1.2 Individual differences
This page looks at the individual differences in stress reactivity and temperament. Children (and adults) respond to life’s challenges in very different ways. Adults play an important role in helping children to deal with stress and manage life’s ups and downs.
Responding to stress
Consider…
Three children at the library
Two-year-old Avery is at the library with her grandfather. They are watching a puppet show together with a dozen other children…Read more
Three children, the same age, living in the same neighbourhood, having the same experience – yet they respond quite differently. Each child’s reactions and responses are based on his or her arousal and recovery to an incoming stressor. They have individual self-regulation patterns.
The late Sir Michael Rutter, professor of Developmental Psychopathology at King’s College London for many years, points to the importance of recognizing each child’s individuality. He explains it comes not just from genes, but from relationships with caregivers.
All of us, including babies and small children, respond differently to stressful events, large and small. Each person’s ability to cope, to regulate emotion, behaviour and attention is influenced by differences in brain and body reactions to challenges and new situations. As described in the Brain Development module, the stress reactivity system is set early in life. In the Brain Development module, you learned that Dr. Megan Gunnar, at the University of Minnesota, studies stress levels in humans by measuring concentrations of cortisol, a stress hormone secreted in saliva. Listen as Gunnar explains stressors and the difference between tolerable and intolerable stress.
Having a caring adult nearby to help children cope and reduce their anxiety is especially important when children are in unfamiliar settings or going through frightening situations. In the following video, Dawn Kidder, a child life specialist at Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg for over 32 years, explains how a child’s relationship with an adult primary caregiver helps to reduce the child’s anxiety about a medical procedure. Watch a demonstration of the hug-hold technique.
Temperament
Temperament can be defined as individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation. It includes things like activity level, impulsivity, sensitivity and focusing attention. Temperament influences how people react to situations, interactions and environments. Understanding temperamental differences has a big impact on caregiving – making sense of children’s feelings and actions helps us to work with them. The next reading, from the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, explains temperament and offers suggestions for how to support children with different temperaments.
From birth, children differ in their reactivity and self-regulation and follow different pathways. While all individuals are born with a tendency towards a particular set of temperamental characteristics, the social environment influences how those tendencies are expressed. Even when children share similar experiences their temperaments, and therefore their reactions, may be different. The terms “goodness of fit”, and “the match” are commonly used to describe the temperamental similarities and differences between parent and child. In the following videos, Dr. Joan Durrant describes the importance of parents and caregivers understanding “the match” between parents and caregivers and the children that they support.
Do the next activity to test your understanding of the information on this page.
The information on this page strongly reinforces children are individuals who react differently to the world they live in and caregivers are also individuals with their own temperaments, strengths and challenges. In the next section, you will see examples of research relating to the development of children’s coping and competence.
