Fearful temperament and stress reactivity among preschool‐aged children

Abstract

In this study, we examined the relation between physiological stress-reactivity and temperamental fearfulness in 162 preschool-aged children. Both the autonomic and neuroendocrine arms of the mammalian stress system were examined. Larger stress responses were defined as greater sympathetic activation, parasympathetic withdrawal and cortisol increases to stressor tasks. Fearful temperament was examined using parent report and behavior in response to fear-evocative laboratory tasks. There was little evidence that larger sympathetic activation or parasympathetic withdrawal was associated with fearful temperament. Greater cortisol reactivity, however, was associated with fearful temperament. Additional analyses examined those children who were consistently fearful across all measures, and the results remained largely the same. However, there was some suggestion that consistently fearful compared to non-fearful children might be more likely to exhibit sympathetic activation to the fear-evocative stimuli. These findings provide support for the argument that fearful temperament is associated with greater stress reactivity in young children. Nonetheless the size of the associations was small and future studies will need to determine whether reactivity of stress-sensitive physiological systems contributes to the development of individual differences in fearful temperament or merely reflects these differences. Keywordstemperament; behavioral inhibition; cortisol; vagal tone; pre-ejection period; childrenThe role of temperamental fearfulness in individual differences in stress reactivity and regulation is of growing interest in developmental neuroscience (e.g., Buss et al., 2003;Kagan, Reznick, & Snidman, 1988) and biological psychiatry (Bakshi & Kalin, 2000;Smoller et al., 2005). This interest reflects an enhanced understanding of the neurobiology of both conditioned (LeDoux & Phelps, 2000) and unconditioned fear (Davis, Walker, & Lee, 1997) and belief that the distributed neural systems underlying acute expressions of fear also support more stable, temperamental variations in fearfulness (Rothbart, 1989). The distributed neural circuits that orchestrate fear behavior have outflows to both arms of the mammalian stress system (Charmandari, Tsigos, & Chrousos, 2005). Specifically, they activate both the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to support fight/flight reactions to threat and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system, a counter-regulatory system that has multiple roles in adaptation.One role of the HPA system is to shape future behavioral and physiological responses to threat through regulating gene expression in fear-orchestrating brain regions such as the amygdala (Sapolsky, Romero, & Munck, 2000 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript temperamentally disposed to respond with fear to strange, novel or threatening events produce larger and more prolonged responses of the HPA system, then these responses themselves may operate to lower thresholds for fearful, inhi...

Temperamento de Crianças e Diferenças de Gênero

“…Considering the theoretical approaches used among the studies, the approach based on Rothbart was the most employed (in 50% of the articles), as a singular approach (Gleason, Gower, Hohmann, & Gleason, 2005;Kerestes, 2005;Pérez-Edgar, Schmidt, Henderson, Schulkin, & Fox, 2008;Pesonen, Räikkönen, Strandberg, & Järvenpää, 2006;Talge et al, 2008) or associated with another approaches (Fearon & Belsky, 2004;Olson, Sameroff, Kerr, Lopez, & Wellman, 2005) or by employing other instruments based on Rothbart's assessments (Lahey et al, 2008). Next, Buss and Plomin's approach to temperament was used in 31% of the studies, as a single approach (Porter et al, 2005;Theall-Honey & Schmidt, 2006), associated with another approach (Li-Grining, 2007), or through using instruments based on the assessment of Buss and Plomin (Heinonen, Räikkönen, & KeltikangasJärvinen, 2005; Keltikangas-Järvinen, Pulkki-Råback, Puttonen, Viikari, & Raitakari, 2006).…”

“…The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Labtab) from Goldsmith, Reilly, Lemery, Longley and Prescott (1995) is considered an observational measure of temperament in Rothbart's approach. LabTAB has structured tasks that involve both non-social (Risk Room) and social (Stranger Approach) stimuli (Talge, Donzella, & Gunnar, 2008). Additionally, tasks from Kochanska, Murray, Jacques, Koenig and Vandegeest (1996) may be used to assess individual differences in Effortful Control, based on the conceptualization that Effortful Control is the ability to suppress a dominant response and initiate a subdominant response according to varying task demands (Rothbart, 1989).…”

O estresse em crianças e adolescentes com síndrome de Williams-Beuren no contexto escolar

“…Quando a criança é exposta a um evento estressante, seja ele bom ou ruim, ela entra em estado de alerta, ocorrendo uma ativação do sistema nervoso autônomo e da glândula pituitária, acionados pelo hipotálamo (Talge et al, 2008). Ao mesmo tempo, ocorre a ativação das glândulas suprarenais que liberam adrenalina, preparando a criança para a reação de "luta ou fuga" e provocando a inibição das atividades vegetativas, o que pode ocasionar mudanças nos hábitos alimentares (perda de apetite), alteração no sono (pesadelos e insônias) e outras alterações fisiológicas (Lipp e Novaes, 2003).…”

“…Estudos prévios demonstraram que experiências estressantes no início da vida afetam, a longo prazo, o desenvolvimento do sistema neuroendocrinológico, assim como as funções cognitivas e comportamentais (Heim e Nemeroff, 2001;Mello et al, 2007;Talge et al, 2008;Gunnar et al, 2009 Desta forma, entende-se que superproteção pode ser considerada como uma característica da Escola Especial, por sua segregação, podendo ser um fator estressante, uma vez que não dá oportunidade para a criança enfrentar desafios próprios de sua idade. Pode também gerar angústia pela capacidade da criança em perceber que não faz parte de um convívio social comum.…”

“…Dentre os fatores internos são citados pensamentos e ideias do próprio indivíduo em relação ao meio em que se encontra. Conforme as habilidades e os repertórios comportamentais da pessoa para enfrentar e manejar estes agentes, o nível de estresse variará o que pode comprometer o sistema neuroendocrinológico, funções cognitivas e comportamentais (Heim e Nemeroff, 2001;Mello, Marcinichen , Madruga e cols, 2007;Talge, Donzella e Gunnar, 2008).…”