Early temperament as a predictor of later personality

• Temperament in infancy and toddlerhood predicted personality in later childhood.
• Early Regulatory traits contributed to the development of Conscientiousness.
• Temperamental trait of Low Intensity Pleasure played the key role.
• Findings showed considerable heterotypic continuity of individual differences.

This study examined developmental relationships between early temperamental dimensions and later personality traits using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R), the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ) and the Inventory of Child Individual Differences-Short version (ICID-S) in a community sample of 98 children who had participated in a study of early temperament and who provided follow-up data on average seven years later. Analyses revealed a number of significant associations between higher- and lower-order dimensions of early temperament and later personality. Regulatory Capacity in infancy and Effortful Control in toddlerhood were related to personality domain of Conscientiousness, largely due to the contribution of early temperament trait of Low Intensity Pleasure. The findings showed considerable heterotypic continuity of individual differences, both within-domain and cross-domain, and highlighted the predictive effect of early regulatory traits.