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Life stress moderates the effects of preschool behavioral inhibition on anxiety in early adolescence
Author(s) -
Mumper Emma E.,
Dyson Margaret W.,
Finsaas Megan C.,
Olino Thomas M.,
Klein Daniel N.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/jcpp.13121
Subject(s) - anxiety , psychology , stressor , temperament , association (psychology) , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , observational study , personality , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology , pathology , psychotherapist
Background Although a robust body of literature implicates temperamental behavioral inhibition ( BI ) as a prominent risk factor for anxiety disorders, many children with heightened BI do not develop anxiety. The current study examines the role of two forms of life stress (life events and natural disaster exposure) in moderating the relationship between BI in preschoolers and anxiety in early adolescence. Method A community sample of 392 3‐year‐old children was administered a laboratory observational assessment of temperament. When children were a mean age 10, the region was struck by a devastating hurricane and exposure to disaster‐related stress was assessed. In early adolescence, youth and a parent were administered the UCLA Life Stress Interview ( LSI ) to assess behaviorally independent and dependent negative life events during the prior year and youth completed the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders ( SCARED ). Results The association between early childhood BI and anxiety symptoms in early adolescence was moderated by both independent life events and disaster‐related stress. Children high in BI at age 3 reported greater anxiety symptoms at age 12 after exposure to higher levels of both forms of stress. Conclusions Stress moderated the association between early BI and later anxiety. Importantly, this was evident for two different kinds of stressors that were independent of the child's behavior that increases confidence in the causal role of stress in the development of anxiety in high BI children.