Preschool Activity Level: Personality Correlates and Developmental Implications

Buss, DAVID M.; BLOCK, JEANNE H.; and BLOCK, JACK. Preschool Activity Level: Personality Correlates and Developmental Implications. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1980, 51, 401-408. Activity level was measured by 2 independent methods, a mechanical recording device and teacher descriptions, in a sample of 129 children (65 boys and 64 girls), participating in an ongoing longitudinal study. 3 independent actometer measures were taken at age 3, and 4 independent measures were taken at age 4. Separately, personality data were collected on these children at ages 3, 4, and 7 from independent sets of teachers using the California Child Q Set (CCQ). The first study examined the cross-method and cross-time consistency of activity level. The actometer-based and teacher-based activity level scores correlated substantially, providing reciprocal validation for both methods of assessing activity level. Cross-time correlations indicated activity level remains fairly consistent, both within the preschool years and across a 4-year time span. The second study examined the relationship between a preschool actometer index and independently derived personality variables at ages 3, 4, and 7. Results indicated that preschool activity level related substantially to a set of interpersonal attributes as well as to an expected set of motoric attributes. A core set of these activity level relationships was found at all 3 ages. Implications for the developmental stability of some features and the interrelationships among different domains of functioning were discussed.