Cross-Cultural Differences in Temperament Between the United States and the People’s Republic of China: A Longitudinal Comparison

Victoria Jones *

Washington State University Department of Psychology, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.

Zhengyan Wang

Capital Normal University, School of Psychology, Beijing, China.

Shangqing Yuan

Capital Normal University, School of Psychology, Beijing, China.

Christie Pham

Washington State University Department of Psychology, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.

Samuel P. Putnam

Bowdoin College, Department of Psychology, Brunswick, ME, USA.Bowdoin College, Department of Psychology, Brunswick, ME, USA.

Maria A. Gartstein

Washington State University Department of Psychology, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract

Aims: The present study assessed cross-cultural differences in temperament and temperament stability between children from the United States (US) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Goals of the study include examining differences in three temperament factors (surgency, negative affectivity, and regulation/effortful control), conducting comparisons on fine-grained dimensions of factors demonstrating significant cross-cultural differences, and comparing temperament stability from infancy to toddlerhood.

Methodology: The US sample (N = 147) and PRC sample (N = 128) consisted of children whose temperament was longitudinally assessed in infancy and toddlerhood using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Short Form (IBQ-R SF) and the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire Short Form (ECBQ SF). Primary analyses involved evaluating mean differences in the three temperament factors: surgency, negative affectivity, and regulation/effortful control, with additional statistical tests conducted to investigate fine-grained distinctions.

Results: Findings revealed main effects of culture for each factor with culture x time interactions indicating negative affectivity significantly differed in toddlerhood, t(273) = -8.27, P < .001, d = 1.00, 98.75% CI [-0.70, -0.37], and regulation in infancy, t(273) = -5.17, P < .001, d = 0.62, 98.75% CI [-0.62, -0.22]. Specifically, the US sample exhibited higher surgency at both time points, lower negative affectivity in toddlerhood, and lower regulation in infancy. In addition, little difference was noted in temperament stability between the US and Chinese samples.

Conclusion: Our findings support previous reports identifying cultural differences in temperament and highlight that differences are not constant across early childhood, but rather that as development unfolds, their nature is subject to change.

Keywords: Temperament, infancy, toddlerhood, cross-cultural, longitudinal.


How to Cite

Jones, Victoria, Zhengyan Wang, Shangqing Yuan, Christie Pham, Samuel P. Putnam, and Maria A. Gartstein. 2021. “Cross-Cultural Differences in Temperament Between the United States and the People’s Republic of China: A Longitudinal Comparison”. Asian Journal of Pediatric Research 7 (3):31-43. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajpr/2021/v7i330219.