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Temperamental exuberance and executive function predict propensity for risk taking in childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2012

Ayelet Lahat ,
Kathryn A. Degnan ,
Lauren K. White ,
Jennifer Martin McDermott ,
Heather A. Henderson ,
C. W. Lejuez  and
Nathan A. Fox
Ayelet Lahat*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Kathryn A. Degnan
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Lauren K. White
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Jennifer Martin McDermott
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Heather A. Henderson
Affiliation:
University of Miami, Coral Gables
C. W. Lejuez
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Nathan A. Fox
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ayelet Lahat, Department of Human Development, 3304 Benjamin Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; E-mail: alahat@umd.edu.
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Abstract

The present study utilized a multilevel approach to examine developmental trajectories in risk-taking propensity. We examined the moderating role of specific executive function components, attention shifting and inhibitory control, on the link between exuberant temperament in infancy and propensity for risk taking in childhood. Risk taking was assessed using a task previously associated with sensation seeking and antisocial behaviors. Two hundred ninety-one infants were brought into the lab and behaviors reflecting exuberance were observed at 4, 9, 24, and 36 months of age. Executive function was assessed at 48 months of age. Risk-taking propensity was measured when children were 60 months of age. The results indicated that exuberance and attention shifting, but not inhibitory control, significantly interacted to predict propensity for risk taking. Exuberance was positively associated with risk-taking propensity among children who were relatively low in attention shifting but unrelated for children high in attention shifting. These findings illustrated the multifinality of developmental outcomes for temperamentally exuberant young children and pointed to the distinct regulatory influences of different executive functions for children of differing temperaments. Attention shifting likely affords a child the ability to consider both positive and negative consequences and moderates the relation between early exuberance and risk-taking propensity.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 24 , Issue 3: Multilevel Approaches Toward Understanding Antisocial Behavior: Current Research and Future Directions , August 2012 , pp. 847 - 856
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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