Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:1531-1536
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychiatric status of adolescents who had extreme temperaments at age 7
M Maziade, C Caron, R Cote, C Merette, H Bernier, B Laplante, P Boutin and J Thivierge
Centre de recherche Universite Laval Robert-Giffard, Hotel-Dieu du Sacre-Coeur, Beauport, Quebec, Canada.
Two temperamentally extreme (extremely easy and extremely difficult)
subgroups of children were selected at the age of 7 years from a large
random sample of the general population of Quebec City. The clinical
status, family functioning, IQ, and academic performance of these children
were reassessed at 12 and 16 years of age. Findings suggest that extreme
temperament at age 7 predicts psychiatric status in preadolescence and
adolescence only when family functioning is also taken into account. The
adolescents who had been temperamentally difficult children and who were
living in families with dysfunctional behavior control displayed more
clinical disorders.
