Temperament and Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract Extensive theoretical and empirical work has outlined the importance of temperament in developmental psychopathology. This chapter focuses on recent advances in the conceptualization and measurement of temperament, including the progress that has been made in empirical work that has enabled researchers to test several proposed models of psychopathology. We first introduce the concept of temperament and discuss a series of agreed‐on principles. The next section includes consideration of the structure of temperament, which includes a review of contemporary theoretical models. We follow this with a discussion of the various measurement approaches to the study of temperament. Preceding the review of recent empirical work on temperament and psychopathology, we outline the proposed links between temperament and psychopathology. Following the literature review, we discuss the biological underpinnings of temperament and their associations to developmental psychopathology. Finally, we conclude the chapter with a discussion of the translational implications of these findings and suggest directions for future research.