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Background: Children with the temperament of behavioral inhibition (BI) face increased risk for social anxiety. However, not all children with BI develop anxiety symptoms. Inhibitory control (IC) has been suggested as a moderator of the pathway between BI and social anxiety. This study uses longitudinal data to characterize development of IC and tests the hypothesis that IC moderates associations between early BI and later social anxiety symptoms. Methods: Children completed a Go/Nogo task at ages 5, 7, and 10 years as part of a longitudinal study of BI (measured at 2-3 years) and social anxiety symptoms (measured at 12 years). To assess IC development, response strategy (criterion) and inhibitory performance (d 0 ) were characterized using signal detection theory. Latent growth models were used to characterize the development of IC and examine relations among BI, IC parameters, and social anxiety symptoms. Results: IC response strategy did not change between 5 and 10 years of age, whereas IC performance improved over time. BI scores in toddlerhood predicted neither initial levels (intercept) nor changes (slope) in IC response strategy or IC performance. However, between ages 5 and 10, rate of change in IC performance, but not response strategy, moderated relations between BI and later parent-reported social anxiety symptoms. Specifically, greater age-related improvements in IC performance predicted higher levels of social anxiety in high BI children. Conclusions: IC development in childhood occurs independent of BI levels. However, rapid increases in IC performance moderate risk for social anxiety symptoms in children with BI. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Objectification has been conceptualized as a form of insidious trauma, but the specific relationships among objectification experiences, self-objectification, and trauma symptoms have not yet been investigated. Participants were women with (n = 136) and without (n = 201) a history of sexual trauma. They completed a survey measuring trauma history, objectification experiences (body evaluation and unwanted sexual advances), constructs associated with self-objectification (body surveillance and body shame), and trauma symptoms. The relationships among the variables were consistent for both women with and without a history of sexual trauma. Our hypothesized path model fit equally well for both groups. Examination of the indirect effects showed that experiencing unwanted sexual advances was indirectly related to trauma symptoms through body shame for those with and without a history of sexual trauma. Additionally, for women with a history of sexual trauma, the experience of body evaluation was indirectly related to trauma symptoms through the mediating variables of body surveillance and body shame. The data indicate that the experience of sexual objectification is a type of gender-based discrimination with sequelae that can be conceptualized as insidious trauma. Clinicians may consider the impact of these everyday traumatic experiences when working with women who have clinical symptoms but no overt trauma history.

Background: Children with Behavioral Inhibition (BI) temperament face increased social anxiety risk. However, not all children with BI develop anxiety symptoms. Inhibitory control (IC) has been suggested as a moderator of the pathway between BI and social anxiety. The current study uses longitudinal data to characterize development of IC and tests the hypothesis that IC moderates associations between early BI and later social anxiety symptoms. Methods: Children completed a Go/Nogo task at ages 5, 7, and 9 years as part of a longitudinal study of BI (measured at 2-3 years) and social anxiety symptoms (measured at 12 years). To assess IC development, response strategy (criterion) and inhibitory performance (d’) were characterized using signal detection theory. Latent growth models were used to characterize the development of IC and examine relations among BI, IC parameters, and social anxiety symptoms. Results: IC response strategy did not change between 5 and 9 years of age, whereas IC performance improved over time. BI scores in toddlerhood predicted neither initial levels (intercept) nor changes (slope) in IC response strategy or IC performance. However, between ages 5 and 9, rate of change in IC performance, but not response strategy, moderated relations between BI and later parent-reported social anxiety symptoms. Specifically, greater age-related improvements in IC performance predicted higher levels of social anxiety in high BI children.Conclusions: IC development in childhood occurs independent of BI levels. However, rapid IC development moderates risk for social anxiety symptoms in children with BI. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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