A Questionnaire for Measurement of Temperament in Six‐month‐old Infants: Development and Standardization

SUMMARY A parental questionnaire was developed for measurement of the nine New York Longitudinal Study temperament variables in 6‐month‐old infants. The questions concern the infant's actual behavior in everyday activities and specified situations. The final questionnaire contains 44 scored items, and takes approximately 15 min to complete and 5 min to score. Test‐retest reliability was found to be generally satisfactory, A representative sample of 160 6‐month‐old infants, chosen from Swedish Well‐Baby Clinics, constituted the standardization sample. This sample's scores on the variables showed acceptable ranges and distribution shapes, thus providing good differentiation among individuals with respect to temperament characteristics. While no significant difference was found between boys and girls on six of the temperament variables, girls were found to be significantly less active, less adaptable and more distractible than boys.