Environmental Factors Influence on Temperament
Temperament denotes the manner in which a child behaves, as well as the behavior traits, rather than what the child is doing and the reason behind it. Most of these behavioral differences are present when a child is being born. The environment is very vital to temperaments, because temperamental difference has the power over the way children behave themselves towards people and items in their environments, and how that environment affects them. Nevertheless, different types of environments, according to genetic experts, that have been customarily assumed to have power over child behavior may not function the normal way people think. For example, shared family environments in cases of twins and adoptions take into account small portions of variances in temperament proportions (Saudino, 2005). This primarily means that growing up together as one family does not make family members temperament to resemble, but they do resemble because they share the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). Environmental influences that are vital to temperament are non-shared, because they provide a base for researchers studying the environmental effects on temperament.
Most experts investigating environmental influences on temperament take into account parenting and family function, because many researchers and analysts believe that analyzing environmental factors that differ within families is much genuine and profitable than across families. They study the reason why temperament differs in the same families. The research is carried out through observing one person per family and investigating the association of experiential differences with temperamental diversity within the family. Although there are exceptional, in general, findings of non-shared environmental influence, a good number of studies have found shared environmental influences on both parents (Saudino, 2005). Children’s temperaments character intermingles with parenting to result in their positive or negative behavior; for example, smiling, and interest in others is developed in infancy and early childhood stage. Maternal traits and attachment security are the key sources of shared environmental influences on the positive effect. This is because a child needs the security or attachment of a responsible, considerate, and affectionate mother or caregiver in order to explore the environment they are in. Mothers give their children verbal and non-verbal hints about the environment they are in and provide security whenever children feel insecure, thereby helping in the development of a child’s temperament.
