Taxonic structure of infant reactivity: evidence from a taxometric perspective.
Previously, we proposed a theoretical framework that classified infants into qualitative categories of reactivity, rather than on a continuous dimension. The present research used an objective statistical procedure (maximum covariance analysis, or MAXCOV) to determine if a qualitative latent structure, consistent with our theoretical conjectures, would be found to underlie quantitative indices of reactivity to stimuli in a sample of 599 four-month-old infants. Results of the MAXCOV analysis showed clear evidence of a latent discontinuity underlying the behavioral measures of infant reactivity. The base rate of the latent class (or taxon) was estimated at 10%. Infants within the putative high-reactivity taxon, compared with infants not in the taxon, were elevated on measures of behavioral inhibition at 4.5 years. These results provide objective empirical support for a central tenet in our theoretical model by supporting the taxonicity of infant reactivity.
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. sawt@wjh.harvard.edu
S A
SA
Woodward
M F
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Lenzenweger
J
J
Kagan
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N
Snidman
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D
Arcus
D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D002666:Psychology, Child