At age 5, mothers reported on their child’s temperament retrospectively during infancy on the Retrospective Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (Bates & Bayles, 1984; Bates, Pettit, Dodge, & Ridge, 1998). Three dimensions of temperament were examined: 1) difficultness, 2) unadaptability, and 3) resistance to control. Difficult temperament (α = .86) was measured by 9 items related to the child’s negative emotionality (e.g., how easily upset, how often fussing/crying). Unadaptable temperament (α = .72) was measured by 4 items related to negative reactions to novelty (new food, people, places, and adaptation in general). Resistance to control (α = .83) was measured by how often the child 1) persists in playing with objects when told to leave them alone, 2) continues to go someplace even when told to stop, and 3) gets upset when removed from something he or she is interested in but should not be getting into. Ratings on each item ranged from 1–7, with higher values representing less optimal temperament traits (more difficultness, unadaptability, and resistance to control). Correlations between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings were .47, .34, and .37 (p < .001) for difficult, unadapatable, and resistance to control temperaments, respectively.
