Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:943-946
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Value of difficult temperament among 7-year-olds in the general population for predicting psychiatric diagnosis at age 12
M Maziade, P Caperaa, B Laplante, M Boudreault, J Thivierge, R Cote and P Boutin
The authors assessed the predictive value of "difficult" temperament, as
defined in the New York Longitudinal Study, in 12-year-old children from
the general population of Quebec City whose temperaments had been
determined to be difficult or easy at age 7. The difficult and easy
temperament groups were balanced for age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
The authors used many convergent measuring devices and were blind to the
temperament scores of the children at age 7. Temperamentally difficult
children had more clinical disorders at age 12 that qualified for a DSM-III
diagnosis. An association with family dysfunction in terms of behavior
control seemed to increase this risk: there was a lower rate of clinical
disorders among children in superior functioning families than among those
in dysfunctional families.
