| Abstract: | When their newborns were 2 weeks of age, 53 mothers completed the activity items of the Rothbart questionnaire. Two weeks later, the same mothers were interviewed at home with regard to their newborns' activity level, using the Thomas, Chess and Birch guidelines and the Carey and McDevitt global rating. Prior to analysis, responses to the instruments were clustered into the contexts of feeding, sleeping, bathing, dressing, and daily activities. Though none of the questionnaire clusters correlated with the global rating, daily activities were convergent between the questionnaire and interview responses. In contrast, all five of the situational contexts for the interview were related positively to the global rating of activity. Results are discussed in light of the apparent contextual influence on maternal ratings of temperament at 1 month. |
