Within a sample of 584 twins aged 12 to 25 months (292 pairs) studied longitudinally, positive affect measured through two laboratory pleasure episodes and maternal report at 12 and 22 months significantly predicted empathy-related helping and hypothesis testing assessed between 19 and 25 months. Girls showed significantly more concern than did boys, whereas boys engaged in hypothesis testing significantly more than did girls. Behavior-genetic analyses indicated substantial shared environmental influences for positive affect and empathy composites of helping and concern. Genetics and the nonshared environment influenced empathy-related hypothesis testing. The best fitting bivariate model included shared and nonshared environmental influences on positive affect and helping, with environment accounting for the covariation between the two traits. The covariation between positive affect and hypothesis testing was genetically influenced. Copyright © 2007 Heldref PublicationsAddress correspondence to Michele Volbrecht, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 West Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706-1969, USA; mmvolbrecht@wisc.edu.. AUTHOR NOTES Michele M. Volbrecht is a graduate student in the human development area of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests primarily focus on temperament and the development of internalizing psychopathologies in young children. Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant is an assistant professor of developmental psychology at Arizona State University. Her current research identifies genetic and environmental contributions to children's mental and physical health. Her lab Web site is http://www.asu.edu/clas/psych/research/emotion. Nazan Aksan is an assistant scientist in the Department of Psychology at the University of Iowa. Her research interests lie in the area of social development. Carolyn Zahn-Waxler is a senior scientist in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests include the development of empathy and prosociality, the development of depression, and sex differences in psychopathology. H. Hill Goldsmith is Fluno Bascom Professor and Leona TylerProfessor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests lie in developmental behavioral genetics, temperament, and childhood psychopathology.The authors appreciate the research assistance of all of the staff and students at the UW-Twin Center, especially Heather Lau, Sheila Turcsanyi, and Penny Clark. (Eisenberg, 1988), is an admirable human attribute. The development of empathy fosters this unselfish desire to alleviate another's distress, serving as a catalyst for prosocial, moral action (Hoffman, 1982). During the second year of life, children typically possess the required cognitive, affective, and behavioral capabilities for concern and helping behavior directed toward distressed others (Zahn-Waxler, Robinson, & Emde, 1992). As children develop, their self-distress reaction is incr...

With a sample of 242 twins (135 girls, 107 boys) studied longitudinally, behavioral inhibition (BI) and inhibitory control (IC) measured at 3 years, as well as early and concurrent family process variables, were examined as predictors of shyness and of anxiety symptoms approximately four years later. Structured observational data from laboratory and home contexts were used in conjunction with parent and experimenter ratings. A key goal was to extend previous findings of the positive relationship between early BI and anxiety development by incorporating the consideration of IC and family process variables. Using hierarchical linear modeling with REML estimation to adjust for twin dependency, early BI (b =.37, p <.01), IC (b =.14, p <.05), and concurrent lower family stress (b = −.22, p <.05), predicted shyness during middle childhood. Findings were similar for parent-rated and laboratory-based shyness measures. Anxiety symptoms were predicted by BI (b =.14, p <.05), early negative family affect (b =.20, p <.05), and family stress in middle childhood (b =.26, p <.05). These findings clarify the relative importance of temperament and family factors in the development of both shyness and anxiety symptoms during childhood.

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