Premium
Inhibition: Its Stability and Correlates in Sixteen‐ to Forty‐Month‐Old Children
Author(s) -
Broberg Anders,
Lamb Michael E.,
Hwang Philip
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02849.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , foster care , child care , medicine , pediatrics , nursing
Inhibition was assessed in 144 Swedish children when they averaged 16 months of age using a composite measure tapping sociability toward strange adults, noninvolvement in peer play, and parental ratings of fearfulness. 91 children entered out‐of‐home care within 2 weeks of these initial assessments. Children were observed in this setting playing with peers; teachers and parents also rated children's adjustment to the out‐of‐home care settings. 1 and 2 years later, the children were assessed again, both at home and in the alternative care settings. Results showed that individual differences in inhibition were stable over the 2 years of the study. Inhibited children engaged in less high‐quality peer play both at home and in the alternative care settings, and they were less able to play alone in their mothers' absence. On contemporaneous but not subsequent ratings, inhibited children had more difficulty adjusting to out‐of‐home care. Inhibition was not itself affected by out‐of‐home care experiences, and there were no sex differences in inhibition.