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Family and neighborhood socioeconomic status and temperament development from childhood to adolescence
Author(s) -
Strickhouser Jason E.,
Sutin Angelina R.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12507
Subject(s) - temperament , psychology , socioeconomic status , developmental psychology , personality , multilevel model , longitudinal study , personality development , early childhood , persistence (discontinuity) , child development , big five personality traits , clinical psychology , demography , social psychology , population , medicine , geotechnical engineering , pathology , machine learning , sociology , computer science , engineering
Objective Children differ in their temperament and these differences predict consequential outcomes, including mental health, peer relations, substance use, academic performance, and adult personality. Additionally, children's temperament develops over time in response to environmental factors, such as the socioeconomic status (SES) of their family and the neighborhood in which they are raised. However, there has been lack on research on the relation between neighborhood SES and the development of temperament or personality. Method Using data from two cohorts of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC; N = 9,217) that followed children from 4 to 15 years old, the present analyses examined whether parent income, parent education, and neighborhood disadvantage were associated with three child temperament traits that are precursors to Five‐Factor Model (FFM) adult personality traits. Results Longitudinal hierarchical linear models (HLM) generally found that children with lower neighborhood SES or family SES tended to have lower sociability, higher reactivity, and lower persistence and these associations did not decrease over time. Conclusions This research demonstrates that both the neighborhood and the family SES in childhood are important for the development of temperament across childhood and adolescence.