Direction of effects between temperament of child and maternal sensitivity

This study aims to examine the potential direction of effects between infant temperament and maternal sensitivity between 15 and 18 months, while considering five different temperament dimensions (activity level, pleasure, social fearfulness, anger proneness and interest/persistence). More specifically, it aims to verify if the direction of effects and the strength of the relation between these two variables vary as a function of the level of psychosocial risk infants are exposed to and infant gender. Fifty low-risk and 98 high-risk mother-infant dyads (defined as a function of mother status: adult or adolescent) were evaluated twice during home visits. At 15 and 18 months, mothers completed a French-Canadian version of the Toddler Behaviour Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ; Goldsmith, 1996), the Questionnaire d'évaluation du comportement de l'enfant (QÉCE; Lemelin, Tarabulsy, Provost, Fournier, Robitaille, Hémond & Tessier, 2007), and observers completed the Maternal Behaviour Q-Sort (MBQS, Pederson & Moran, 1995). Results obtained in the study show that the strength of the relation, and the direction of effects, between infant temperament and maternal sensitivity vary as a function of the temperament dimension taken into account. In addition, the direction of effects also sometimes varies as a function of the level of psychosocial risk and infant gender. © 2011 Canadian Psychological Association.