Infant's Temperament Good Indicator For Future Behavior

Researchers from the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology found that a combination of early infant temperament and maternal stimulation are good predictors of how a child will behave in later life. The researchers studied 1,900 children from infancy to age 13. Mothers who gave their infants plenty of intellectual stimulation in the first year of life — reading to them, talking to them and taking them out of the house — were less likely to have serious behavioral problems.

The study also found babies who were often fussy or had unpredictable behavior patterns, including being hungry or tired at different times each day, were more likely to have behavior problems later in childhood. These problems included acting out or cheating at school, lying, bullying other children or disobeying their parents.