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MOTt£RSlFA1l£RS' RAllNGS OF TEMPERAMENT AK)MOTF£RS'MOW.

Grads Attill, CI'R, Rome, Italy.

A child's behaviour is influenced by many interactingfactors, such as his/her temperament, the nature of therelationship he/she takes part in, the partner's characteristics.Until recently, the measurement of temperament hasdepended mainly upon mother· report measures. Thesemeasures came under criticism partly because of the findingsthat mother personality variables correlate with children'stemperament ratings. But parents questionnaires are valuableanyway in so far they qlve the parent's view of a child'sdisposition: this might shape the parent-child relationship.

The aim of the present study is 1) to compare themothers' and fathers' temperament ratings of 40 preschoolers,2) to analyze the relations between children's temperamentand mothers' mood, 3) to analyze the associations betweenchildren's characteristics and the observed behaviour shown inmother-child and father-child interactions.

Results regarding points 1. and 2. will be presented.Parents agreed on the Intensity, Mood and Threshold of girls.Some items of mothers' mood correlated more to girls'temperament categories than boys'.