TEMPERAMENTAL ADAPTABILITY, PERSISTENCE, AND REGULARITY: PARENTAL RATINGS OF NORWEGIAN INFANTS AGED 6 TO 12 MONTHS, WITH SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR PREVENTIVE PRACTICE

ABSTRACT There is a need for standardized measures of infant temperament to strengthen current practices in prevention and early intervention. The present study provides Norwegian data on the Cameron‐Rice Infant Temperament Questionnaire (CRITQ; J.R. Cameron & D.C. Rice, 1986a), which comprises 46 items and is used within a U.S. health maintenance organization. The CRITQ was filled out by mothers and fathers at 6 and again at 12 months as part of a longitudinal study of mental health during the first years of life (the “Little in Norway” study, N = 1,041 families enrolled; V. Moe & L. Smith, 2010). Results showed that internal consistencies were comparable with U.S. data. The temperament dimensions of persistence, adaptability, and regularity had acceptable or close‐to‐acceptable reliabilities in the U.S. study as well as in this study, and also were unifactorial in confirmatory factor analysis. These dimensions are the focus in this article. Findings concerning parents’ differential ratings of their infants on the three dimensions are reported, as is the stability of parents’ ratings of temperament from 6 to 12 months. In addition, results on the relation between temperament and parenting stress are presented. The study suggests that temperamental adaptability, persistence, and regularity may be relevant when assessing infant behavior, and may be applied in systematic prevention trials for families with infants. The inclusion of concepts related to individual differences in response tendencies and regulatory efforts may broaden the understanding of parent—infant transactions, and thus enrich prevention and sensitizing interventions with the aim of assisting infants’ development. RESUMEN Existe una necesidad de medidas estandarizadas del temperamento del infante para reforzar las actuales prácticas de prevención y temprana intervención. El presente estudio provee información de Noruega sobre el Cuestionario Cameron‐Rice de Temperamento del Infante (CRITQ), el cual comprende 46 puntos y se usa dentro de una Organización de Mantenimiento de Salud de Estados Unidos. Mamás y papás completaron el CRITQ a los seis y otra vez a los 12 meses como parte de un estudio longitudinal de salud mental durante los primeros años de vida (el estudio “Pequeño en Noruega,” 1,041 familias participantes). Los resultados mostraron que las consistencias internas eran comparables con información de los Estados Unidos. La persistencia, adaptabilidad y regularidad de las dimensiones