Thank you for your participation in the Stony Brook Temperament Study! Your involvement helps us better understand how personality changes over the course of childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.
The goal of the Stony Brook Temperament Study is to learn more about the development of temperament and personality. “Temperament” refers to patterns of moods and emotional reactions that are relatively consistent across situations and over time. It is one of the major building blocks of later personality. Parents often recognize that their children have quite distinctive temperaments from a very early age.
We are seeking answers to questions like:
- How similar are children’s temperaments to their parents’ personalities?
- How do families influence the development of temperament and personality?
- How much do children’s personalities change as they become adolescents and young adults? What factors influence these changes?
- How do children’s personalities affect their development in other areas, such as their emotional and behavioral adjustment, their relationships with others, their school and work functioning, and how they cope with new challenges and demands as they grow?
Over 600 families with young children from Suffolk County participated in the initial part of the study. Children and parents participated in assessments at ages three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, and eighteen years. Some families also participated in additional parts of the study involving a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and an assessment of the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Young adults who participated in these earlier phases are now participating in another set of assessments after their 21st birthday. We greatly appreciate the continued support and involvement of all participants and their families.
The Stony Brook Temperament Study is directed by Dr. Daniel Klein, who is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Stony Brook University. It is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, and is located in the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York.