Temperament and its relationship to motor development: A 6-42-month longitudinal study

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Temperament is thought to be an important construct in observing individual differences and understanding the early development of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Mallise et al., 2020). During the first year of life, infants with ASD show abnormal muscle tone, posture, and movement patterns (Teitelbaum et al., 1998). Studies (e.g., MacDonald et al., 2013) reveal that varying degrees of difficulty with fine and gross motor skills are observed in ASD. Although a recent study of 3- to 7-year-olds (Niemistö et al., 2020) showed that temperamental traits such as activity and attention span persistence were positively associated with motor skills, the relationship between infant temperament and neurobehavioral measures remains unexplored from the developmental perspective.
This project involves the Aichi regional sub-cohort of the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS), a birth cohort study funded by the Ministry of the Environment as an Adjunct Study with 3,000 infants born from mothers recruited between 2011 and 2014. While this longitudinal project is still underway, the present study of 2,169 infants (females: 1,076) at 6 months is a preliminary step in analyzing the above-mentioned relationships.
Caregivers were asked about their child's posture and fine and gross motor skills at 6, 24, and 42 months longitudinally. Temperament was assessed through the Japanese short versions of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised at 6 months, the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire at 24 months, and the Childhood Behavior Questionnaire at 42 months. The Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire was also administered at 42 months. Questions relating to caregiver soothing and rough-and-tumble play were also included. We calculated temperament scores for three broad factors: Positive Emotionality/Surgency, Negative Affect, and Orienting/Regulation (Effortful Control). A path analysis was conducted to clarify the relationship between temperament, motor functions, soothing method, and rough-and-tumble play scores across the 6- to 42-month longitudinal data (Figure 1; CFI = .879; RMSEA = .023).
Generally, Surgency appears to play a part in facilitating motor functions but may also have negative effects on the development of fine motor functions in early infancy. In the second year, infants begin to develop a major form of self-regulation (or Effortful Control), which may impact the learning of new skills and the performance of fine and gross motor activities requiring physical effort and persistence. Meanwhile, infants' better motor functions, which may be associated with high levels of surgency or activity, may lead caregivers to withdraw the rough-and-tumble play. Similarly, high surgency such as ease of becoming excited may also lead caregivers to avoid rough-and-tumble play. Our findings suggest that Surgency appears most influential factor in motor development in infancy, that the effects of Effortful Control become stronger later on, and that parent-child interactions can be influenced by motor and temperament development and vice versa.
Although the JECS study was funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, the findings and conclusions of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the above government agency.

Authors

• Astuko Nakagawa, Nagoya City University
  Presenting Author

• Taishi Miyachi, Nagoya Western Care Center for Disabled Children
  Non-Presenting Author

• Taro Matsuki, Nagoya City Unversity
  Non-Presenting Author

• Makiko Tomida, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology
  Non-Presenting Author