This study examined emotion regulation (ER) as a mediator in the relation between early behavioral inhibition (BI) and later social competence (N= 257), and whether this mediation varied depending on BI levels. Maternal-report and observational measures were used to assess BI (ages 2 and 3). Children’s ER strategies (age 5) and social competence with an unfamiliar peer (age 7) were measured using observational measures. Results showed that BI predicted less engaged ER strategies during a disappointment task, and engaged ER predicted higher social competence. Engaged ER mediated the effect of BI on social competence, but only for highly inhibited children. Findings elucidate developmental trajectories of risk and resilience and suggest targeting regulatory strategies in early prevention efforts with highly inhibited children.

The current study examined the associations between the early childhood temperament of behavioral inhibition and children's displays of social problem-solving (SPS) behavior during social exclusion. During toddlerhood (ages 2-3), maternal report and behavioral observations of behavioral inhibition were collected. At age 7, children's SPS behaviors were observed during a laboratory social exclusion task based on the commonly used Cyberball game. Results showed that behavioral inhibition was positively associated with displayed social withdrawal and negatively associated with assertive behavior during the observed social exclusion task at 7 years of age. These results add to our understanding of inhibited children's SPS behaviors during social exclusion and provide evidence for the associations between toddler temperament and children's social behavior during middle childhood.

Temperament works in combination with a child’s environment to influence early socioemotional development. We examined whether maternal caregiving behavior at infant age 9 months moderated the relation between infant temperamental fear (9 months) and observations of children’s social behavior with an unfamiliar peer at age 2 in a typically-developing sample of 155 children. When infants received lower quality maternal caregiving, temperamental fear was inversely related to observed social engagement and aggression. These relations were nonsignificant when infants received higher quality maternal caregiving. Findings indicate that variations in temperamental fear may predict individual differences in future peer interactions, but sensitive, nonintrusive caregiving behaviors can attenuate these associations.

We examined the longitudinal relation between behavioral inhibition (BI) and social anxiety symptoms and behavior and the mediating role of emotion regulation (ER). Moreover, we investigated the influence of parenting behavior on the development of ER strategies. Participants were 291 children (135 male) followed longitudinally from 2 to 13 years. Mothers were predominantly well educated and non-Hispanic Caucasian. Children were screened for BI using maternal report and observational measures (ages 2 and 3), parenting behavior was observed while children and their mothers participated in a fear-eliciting task (age 3), ER strategies were observed while children completed a disappointment task (age 5), and socially anxious behavior was measured via multimethod assessment at 10 and 13 years. Children who exhibited high BI in early childhood exhibited more socially anxious behavior across ages 10 and 13, and there was a significant indirect effect of BI on socially anxious behavior through ER strategies. Children who were high in BI demonstrated less engaged ER strategies during the disappointment task, which in turn predicted more socially anxious behavior. Furthermore, parenting behavior moderated the pathway linking early BI and ER strategies to social anxiety outcomes such that children who exhibited high BI and who received more affectionate/oversolicitous behavior from their mother displayed less engaged ER strategies and more socially anxious behavior than children low in BI or low in oversolicitous parenting behaviors. These findings expand on our understanding of the role that ER strategies and parenting play in the developmental pathway linking early BI to future social anxiety outcomes.