International studies refer to the significance of children’s interaction quality in preschools, which has been shown to be predictive for the development of children’s competencies and school performance (e.g. Ulferts et al., 2019). Due to this high importance of interaction quality for child development, many studies have examined predictors of interaction quality; including structural characteristics, teacher characteristics, activity settings, preschool teachers’ activities and children’s activities (e.g. Kluczniok & Roßbach, 2014; Smidt & Embacher, 2020).

Furthermore, previous research also showed relations between child characteristics (e.g. age, gender or language skills) and interaction quality (Smidt et al., 2020; Vitiello, Booren et al., 2012). However, relative few studies have examined the influence of child personality on interaction quality (Vitiello, Moas et al., 2012); although it can be assumed that children’s personality influences how they interact with others in preschool. For example, research on the three personality types “resilient”, “undercontrolled” and “overcontrolled”, which were replicated in many studies (Chapman & Goldberg, 2011), showed that children identified as “resilients” were rated as more sociable compared to “undercontrollers” and “overcontrollers” (Asendorpf et al., 2001). In addition, “undercontrollers” were judged as more aggressive and “overcontrollers” had a higher behavioral inhibition to adults and peers than “resilients” (Asendorpf & van Aken, 1999).

As there is a lack of evidence regarding the influence of child personality on interaction quality in preschools, this study aims to examine relations between personality types of preschool children and the quality of their interactions. In addition, the study also takes into account other predictors of interaction quality, like structural characteristics (child-teacher-ratio, adequate equipment), other child characteristics (age, gender, language skills), activity settings (free choice), preschool teachers’ activities (scaffolding of preschool teachers) and children’s activities (low-yield activities), as control variables.

In contrast to existing studies that often measure interaction quality on the preschool class level; the study focuses on the individual level and uses the “Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System” (inCLASS; Downer et al., 2010)for the observation and rating of interaction quality. The inCLASS originally consists of ten dimensions, which were assigned to the four factors “teacher interactions”, “peer interactions”, “task orientation” and “conflict interactions”. As the inCLASS captures individual differences in the interaction quality of preschool children, it provides a more detailed picture on individual patterns of interactions and the corresponding need for improvement (Smidt & Embacher, 2021).

Regarding the study aim, findings about relations between child personality and interaction quality at the individual child level can offer opportunities to pay special attention toward children who need more support in their interactions with others, in order to improve interaction quality.

For the study, data of the first wave (April to June 2019) of the project ‘Quality of Children’s Interactions in Preschool’ (funded by the Austrian Science Fund, FWF) is used. The sample comprises 261 (131 girls) three to four-year-old children (M = 49.54 months) from 81 preschool classes in Tyrol, Austria. The sample was randomly selected; 19% had an immigration background. Interaction quality in preschools was assessed with the observation tool “Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System” (inCLASS; Downer et al., 2010). Based on previous research (e.g. Downer et al., 2010) the ten inCLASS dimensions were assigned to four factors (domains): teacher interactions (α=.81, comprising positive engagement with the teacher and teacher communication), peer interactions (α=.89, comprising peer sociability, communication, and assertiveness), task orientation (α =.63, comprising task engagement and self-reliance), and conflict interactions (α=.57, comprising teacher and peer conflict, and behavior control [reverse coded]). One observation cycle lasts 15 minutes, with 10 minutes for direct observation, followed by a section of 5 minutes in which the level of observed interactions was rated on a 7-point scale (1 to 2 = low level; 3 to 5 = intermediate level; 6 to 7 = high level). On a typical preschool morning up to four children are observed with three to four observation cycles on a rotational basis (Downer et al., 2010). Child Personality was captured through ratings of preschool teachers via paper-pencil-questionnaires. Therefore the “Fünf Faktoren Fragebogen für Kinder – Kurzform (FFFK-K)“ [Five Factor Questionnaire for Children – short version] was used (Asendorpf, 2007). Asendorpf’s short version of the Five-Factor-model consists of ten bipolar items, which were assigned to the factors “Neuroticism”, “Extraversion”, “Intellect”, “Agreeableness” and “Conscientiousness”. Based on the procedure of Asendorpf et al. (2001) the three personality types “resilient”, “overcontrolled” and “undercontrolled” were replicated with two-step cluster analyses (Ward, followed by k-means). Control variables were assessed with parent interviews (gender, age), preschool teacher questionnaires (child-teacher-ratio, adequate equipment), the time-sampling-instrument “Zielkindbeobachtung” [Target Child Observation] (ZiKiB; Kuger et al., 2006) (free choice, scaffolding, low-yield activities) and the „Sprachentwicklungstest für drei- bis fünfjährige Kinder” [Language Development Test for Three- to Five-year-old children] (SETK 3-5; Grimm, 2015) (language skills). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with the inCLASS domains as dependent variables and personality types (resilients were used as reference category) as predictors (Model 1). Control variables were added in a further step (Model 2). Because children were nested in preschool classes, robust standard errors were computed.

Due to the large number of results, standardized regression coefficients (β) are only reported for significant effects (p < .05). Regarding relations between child personality and teacher interactions no significant effects were found; however, an adequate equipment of the preschool class (β = .33) and scaffolding behavior of the preschool teacher (β = .30) were positively related to teacher interactions. Interesting results are emerging for peer interactions: Compared to “resilients”, the interaction quality with peers was significantly lower for “overcontrollers” (β = -.22) and “undercontrollers” (β = -.29). The effects remained after including the control variables (overcontrollers: β = -.18; undercontrollers: β = -.23); furthermore, free choice (β = .21) was positively related to peer interactions and boys were rated higher in their peer interactions than girls (gender: β = .16). The findings of task orientation showed that “undercontrollers” (β = -.21) were significantly rated lower in their quality of task orientation than “resilients”. There were no differences between “resilients” and “overcontrollers”. After including the control variables, the effect of “undercontrollers” only tends to be significant. Furthermore, adequate equipment (β = .21) as well as language skills (β = .18) were positively related and low-yield activities (β = -.23) were negatively related to task orientation. Regarding conflict interactions there were no significant effects of “overcontrollers” and “undercontrollers” compared to “resilients”; only language skills tend negatively relate to conflict interactions. If “overcontrollers” were used as reference category, a positive effect of “undercontrollers” (β = .21) was found, this means “undercontrollers” had more conflict interactions compared to “overcontrollers”.

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