Latent Profiles of Temperament and Their Relations to Psychopathology and Wellness

To test for empirically defined temperament phenotypes and to investigate their associations with psychopathology and wellness.

The sample included 447 children (259 boys, 188 girls; mean age 11.0 years) recruited for a family study in the northeastern United States. Temperament was measured with the Juvenile Temperament and Character Inventory, and indicators of wellness and psychopathology were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist from both parents and the Teacher Report Form. Latent profiles analysis was performed with the resulting class membership serving as the dependent variables for multinomial regression analyses.

Latent profiles analysis identified three classes as the best fitting solution consisting of a moderate class that had average levels of all four traits, a steady class that had low novelty seeking and high persistence and a disengaged class that had higher novelty seeking and harm avoidance but lower reward dependence and persistence. Regressions demonstrated strong links between the steady class, higher functioning, and lower levels of psychopathology, whereas the disengaged class showed the opposite associations. These findings held across informants of psychopathology and wellness.

Profile analyses of temperament may be illuminative in identifying children with similar constellations of traits across many dimensions. Membership in these groups appears to be strongly related to both positive and negative outcomes.