Temperament influences on parenting and child psychopathology: Socio-economic disadvantage as moderator

Despite calls for research on how the socio-economic environment may be related to temperament we still do not know enough about the relationship between temperament and socio-economic disadvantage (SED). A particularly underresearched question in temperament research is how SED may moderate the temperament-parenting and the temperament-child psychopathology links. The paper argues that, to develop theory, future temperament studies should seek to explore how the timing, specificity or accumulation, level and duration and change of SED may be related not only to temperament but also to links between temperament and parenting and between temperament and child psychopathology

From Pythagoras to Johann Sebastian Bach: An Exploration in the Development of Temperament and Tuning

Temperament and tuning are at the core of all music—they are the embodiment of the correlation of music and mathematics in every musical work. In examining the shift from Pythagorean tuning to well temperament, compositional style and philosophy governs not only the evolution musical genres, but also the evolution of temperament and tuning systems. The association of mathematics and temperament defines ratios and pitch relations in every branch of temperament. An analysis of J.S. Bach\u27s Well-Tempered Clavier and his use of temperament display the contrast of melodious thirds of meantone temperament and emotional tension of chords in well temperament. The mathematical beauty and complexity of tuning governs the musical center of the work; a composition may focus upon minute intervallic relationships or larger harmonic structure, depending upon the primary focus of the utilized system of temperament. Arguably, mathematical relationships have more influence upon musical beauty than the composed music alone. J.S. Bach\u27s preludes and fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier prove the existence of liveliness and color in every possible key

Revising the Musical Equal Temperament

Western music is predominantly based on the equal temperament with a constant semitone frequency ratio of $2^{1/12}$. Although this temperament has been in use since the 19th century and in spite of its high degree of symmetry, various musicians have repeatedly expressed their discomfort with the harmonicity of certain intervals. Recently it was suggested that this problem can be overcome by introducing a modified temperament with a constant but slightly increased frequency ratio. In this paper we confirm this conjecture quantitatively. Using entropy as a measure for harmonicity, we show numerically that the harmonic optimum is in fact obtained for frequency ratios larger than $2^{1/12}$. This suggests that the equal temperament should be replaced by a harmonized temperament as a new standard.Comment: PDFLaTeX, 18 pages, 6 figure

The Temperament Police: The Truth, the Ground Truth, and Nothing but the Truth

The tuning system of a keyboard instrument is chosen so that frequently used musical intervals sound as consonant as possible. Temperament refers to the compromise arising from the fact that not all intervals can be maximally consonant simultaneously. Recent work showed that it is possible to estimate temperament from audio recordings with no prior knowledge of the musical score, using a conservative (high precision, low recall) automatic transcription algorithm followed by frequency estimation using quadratic interpolation and bias correction from the log magnitude spectrum. In this paper we develop a harpsichord-specific transcription system to analyse over 500 recordings of solo harpsichord music for which the temperament is specified on the CD sleeve notes. We compare the measured temperaments with the annotations and discuss the differences between temperament as a theoretical construct and as a practical issue for professional performers and tuners. The implications are that ground truth is not always scientific truth, and that content-based analysis has an important role in the study of historical performance practice. 1

Lost Toy? Monsters Under the Bed? Contributions of Temperament and Family Factors to Early Internalizing Problems in Boys and Girls

This study was designed to examine the contribution of multiple risk factors to early internalizing problems and to investigate whether family and ecological context moderated the association between child temperament and internalizing outcomes. A sample of 1,202 mothers of 2- and 3-year-old children completed a survey of child social-emotional functioning, family environment, and violence exposure. Child temperament, maternal affective symptoms, and family expressiveness were associated with child anxiety and depression problems. Violence exposure was related only to child anxiety. When maternal affective symptoms were elevated, inhibited girls but not boys were rated as more anxious and youngsters with heightened negative emotionality were rated as more depressed. Family expressiveness moderated the association between inhibited temperament and anxiety symptoms

Identifying the Associations between Child Temperament and Father Involvement: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence

Using a sample of resident fathers (either married or cohabiting) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,213), this study assessed the relationship between child temperament and father involvement. The direct effects of child temperament on father involvement, as well as its moderating effect on the association between other predictor variables and father involvement were measured. A two-equation model was estimated, using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression procedure. Findings suggest that fathers are less involved with temperamentally difficult children than with temperamentally easy children. Further, temperament moderated the strength of the association between parental relationship quality and father involvement for married fathers. Implications for intervention programs targeted at increasing paternal involvement are discussed.Father Involvement, Child Temperament, Parental Relationship Quality, Moderation Effects, Endogeneity-Exogeneity, 2SLS

Student Performance in Principles of Macroeconomics: the Importance of Gender and Personality Type

Several studies indicate that females perform more poorly in economic courses than their male counterparts. Other studies reveal that students' personality types affect their performance in economic courses, as well. The present study explores this issue by testing a number of interactions between gender and the Kersey-Bates temperament types in an ordered probit model explaining students' grades in Principles of Macroeconomics. The results confirm that the interaction of gender and temperament types does matter in a student's performance. The present study reveals that not all female temperament types perform more poorly than their counterparts and not all male temperament types do significantly better than females as a group.

Adolescent beliefs about antisocial behavior : mediators and moderators of links with parental monitoring and attachment

The current study examined whether parental monitoring and attachment were related to adolescent beliefs about antisocial acts, with temperament, gender, and age considered as potential moderators. A total of 7135 adolescents, aged 14-18 years, completed selfreport measures of antisocial beliefs, parental monitoring, attachment security, and temperament. Results indicate that both attachment security and parental monitoring are associated with adolescent beliefs about antisocial behaviour. It also appears that the two aspects of parenting are complementary, in that a secure attachment relationship is associated with greater parental monitoring knowledge, which in turn is linked with a lower tolerance for antisocial behaviour. However, the relations between these aspects of parenting and beliefs about antisocial acts depended on the young people’s characteristics, with some results varying by age, gender and temperament. Implications for future research and parent-focused interventions to prevent antisocial beliefs and behaviour are discussed.peer-reviewe

The Structure of Temperament and Personality Traits: A Developmental Perspective

In this chapter, we articulate a developmental perspective on personality traits from early childhood through adulthood. In the first section, we address two topics that are fundamental in defining the most important traits at each point in the life span: the relationship between temperament and personality and the methods used to ascertain the structure of traits in the temperament and personality research traditions. We argue in this section that temperament and personality are different ways of describing the same basic traits, with temperament research primarily focused on early-emerging individual differences and personality research focused on individual differences that appear later in childhood and continue into adulthood. In the second section, we describe the current status of the most prominent models of temperament, as well as the most widely-accepted personality trait model, the Big Five. In the third section, we articulate a structural model that integrates contemporary findings on temperament and personality traits from early childhood through adulthood. We use the Big Five trait structure, along with the trait of activity level, to organize this taxonomy. In the fourth section, we discuss the current research on the psychological and biological processes that underlie individual differences in the Big Five traits in childhood and adulthood. In the final sections, we offer concluding thoughts on the nature of personality trait development and suggestions for future research. This is an exciting time in the study of personality in part because of the marked progress in uncovering the basic structure of traits across the lifespan.

On Sin, Repentance, Christian Nurture, And The Genetics of Personality

Dean Homer\'s description of the genetics of personality includes two components: temperament and character. Temperament is a product of the interaction of the individual\'s genes with early stimuli, whereas character is formed by parenting, social interaction and the individual\'s choices of reactions to external stimuli throughout life. This understanding of the genetics ofpersonality argues against determinism and is appropriate for a Christian doctrine of sin and repentance. Hamcr\'s description of the impact of child-rearing on character echoes the significance of Christian nurture, especially as expressed in the Sacrament of Baptism