adapt, or how fast he can adapt, or the degree to which he can adapt slowly.
5. Intensity of reaction
The temperament determines the degree of intensity of how strongly or weakly reacts to an environment.
6. Threshold of responsiveness
They are born with a temperament that determines how high the threshold to react and how low the threshold to not react.
7. Quality of mood/positive mood versus negative mood
They are born with a temperament that determines the quality of a positive mood that can play well, cheerful, and follows others well, and a negative quality of mood that cries out and hides strangers.
8. Distractability identifies
They are born with a temperament that can determine how much or less their current behavior is affected by external stimuli.
9. Attention span and persistence
They are born with a temperament that determines the duration of attention they are able to do one activity continuously and the persistence attention and they can continue to do when they encounter a disability while continuing the activity.
All children are born with this nine kind of temperaments from birth.
The level of innate temperaments, such as accessibility, atrophy, adaptability, the intensity of reaction, and quality of mood, can determine whether it is easier or more difficult to raise and care for the child.
Children with stronger responses from birth will have a greater change in emotional intensity, and the more atrophy, the more difficult it is to tolerate new changes.
The more negative the quality of their mood, the easier it is to be nervous, more easily avoided, and less loved by their parents or others.
In this way, each child has a different degree of innate temperament from birth.
It is very important for parents to analyze and find out the degree of their children’s 9 kind of innate temperaments as early as possible and to properly raise their children according to their natural temperament.
Depending on their natural innate temperament, some children are easier to raise and more accessible, while others are difficult to raise and more difficult to reach.
Depending on their natural temperament, some children love more and others loveless.
Parents of children who are easy to raise naturally and who are more accessible will grow better healthy if parents are more actively raising their children.
Parents of children who are difficult to raise and difficult to reach will not grow up soundly when parents are more passively raising them.
However, no matter what the 9 kinds of natural temperaments are, whether it is easy or difficult to raise them, if you give them more of a better environment and more true unconditional love, train them with love, and nurture them well, they can grow into productive and healthy members of our society.
Knowing the 9 kinds of innate natural temperaments you have when raising your children, and in addition to your children’s temperament, there are a 25 percentile personality and a 75 percentile personality, actually the range of 1 percentile personality to 100 percentile personality. If parents know children’s personalities well, they will help to raise their children even more.
I will explain the 25 percentile personality and the 75 percentile personality in the next chapter in more detail.
Photo 12. Depending on their natural temperaments, there are children who are more accessible and more easily acquainted with others. These two infants were born as fraternal twins and have different innate temperaments. Copyright ⓒ 2012 John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP
Photo 14. Depending on their natural temperament, some children like to play more, play more cheerfully, and enjoy more. These two infants are fraternal twins and are born with different temperaments. Copyright ⓒ 2012 John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP