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Temperament As A Means of Adoption/Foster Matching

Dr. Dwight Hennessy

Department of Psychology

Buffalo State College

Senior Seminar (PSY472): Applied Social Psychology

What is “Matching”?

Matching in adoptive/foster care is when steps are taken to link caregivers and children on key factors with the intent of facilitating the most effective transition and long term social/emotional/relational health for the entire family unit. That being said, there is little evidence to date of the factors that are most useful for matching. Temperament in children is important because it is the outward manifestation of how a child will act across situations, which could help match a specific child with a family suited to that specific cluster of needs.

What is Temperament?

The answer to this is much more complicated than we have time for in this small space. But in a nutshell, temperament is not just what a person does, but how they typically do it. For example, we all react when we experience new things, but temperament influences HOW we react to those new experiences. Rather than try to find some deep explanation for why we do things, those who study temperament are focused on determining what is a person’s “typical” way of responding to various stimuli in the environment. It is seen as innate and fairly stable over stages of development. That’s why it is often used with children—it’s built in and describes the child’s typical response style. For example, some children are more active than others, some are more sensitive to stimuli such as noise, while others have no problems wearing as much food as they eat. It is thought by many to combine with personal experience and character to impact future “personality” into adolescence and adulthood. Many parenting experts urge caregivers to evaluate the temperament of their children to understand how to uniquely meet that child’s needs. The closer a parent’s temperament matches the child’s, the greater the potential for a “smooth” relationship—Thomas and Chess referred to this as “goodness of fit” between parent and child.

What are the basic Temperaments?

There are a few different ideas about the “basic” temperaments for young children. One of the most common is Thomas & Chess’ use of 9 temperaments. They are as follows:

1. Activity is the degree of physical energy exerted.

2. Regularity (rhythmicity) refers to how regular the child’s physiological functions are (e.g. sleeping, eating, pooping).

3. Approach or Withdrawal refers to the child’s response to new things (they are attracted to it or stay away from it).

4. Distractibility refers to the tendency to be sidetracked while doing a task.

5. Persistence is a measure of how long a child with stay with a task even when frustrated by it.

6. Sensitivity refers to how easily a child gets upset when things change around them.

7. Adaptability is based on how long children take in adjusting to new things.

8. Intensity is the level or degree of responses to stimuli (positive or negative).

9. Mood refers to how happy or unhappy the child is in general.

What is “attachment” & how does it influence relationships?

Attachment is simply the way we connect with others. Psychology has examined attachment as something that develops over life in response to learned outcomes from relationships with others. Over time we develop an “attachment style”, which is a generalized way of relating to others. Many argue that our attachment styles are formed quite early in life as a reflection of our relationship with the primary caregivers. The more healthy that relationship, the more “secure” our attachment to others later in life. Those with a secure attachment are comfortable being emotionally intimate with others. On the more negative side, adults who develop a dismissive-avoidant style prefer not to have intimate emotional relationships with others, while those with a fearful avoidant style would like close intimacy but often do not out of fear of being hurt or used. Finally, those with an anxious-preoccupied style really want emotional intimacy but are fearful that others are not as interested so they worry excessively about it.