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A Longitudinal Study of Inhibited Temperament, Effortful Control, Gender, and Anxiety in Early Childhood

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Abstract

Background

Temperament has been associated with child anxiety in a number of studies; however, research examining possible mechanisms of effect using longitudinal designs is scarce.

Objective

This study tested a theoretically-derived model of anxiety development spanning infancy (6 months) to early childhood (approximately 72 months) that includes temperamental reactivity (i.e., behavioral inhibition), temperamental self-regulation (i.e., effortful control), and gender.

Methods

Data used in this study were collected in phase I and phase II from 1226 children and their caregivers by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for their prospective, longitudinal Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Structural equation modeling procedures were used to test whether effortful control mediated the relation between behavioral inhibition and anxiety and whether such mediation varied by gender.

Results

Results provided support for the model, suggesting that one mechanism linking the modest association between behavioral inhibition in infancy to anxiety symptoms in early childhood is through diminished effortful control. Further, moderated mediation analyses indicated that this mechanism was apparent only for girls.

Conclusions

Modulation of temperamental reactivity via effortful control may be a protective factor in the translation of early behavioral inhibition to childhood anxiety for girls.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA

    Laura A. Niditch

  2. Department of Psychological Sciences, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

    R. Enrique Varela

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  1. Laura A. Niditch
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Correspondence to R. Enrique Varela.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study per NICHD.

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Niditch, L.A., Varela, R.E. A Longitudinal Study of Inhibited Temperament, Effortful Control, Gender, and Anxiety in Early Childhood. Child Youth Care Forum 47, 463–479 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-018-9447-0

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