Temperament, i.e. individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation, emerges early in infancy; might temperament originate during fetal development? Mixed findings and methodological issues in the literature examining this consideration limit our understanding of the continuity between these fetal indices and infant temperament. The primary aims of the current study were to improve on published studies by (a) using standardized and well-accepted fetal cardiac (actocardiograph) and infant temperament measures (the Infant Behavior Questionnaire—Revised; IBQ-R) (b) expanding fetal assessments to include coupling (the cross correlation of heart rate with movement), and (c) examining a diverse sample to determine if findings of associations between fetal neurobehavior and infant temperament generalize beyond cohorts that are demographically well-resourced and predominantly white. Building on theory and empirical findings, we hypothesized that (1) FHR would be positively associated with Surgency and Negative Affectivity, (2) FHRV would be positively associated with Surgency, and Regulation/Orienting and inversely associated with Negative Affectivity, and (3) fetal coupling would be positively associated with Regulation/Orienting and Surgency and inversely associated with Negative Affectivity. We collected 20 min of fetal data (m gestational age = 34.42 weeks) and mothers completed the IBQ-R (n = 90 women; 60 % non-Caucasian race; 63 % Latina ethnicity). We found that FHR was positively associated with Negative Affectivity but not associated with Surgency (or Regulation/Orienting). FHRV was inversely associated with Surgency but not associated with Negative Affectivity or Regulation/Orienting. Coupling was positively associated with Regulation/Orienting and Surgency but not associated with Negative Affectivity. Our findings, from a more diverse sample and with established measures, provide further evidence that individual differences in reactivity and regulation can be identified in the in-utero period and show theory-based continuity to specific infant temperament constructs.

气质，即反应性和自我调节的个体差异在婴儿早期就出现了；气质可能起源于胎儿发育吗？审查这一考虑的文献中的混合发现和方法论问题限制了我们对这些胎儿指数和婴儿气质之间连续性的理解。本研究的主要目的是通过 (a) 使用标准化和广为接受的胎儿心脏（心电图）和婴儿气质测量（婴儿行为问卷 - 修订版；IBQ-R）（b）扩大胎儿评估来改进已发表的研究包括耦合（心率与运动的互相关），(c) 检查不同的样本，以确定胎儿神经行为和婴儿气质之间的关联结果是否适用于人口统计学上资源丰富且以白人为主的队列。基于理论和实证研究结果，我们假设 (1) FHR 将与紧急性和负面情感呈正相关，(2) FHRV 将与紧急性和调节/定向呈正相关，并与负面情感呈负相关，以及 (3)胎儿耦合与调节/定向和紧急性呈正相关，与负情感呈负相关。我们收集了 20 分钟的胎儿数据（(2) FHRV 与 Surgency、Regulation/Orienting 正相关，与 Negative Affectivity 负相关，(3) 胎儿耦合与 Regulatory/Orienting 和 Surgency 正相关，与 Negative Affectivity 负相关。我们收集了 20 分钟的胎儿数据（(2) FHRV 与 Surgency、Regulation/Orienting 正相关，与 Negative Affectivity 负相关，(3) 胎儿耦合与 Regulatory/Orienting 和 Surgency 正相关，与 Negative Affectivity 负相关。我们收集了 20 分钟的胎儿数据（m胎龄 = 34.42 周）并且母亲完成了 IBQ-R（n = 90 名女性；60% 非白种人；63% 拉丁裔）。我们发现 FHR 与负面情感呈正相关，但与紧急性（或调节/定向）无关。FHRV 与急迫性呈负相关，但与负面情感或调节/定向无关。耦合与调节/定向和紧急性呈正相关，但与负面情感无关。我们的研究结果来自更多样化的样本和既定的措施，提供了进一步的证据，表明可以在宫内时期识别反应性和调节的个体差异，并显示出特定婴儿气质结构的基于理论的连续性。