Introduction to the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC)

Abstract

The conceptual basis for the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC) is outlined, with culture characterized as a force influencing how individual differences in social-emotional functioning develop. Rothbart's psychobiological model, defining temperament as constitutionally based reactivity and regulation, as well as concepts integral to the developmental niche, including the child's routine and parental psychology (i.e., socialization goals for offspring and ethnotheories concerning appropriate parenting) are introduced. Our model of culturally driven influences on child behavioral outcomes guiding the book, with parent psychology and children’s daily context as mediators of cultural effects, including those linked to Hoftede et al. cultural orientation dimensions, is described.