• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 1997

The objective of this study was to compare the family environment and developmental history of three groups of children classified by their temperament. The parents of 484 Korean children aged between 3 and 7 years completed the Korean version of Parental Temperamental Questionnaire developed by Thomas and Chess and Developmental Questionnaire created by Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center. After clustering these children into 5 temperamental groups according to the method proposed by Fullard et al, 98 Easy, 36 Difficult, and 21 Slow-To-Warm-Up children were included in the analysis. Statistically meaningful differences observed among three groups were as follow：1) Marital conflict of parents was more frequent in Difficult and Slow-To-Warm-Up children than in Easy children. 2) Parentchild conflict was more frequent in Difficult children than in Easy children. 3) Conflict among siblings was more frequent in Difficult children than in Easy children. 4) Average monthly income of family was less in Difficult children than in Easy children. 5) Toilet training was achieved later in Difficult children than in Easy children. 6) Motor development was slower, between 2 and 5 years old, in Slow-To-Warm-Up children than in Easy children. 7) Fear of stranger started earlier in Slow-To-Warm-Up children than in easy children. 8) Physical health was poorer in Difficult and Slow-To-Warm-Up children than in easy children. The findings indicate that Difficult child or Slow-To-Warm-Up child group have unfavorable family environment, different developmental milestone and poorer physical health in comparison with Easy child group.