Mckay, Jodi

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between specific measures of child temperament and parent-child interaction in a problem-solving task. One prediction is that children's behavior in a problem solving task will be dictated by their unique temperamental characteristics. It is also thought that child temperament will be related to parental sensitivity to child's emotional cues and understanding as well as teaching strategies and joint decision making. Another prediction is that temperament affects joint attention between children and their parents. Previous research using aggregated dimensions of temperament have found a relation between child temperament and parent-child interaction, however, the relations between specific temperament variables and child attention and parent-child interactions have not been assessed. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that child temperament will be related to child behavior, parental behavior and to the level of joint attention between parent and child in the context of a task activity.