Korea National Survey of Temperament Types in Young Children
Description
A nationwide survey was conducted with parents of children aged six years and younger, yielding 9,230 valid responses for analysis. The findings indicated that among Korean young children.
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Temperament has often been classified by assigning children to types based on cut-off scores derived from Likert-style scales. This approach, however, presents several limitations: (1) the calculated means for each subscale may not reflect the actual distribution of group characteristics and thus have limited value as norms; (2) it is difficult to account for the simultaneous influence of multiple temperament dimensions; and (3) equal weighting of item responses may fail to capture the true diagnostic value of different items (Taejae, 2001). To address these issues, the present study used a direct response approach: for each item, parents were given options corresponding to easy, difficult, or slow-to-warm-up temperament types and classified according to response patterns. If a child received a threshold number of responses corresponding to the same type (e.g., easy temperament), that type was assigned. If responses were distributed such that no single type surpassed the others by at least three, the child was classified as having a mixed temperament. For mixed types, the most frequent response was noted as the predominant type, and in cases of ties, two- or three-way mixed combinations were recorded to allow for nuanced classification. The instrument consisted of 40 items: eight for each core dimension (regularity, approach–withdrawal, adaptability, intensity, and mood), and each item included three options reflecting the core temperament types. The initial pool of items was based on a review of relevant literature, with the final version established through review by two faculty members specializing in education and child counseling and three PhD researchers.
Institutions
- Sogang University Sogang Business School