Development of inhibitory control during childhood and its relations to early temperament and later social anxiety: Unique insights provided by latent growth modeling and signal detection theory

Abstract

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.

Relations between catechol‐O‐methyltransferase Val158Met genotype and inhibitory control development in childhood

“…All participants had greater than 50% accuracy on go trials at all timepoints. For more detailed information on task specifications, see Troller‐Renfree et al ().…”

“…Within a go/nogo task, it is imperative to measure both IC performance and RS in order to distinguish between these two constructs that together result in raw accuracy. Signal detection theoretic measures create meaningful measures of IC performance and RS that can be applied to developmental research (Conners, Epstein, Angold, & Klaric, ; Fortenbaugh et al, ; Troller‐Renfree et al, ).…”

“…Previous research has shown that children show significant variability in IC ability (Carlson, Moses, & Claxton, ; Gilmore et al, ; McDermott, Pérez‐Edgar, & Fox, ). Individual differences in childhood IC ability have been related to a variety of developmental outcomes, including attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Geurts, Verte, Oosterlaan, Roeyers, & Sergeant, ; Willcutt et al, ), substance use (Gustavson et al, ; Ptácek, Kuzelová, & Stefano, ), anxiety (Henderson, Pine, & Fox, ; Thorell, Bohlin, & Rydell, ; Troller‐Renfree et al, ; White, McDermott, Degnan, Henderson, & Fox, ), and physical health problems (Moffitt et al, ).…”

“…While cross‐sectional studies provide useful snapshots of children's ability at a given time point, these approaches do not capture the full picture of development throughout childhood (Karmiloff‐Smith, ; Karmiloff‐Smith, ). In contrast, longitudinal studies can leverage data collected at multiple timepoints to build developmental trajectories for each child, quantifying individual differences in rate of change (Barker & Maughan, ; Perry, Calkins, Dollar, Keane, & Shanahan, ), which has proven useful in prediction of later psychopathology (Dekker et al, ; Troller‐Renfree et al, ). We recently quantified developmental trajectories in IC development across ages 5–10 years, and found individual differences in the rate of IC development across this period (Troller‐Renfree et al, ).…”

“…In contrast, longitudinal studies can leverage data collected at multiple timepoints to build developmental trajectories for each child, quantifying individual differences in rate of change (Barker & Maughan, ; Perry, Calkins, Dollar, Keane, & Shanahan, ), which has proven useful in prediction of later psychopathology (Dekker et al, ; Troller‐Renfree et al, ). We recently quantified developmental trajectories in IC development across ages 5–10 years, and found individual differences in the rate of IC development across this period (Troller‐Renfree et al, ). Here, we focus on the role of genetics in determining individual variation in IC development itself.…”