What Is Temperament?

Kagan, Jerome; Snidman, Nancy; Arcus, Doreen; Reznick, J. Steven

doi:10.4324/9780429500282-2

Cited by 42 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Kagan and Snidman 42 have suggested that BI behaviors can be the result of experience, without contribution of a specific temperamental bias. They prefer the hypothesis that high reactivity in 4-month-old infants is the temperament that biases children to display BI behaviors in the second year.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

Buzzell

Troller‐Renfree

Barker

et al. 2017

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psych

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Objective Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament identified in early childhood that is a risk factor for later social anxiety. However, mechanisms underlying development of social anxiety remain unclear. To better understand the emergence of social anxiety, longitudinal studies investigating changes at both behavioral neural levels are needed. Method BI was assessed in the laboratory at ages 2 and 3 (N = 268). Children returned at age 12, and electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded while performing a flanker task under two conditions: once while believing they were being observed by peers, and once while not being observed. This methodology isolated changes in error monitoring (error-related negativity; ERN) and behavior (post-error reaction time [RT] slowing) as a function of social context. At age 12, current social anxiety symptoms and lifetime diagnoses of social anxiety were obtained. Results Childhood BI prospectively predicted social-specific ERN increases and social anxiety symptoms in adolescence; these symptoms directly related to clinical diagnoses. Serial mediation analysis revealed social ERN changes explained relations between BI and both social anxiety symptoms (n = 107) and diagnosis (n = 92), but only insofar as social context also led to increased post-error RT slowing (a measure of error preoccupation); this model was not significantly related to generalized anxiety. Conclusion Results extend prior work on socially-induced changes in error monitoring and error preoccupation. These measures may index a neurobehavioral mechanism linking behavioral inhibition to adolescent social anxiety symptoms and diagnosis. This mechanism may relate more strongly to social than generalized anxiety in the peri-adolescent period.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

Buzzell

Troller‐Renfree

Barker

et al. 2017

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psych

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“…Following from this, a second potential limitation is that we used maternal report to assess infant physical aggression. Parental perceptions of child functioning may be biased by relationship with the child, knowledge of child behavior, social desirability, emotional status, personality, and inconsistent interpretation of items (Kagan et al 1994). However, parental perceptions of their child’s aggressive behavior have been differentiated in meaningful and consistent ways (Bates 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prenatal Reflective Functioning and Development of Aggression in Infancy: the Roles of Maternal Intrusiveness and Sensitivity

Smaling

Huijbregts

Heijden

et al. 2016

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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Maternal reflective functioning (RF) has been associated with quality of parent-child interactions and child development. This study investigated whether prenatal RF predicted the development of infant physical aggression and whether maternal sensitivity and/or intrusiveness mediated or moderated this association. The sample consisted of 96 first-time mothers (M = 22.57 years, SD = 2.13) and their infants (54 % male). Prenatal RF was measured with an interview, maternal behavior was observed during free play at 6 months post-partum, and infant physical aggression was assessed at 6, 12, and 20 months using maternal reports. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that relatively poor prenatal RF was related to relatively high infant physical aggression. These associations were moderated by maternal intrusiveness, with significant differences in physical aggression between RF-groups reportedly only in the absence of intrusiveness. Generally, mothers reported an increase in physical aggression between 6 and 12 months, except when they had both low RF-skills and were relatively less sensitive. It is concluded that prenatal RF is associated with (development of) infant physical aggression, and may be targeted in intervention programs aimed at reducing early physical aggression. Less adequate parenting, however, may counteract the beneficial effects of good RF, or obscure insight into children’s behavioral development.

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“…Thus, preadolescent ISRs may be a product of temperamental heterotypic continuity (Caspi, 1998), with implications for how children typically cope with stressors. Indeed, infants who are highly reactive and display elevated negative affect to novel stimuli typically engage in avoidance behaviors (e.g., avoiding peers, not speaking in front of others) in early and middle childhood (Fox et al, 2001; Kagan & Snidman, 2004). Also, children who report characteristically elevated involuntary physiologic arousal and intrusive thoughts often use avoidant forms of coping (e.g., disengagement; Connor-Smith et al, 2000; Wadsworth et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What constitutes effective coping and efficient physiologic regulation following psychosocial stress depends on involuntary stress responses

Bendezú

Sarah

Wadsworth

2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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This study utilized a random-assignment experimental design to examine the interactive contributions of youth-reported trait involuntary stress responses (ISRs) and effortful coping on physiologic reactivity and recovery patterns in preadolescent boys and girls. Fourth- and fifth-grade child-parent dyads (N=126) participated in this study. Children were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-C) and then to one of two randomly-assigned experimental coping conditions: behavioral distraction and cognitive avoidance. Children’s ISRs were examined as predictors of salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA) reactivity as well as moderators of the effect of coping condition on cortisol and sAA recovery trajectories. Multi-level modeling analyses did not link ISRs to physiologic reactivity patterning. ISRs and coping condition interacted to predict differential physiologic recovery trajectories. In the distraction condition, children reporting high ISR levels displayed less efficient cortisol and sAA recovery than children reporting low ISR levels. Surprisingly, the opposite was found for children reporting high ISR levels in the avoidance condition. These children displayed more efficient physiologic recovery relative to their high ISR level peers in the distraction condition. Findings suggest that the efficiency of preadolescents’ physiologic recovery following stress may depend on regulatory fit between children’s ISR levels and cues from their coping environment.

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What Is Temperament?

Cited by 42 publications

References 32 publications

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

A Neurobehavioral Mechanism Linking Behaviorally Inhibited Temperament and Later Adolescent Social Anxiety

Prenatal Reflective Functioning and Development of Aggression in Infancy: the Roles of Maternal Intrusiveness and Sensitivity

What constitutes effective coping and efficient physiologic regulation following psychosocial stress depends on involuntary stress responses

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