Normative data on temperament in australian infants

Abstract

Previous research has shown that cultural factors need to be taken into account in the measurement of infant temperament. This paper presents norms for an Australian revision of Carey and McDevitt's, (1978) Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ), which was administered to a large representative sample of Victorian infants. These children differed from the American standardization sample on four of the nine dimensions of temperament. Temperament was found to be significantly related to some behavioural characteristics of the child and to some parent characteristics. Maturational effects were also evident. In spite of some psychometric weaknesses, the ITQ appears appropriate for Austr..