Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992 TAG: 9203050024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Short
A study says maybe, but some child-development experts scoff at the notion that babies can be characterized as having Type A or Type B personalities.
The study found that intensely task-oriented or Type A mothers have babies who cry more. It said those mothers reported their babies were more unpredictable than the children of more mellow Type B mothers.
"Maternal Type A personalities are one of the factors that determine how a baby behaves temperamentally," said Dr. Steven J. Parker, lead author of the study, published in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics.
"Everybody knows that newborn babies act differently, and no one has asked why," Parker said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Boston City Hospital.
But other child development specialists said the study showed no relationship between other measures of Type A personalities - such as competitiveness, speed or impatience - in the mother and child.
They also questioned whether mothers were rating their children, or their own attitudes about child development, when rating their babies' intensity and predictability.
by CNB