AUTHOR=Moanţă Alina Daniela , Pelin Florin , Ciolcă Corina , Nanu Marian Costin , Mitrache Georgeta , Badea Dan , Ciuntea Lucian Mihai 

TITLE=The temperament of pre-teens at risk of educational and social exclusion

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1173175

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1173175

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Pre-teens’ vulnerabilities and poverty increase educational and social exclusion. The goal of the present study was to identify the temperamental characteristics of pre-teens at risk of educational and social exclusion, depending on type of vulnerability and gender. Methods: 329 students (167 boys and 162 girls) at risk of early school leaving were involved in the current research, grouped in four categories: preadolescents from single-parent families, students in which case a parent is missing (is working abroad), socially assisted students and Roma pre-teens (socially assisted). To assess temperament the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire (EATQ-R) was used. Results: The results underline that in the case of the four superfactors and for the two behavioral scales investigated, the scores (at group level) are, generally, within the average limits. The study highlights the importance of specialists to increase, in the case of pre-teens at risk of early school leaving - Effortful Control, and to decrease Negative Affectivity (includes frustration and fear) and Depressive Mood. Significant differences between vulnerable boys and girls were observed, in the case of: Surgency, Affiliation and Depressive Mood. Also, using Mann-Whitney (U) test, respectively independent sample t-test, gender-dependent differences were highlighted (considering the EATQ-R scales), in the case of each type of vulnerability. Not least, using single-factor multivariate analysis of variances, the differences between preadolescents - depending on the type of vulnerability, were presented. Discussion: In the case of Surgency boys registered significantly higher scores than girls, while in the case of Affiliation and Depressive Mood girls obtained higher values. Gender- and type of vulnerability-dependent differences in temperament were discussed in the case of pre-teens, a temperament-conscious education being necessary in future parental education and teacher training.