Abstract
Although inhibited behavior problems are prevalent in childhood, relatively little is known about the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that predict a child's ability to regulate inhibited behavior during fear- and anxiety-provoking tasks. Inhibited behavior may be linked to both disruptions in avoidance-related processing of aversive stimuli and in approach-related processing of appetitive stimuli, but previous findings are contradictory and rarely integrate consideration of the socialization context. The current exploratory study used a novel combination of neurophysiological and observation-based methods to examine whether a neurophysiological measure sensitive to approach- and avoidance-oriented emotional processing, the late positive potential (LPP), interacted with observed approach- (promotion) and avoidance- (prevention) oriented parenting practices to predict children's observed inhibited behavior. Participants were 5- to 7-year-old (N = 32) typically-developing children (M = 75.72 months, SD = 6.01). Electroencephalography was continuously recorded while children viewed aversive, appetitive, or neutral images, and the LPP was generated to each picture type separately. Promotion and prevention parenting were observed during an emotional challenge with the child. Child inhibited behavior was observed during a fear and a social evaluation task. As predicted, larger LPPs to aversive images predicted more inhibited behavior during both tasks, but only when parents demonstrated low promotion. In contrast, larger LPPs to appetitive images predicted less inhibited behavior during the social evaluative task, but only when parents demonstrated high promotion; children of high promotion parents showing smaller LPPs to appetitive images showed the greatest inhibition. Parent-child goodness-of-fit and the LPP as a neural biomarker for emotional processes related to inhibited behavior are discussed.
Highlights
Social reticence and heightened fearful reactivity to novelty and threat are relatively stable aspects of behavior that emerge early in life (Kagan et al, 1988; Kagan and Snidman, 1991; Hane et al, 2008) and represent specific risk factors for a range of problems related to inhibited behavior and anxiety (Biederman et al, 2001; Pérez-Edgar and Fox, 2005; Kagan, 2008; Degnan et al, 2010)
Emotion processing, parenting, and inhibited behavior explored whether a neurophysiological measure of emotional processing, the late positive potential (LPP), in response to avoidance-oriented and approach-oriented images interacts with avoidance- or approach-oriented parenting practices to predict the degree to which children show inhibited behavior
To examine whether processing of both aversive and appetitive stimuli is related to individual differences in inhibited behavior, the current study explored, in typically-developing children, whether a neurophysiological measures of emotional processing, the LPP, was systematically related to inhibited behavior in tasks designed to elicit fear and social-evaluative anxiety
Summary
Social reticence and heightened fearful reactivity to novelty and threat are relatively stable aspects of behavior that emerge early in life (Kagan et al, 1988; Kagan and Snidman, 1991; Hane et al, 2008) and represent specific risk factors for a range of problems related to inhibited behavior and anxiety (Biederman et al, 2001; Pérez-Edgar and Fox, 2005; Kagan, 2008; Degnan et al, 2010). In a recent large-scale communitybased study, among children diagnosed with distress-related disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder), high levels of internalizing symptoms predicted vigilance to angry faces, whereas among children diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, internalizing symptoms predicted avoidance of angry faces (Salum et al, 2013) These findings are consistent with models proposing that anxious individuals may show both vigilance and avoidance of threatening and aversive stimuli (Mogg et al, 2004; Weierich et al, 2008)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
