ALTHOUGH child development professionals have been increasingly impressed with the importance of temperament in personality development, progress in research and practical applications of the concept has heen hampered by the paucity of suitable techniques for measuring it objectively. Brazelton (1973) recently introduced his Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale for research on newborn infants, and the infant temperament questionnaire of Carey (1970Carey ( , 1972a) provides a means of determining reaction patterns in 4-8 month old infants. However, neither of these techniques is suitable for the study of temperament in early childhood. For the period of 3-7 years there appear to be available only two research techniques: (1) the interview of Thomas et al (1963) of the New York Longitudinal Study (N.Y.L.S.) and other interviews derived from it by Graham et al. (1973) and Garside et al. (1975) and (2) the E.A.S.L temperament questionnaire by Buss and Plomin (1975). Two of these cover part of this period, two are not at all specific for this age group, and none has been used clinically.This report describes the development of a parent rating technique that measures temperament in 3-7 year old children simply but apparently with sufficient rigor for clinical and research use. The term "temperament" is used here to mean the behavioral style of the child in interaction with the environment. While the origin of temperament has not been precisely delineated, there is evidence that these characteristics are present soon after birth and are somewhat stable into early childhood, but constantly interacting with the environment. As measured in early childhood, behavioral style is the product of many factors including the child's constitution, previous experience and developmental level.

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The Infant Temperament Questionnaire, originally published in 1970, has been revised to improve its psychometric characteristics. The number of items was increased from 70 to 95, rating options were increased from three to six, more items have high-low reversals, and they are randomized as to content area. The new form was standardized on 203 4- to 8-month-old infants. Good test-retest reliability was maintained and internal consistency of the nine categories was raised to a higher level, thereby assuring a greater reliability of the instrument. These improvements should enhance the questionnaire's use in clinical and research applications.

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A new caretaker questionnaire for assessment of NYLS temperament characteristics in one-to-three-year-olds, part of a series of such instruments, is described. A study of stability of individual differences from early infancy to one-to-three years found significant correlations on all dimensions. Maternal general impressions, however, changed in several ways in the intervening time.