According to a new study, parenting skills have got nothing to do with dealing an easy baby or a fussy baby. A combination of a certain gene and a particular pattern of brain activity may determine a child’s temperament. Canadian researched did a research and examine the interaction between the DRD4 gene and activity in the frontal cortex of the brain to find out if it predicted child’s temperament.

It has been noted from the previous studies that the longer version (allele) of the DRD4 gene is associated with increased sensory responsiveness, risk-seeking behavior and attention problems in children. They have also observed that the infants with more activity in the left frontal cortex are more likely to be calmed down easily and are temperamentally easy. Conversely, children with more activity in the right frontal cortex are more easily distressed and are more difficult to calm down. They are considered to have a negative temperament.

According the study, Louis Schmidt a student of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario along with colleagues measured brain activity in 9 month old infants. When the children grew up to be 4 years old their mothers were asked to complete a survey about their child’s behavior. The DNA samples were also taken of the DRD4 gene for further analysis.

The researchers noticed that children with more left cortex activity and the long version of the DRD4 gene were more easily soothed at 48 months span than those with the shorter version of the gene. The children with the long version of the gene and with more activity in the right frontal cortex were difficult and not easily soothable and had more attention problems than the other children.
According to the research they said that the findings "suggest that it is possible that the DRD4 long allele plays different roles (for better and for worse) in child temperament."
Further they said that the pattern of frontal cortex activity may have influence on how the DRD4 affects the child’s temperament.