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Infant predictors of behavioural inhibition
Author(s) -
Moehler Eva.,
Kagan Jerome.,
OelkersAx Rieke.,
Brunner Romuald.,
Poustka Luise.,
Haffner Johann.,
Resch Franz.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1348/026151007x206767
Subject(s) - psychology , crying , developmental psychology , shyness , temperament , behavioral inhibition , anxiety , trait anxiety , social inhibition , social anxiety , personality , social psychology , psychiatry
Behavioural inhibition in the second year of life is a hypothesized predictor for shyness, social anxiety and depression in later childhood, adolescence and even adulthood. To search for the earliest indicators of this fundamental temperamental trait, this study examined whether behavioural characteristics in early infancy can predict behavioural inhibition, as previously postulated. The results show that infant crying to unfamiliar stimuli at 4 months of age is a significant predictor ( p = .002) of behavioural inhibition in the second year of life. These data implicate the possibility of measuring a temperamental anxiety disposition at a very young age simply by assessing crying in the face of novel stimuli.