The Three Basic Temperaments of Infants in Human Development

Infants have different innate personalities, with one dominant way of acting and reacting from birth on. The way parents and other people treat them will also shape the way children behave and develop. Understanding your child's innate temperament will help you to see your child through a different lens. Knowing your child's temperament means that you can direct your child to behave in ways to suit her temperament instead of trying to change her.

  1. The Easy Child

    • Alexander Thomas, M.D., and Stella Chess, M.D., studied children's temperaments, focusing on how temperamental qualities influence adjustment throughout life. They identified three basic temperaments in infants: easy, difficult and slow-to-warm-up. About 65 percent of children fall into these three categories. Adam Berger says that about 40 percent of infants can be classified as easy. The easy child adapts quickly to changes and has a regular eating and sleeping pattern.

    The Difficult Child

    • Irregular eating and sleeping pattern are characteristics of the difficult child. Often they have a negative approach to new situations. They tend to throw tantrums when they are frustrated and need time to adapt to changes such as new food or people. The difficult child is more likely to show signs of aggression when she is pushed into new situations. About 10 percent of children are classified as difficult.

    The Slow-to-Warm-Up Child

    • Some children are reluctant at first but they slowly accept new situations. Their initial reactions against change have are milder than the reactions of the difficult child. The slow-to-warm-up child has fairly regular eating and sleeping pattern. About 15 percent of infants belong to this category.

    Growing Up

    • Temperament continues to influence behavior and the way children adjust to situations throughout life. Yet, the child's environment influences and changes her behavior. Placing the difficult child in a supportive environment where she is expected to respond in a calm and consistent manner reduces the likelihood that she will respond with problematic acting-out behavior.

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