Temperament of Adolescents as a Function of their Type of Family

Present study assessed the difference in the temperament of adolescents being brought up in foster home and biological nuclear families. SOS Children's Village was the purposively selected foster home for the present study. The sample for the present study comprised of forty five (45) 14-18 year old adolescents from SOS Bhimtal and an equivalent number of respondents from biological nuclear families of Bhimtal itself, thus, making a total of 90 respondents for the present study. Temperament of the adolescents was assessed by administering Dimensions of Temperament Scale by Chadha and Chandan (2005). Results revealed that boys, irrespective of their type of family, were significantly more aggressive and impulsive than their counterparts whereas, girls from both the families were significantly more warm and tolerant than the boys. Comparison of temperament of respondents across their type of family revealed that respondents from foster home were significantly more secretive, responsible, tolerant and tough-minded than their counterparts. On the other hand, respondents from the biological nuclear families were significantly more placid, sociable, reflective and cooperative than those being brought up in the foster home.