Temperamental Contributions to Social Behavior: The Moderating Roles of Frontal EEG Asymmetry and Gender

doi:10.1097/00004583-200101000-00018

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Volume 40, Issue 1, January 2001, Pages 68-74

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200101000-00018 Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective

Infant temperament is thought to provide one of the fundamental bases for social and emotional development. Few studies have examined the direct and indirect influences of early temperament and physiological disposition on later development.

Method

This article presents results of a longitudinal study that took place between the years 1989 and 1996 in which the relations between maternal reports of negative reactivity at 9 months of age and maternal ratings and laboratory observations of social wariness and sociability at 4 years of age (n = 97) were examined. Also examined were the moderating roles of (1) frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry as assessed at 9 months of age and (2) the child's gender.

Results

Negative reactivity predicted social wariness for infants with right frontal EEG asymmetry, but not for those with left frontal EEG asymmetry and for boys but not girls. The only significant predictor of sociability was gender. Specifically, at 4 years of age girls were rated higher on the measure of sociability than were boys.

Conclusion

The findings are discussed in terms of the roles of frontal EEG asymmetry and gender in moderating the impact of temperamental negative reactivity on later social behavior.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants in the current study were 139 infants and their mothers, from two independent cohorts, who were taking part in a longitudinal study of the relations between temperament, psychophysiology, and social and emotional development. Participants were recruited via mailing lists. Families were sent a general letter asking them whether they were interested in a study on child development. Families that mailed back a brief demographic questionnaire were contacted by telephone for a

Formation of Aggregate Measures of Social Wariness and Sociability at 48 Months

At 48 months of age, aggregate measures of social wariness and sociability were formed on the basis of a combination of maternal reports and observed behaviors during play with unfamiliar peers in the laboratory. Reticent behavior during free play was calculated by summing the standardized proportions of onlooking and unoccupied behaviors during both free-play sessions (Coplan et al., 1994). Prior to being used in correlational analyses, the observed reticence variable was transformed using a

DISCUSSION

A primary goal in the study of infant temperament is to understand better the processes through which early individual differences in temperament impact upon later social and emotional development and adaptation. Although there are several reports in the literature that show direct relations between early negative reactivity and the display of social wariness at later ages, these relations are modest at best. Clearly, the complexities associated with the measurement of both infant temperament

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Citation Excerpt :
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Behavioral synchrony during social interactions is foundational for the development of social relationships. Behavioral inhibition (BI), characterized by wariness to social novelty and increased anxiety, may influence how children engage in moment-to-moment behavioral synchrony. EEG-derived frontal Alpha asymmetry and Delta-Beta coupling reflect approach-avoidance behavior and emotion regulation, respectively. We examined the relation between intradyadic behavioral synchrony in energy levels and peer gaze, BI, and EEG measures (N = 136, 68 dyads, Mean_Age = 10.90 years) during unstructured and structured interactions. Energy levels were negatively synchronized when both children exhibited right Alpha asymmetry. If either child exhibited left Alpha asymmetry, the dyad exhibited more positive synchrony. Peer gaze was less synchronized during the unstructured task with left Alpha asymmetry. Greater positive Delta-Beta coupling in BI children was associated with more peer gaze synchrony. Peer gaze was asynchronous when BI children exhibited negative Delta-Beta coupling and their partner exhibited positive coupling.
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: This research was supported by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the NIH (HD 32666 and HD 17899) to Dr. Fox.

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SPECIAL SECTION: ASSESSMENT OF INFANT AND TODDLER MENTAL HEALTH: ADVANCES AND CHALLENGESTemperamental Contributions to Social Behavior: The Moderating Roles of Frontal EEG Asymmetry and Gender

ABSTRACT

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusion

Section snippets

Participants

Formation of Aggregate Measures of Social Wariness and Sociability at 48 Months

DISCUSSION

Infant Behav Dev

Brain Cogn

Infant Behav Dev

Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile

Temperament: Early Developing Personality Traits

Behavioral and physiological antecedents of inhibition in infancy

Child Dev

Temperamental qualities at age three predict personality traits in young adulthood: longitudinal evidence from a birth cohort

Child Dev

Being alone, playing alone, and acting alone: distinguishing among reticence and passive and active solitude in young children

Child Dev

Infant irritability, mother responsiveness, and social support influences on the security of infant–mother attachment

Child Dev

Asymmetrical brain activity discriminates between positive and negative affective stimuli in human infants

Science

Antecedents and consequences of shyness in boys and girls: a 6-year longitudinal study

The interaction between child sex and temperament in predicting behavior problems of preschool-age children in day care

Early Child Dev Care

Relative right frontal EEG activation in 3-to 6-month-old infants of depressed mothers

Dev Psychol

If it's not left, it's right: electroencephalogram asymmetry and the development of emotion

Am Psychol

Dynamic cerebral processes underlying emotion regulation

Monogr Soc Res Child Dev

Individual differences in response to stress and cerebral asymmetry

Dev Neuropsychol

Hemispheric substrates for affect: a developmental model

Frontal activation asymmetry and social competence at four years of age

Child Dev

The role of frontal activation in the regulation and dysregulation of social behavior during the preschool years

Dev Psychopathol

Toward a theory of infant temperament

Characteristics of 3-to 4-year-olds assessed at home and their interactions in preschool

Dev Psychol

SPECIAL SECTION: ASSESSMENT OF INFANT AND TODDLER MENTAL HEALTH: ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES
Temperamental Contributions to Social Behavior: The Moderating Roles of Frontal EEG Asymmetry and Gender