Temperament and Cognitive Regulation During the First 3 Years of Life as Predictors of Inattention and Hyperactivity/Impulsivity at 6 Years.

With a wish to identify early markers of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, we examined effects of temperament and cognitive regulation, during the first 3 years of life, on later inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behavior. Temperament and cognitive regulation were assessed at 12, 18, 24, and 36 months in 66 typically developing children. Teachers rated inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity at 6 years. Temperamental activity at all studied time points was predictive of later hyperactive/impulsive behavior, thus appearing as a stable marker thereof. Activity at 12 months was also predictive of inattention, whereas temperamental persistence was correlated with inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, but with no independent contributions. No significant relations between cognitive regulation and the outcome measures were found. Our findings add to the scarce literature proposing that markers of inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behavior in early school age can be found within the first years of life, using parental ratings of child temperament.