Knowledge mapping on temperament in early childhood: A visualized analysis using Cite Space

Abstract

In this study, the social network structure of the studies conducted in the early childhood towards the concept of temperament was examined. The research was considered as a descriptive study since it examined the relation between the existing studies according to the citations. The concept of temperament in early childhood has taken its place in the literature as a concept that began to be studied in 1955. 1025 studies on this subject in the Web of Science database were examined. Studies conducted between 1975-2020 were analyzed. In this study, Cite Space program, one of the social network analysis programs, was used. Documents were examined in relation to co-citations by authors, journals, countries and sources. As a result of the examinations, it was concluded that the most cited country was the United States, the most cited author Mary K. Rothbart, and the most cited journal Child Development. As a result of examining the co-references in the documents, 18 clusters named using the LLR (log-likelihood) algorithm were obtained. The names of the clusters and the most cited articles were determined in accordance with the network structure. At the same time, it is possible to see which clusters are more active in which periods and when the co-citations are analyzed according to the references and which articles are referred to more frequently. The current studies on this subject have been included in child obesity risk, postnatal plasticity revisited and extended and dispositional negativity clusters. With the results of this research, a map of information is presented to the researchers who want to study on the subject of temperament in early childhood. It can direct the researchers according to their sub-fields. It gives information about important sources, authors, and journals about the subject of interest, according to the tendency of the researcher. In addition, the researcher could see current issues or what topics the literature lacks. Therefore, as with this topic, authors can obtain detailed information about the subject area with such bibliometric studies while choosing the field of study.