Comparison of Temperament in Infancy between the normal Infants and Low-birth-weight

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the temperamental differences between the normal infants and low-birth-weight infants. The subjects of this study were 70 mothers with normal infants and 62 mothers with the low-birth-weight. Convenient sampling was done at three regions. The infant temperament scale developed by Pridham & others (1994) was used. Data were analyzed by SPSS WIN program. The results were as follows; 1) There was a significant difference in total temperament score between the low-birth-weight infants and normal infants. The scores of the low-birth-weight infants were significantly lower than those of normal infants in the subscales of amenability and persistence, activity, and reactivity. In adaptability, there was no significant difference between two groups. 2) In both groups, there were no significant difference by socio-economic status of parents, delivery type, and birth order. But, in the case of low-birth-weight infants, the temperament score of infants over 6 months was significantly higher than that of infants under 6 months. 3) In the correlation analysis among subscales of the temperament, amenability and persistence, activity, and reactivity showed the significant relationship. But adaptability showed significant correlation only with the amenability and persistence. In conclusion, temperament score of low-birth-weight infants were significantly lower than that of normal infants. It was suggested that parenting education for low-birth-weight infants would be needed to understand and impact the positive infant temperament.