Temperament and Happiness in Children |
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Authors: | Mark D Holder Andrea Klassen |
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Institution: | (1) University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada |
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Abstract: | The relation between temperament and happiness was assessed in 311 children aged 9–12. Parents rated their children’s temperament
using the Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability Temperament Survey (EAS) and rated their children’s happiness. Children
rated their own temperament using the EAS and the Piers–Harris Self Concept Scale for Children Second Edition, and they rated
their own happiness using a single-item measure, the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire Short Form, and the Subjective Happiness
Scale. Parents’ and children’s temperament ratings conformed to the four factor structure proposed by Buss and Plomin(Temperament:
Early developing personality traits, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, 1984) supporting the use of children’s self-reports as an additional measure of temperament. Temperament accounted for between
9 and 29% of the variance in children’s happiness depending on the measures. Children who were more social and active, and
less shy, emotional, and anxious were happier. These results parallel the well-established relation between happiness and
personality in adults; temperament traits akin to extraversion (Sociability) were positively associated with happiness whereas
traits akin to neuroticism (Emotionality) were negatively associated with happiness. Additionally, children who were rated
higher in the temperament trait Activity were happier. |
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