High Behavioral Inhibition Research Articles

Behavioral inhibition, heart period, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in young children

Children were selected according to criteria for high or low behavioral inhibition (BI) on the basis of both a maternal questionnaire and interviewer ratings at home. Subsequent laboratory assessments involved further BI ratings as well as heart period (HP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). BI, HP, and RSA were all moderately stable from 4.5 to 7 years. HP and RSA changed in meaningful ways according to the context of different laboratory episodes. No significant relations emerged between BI and HP or RSA over the whole sample. However, HP predicted which of the children in the high inhibition group would remain inhibited at 7 years: HP at 4.5 years was significantly lower for children with high BI ratings at 4.5 who remained high at 7 years compared with children with high BI at 4.5 years who were less inhibited at 7 years.

Behavioral inhibition: stability and associations with adaptation from childhood to early adulthood.

The stability of individual differences in behavioral inhibition and their association with peer relations, emotional distress, and life-course timing were examined in a longitudinal study of 205 individuals from childhood (ages 8 to 12) to early adulthood (ages 17 to 24). Behavioral inhibition was conceptualized as stranger wariness and measured through ratings made by interviewers following individual interview or testing sessions. Individual differences in behavioral inhibition were consistent from childhood to early adulthood (r = .57). In early adulthood, higher behavioral inhibition was associated with a less positive, less active social life for both sexes and, for men, with greater emotional distress and negative emotionality. For both genders, participants who were inhibited as children were less likely to have moved away from their family of origin by the early adulthood assessment.

Behavioral inhibition: Stability and associations with adaptation from childhood to early adulthood.

The stability of individual differences in behavioral inhibition and their association with peer relations, emotional distress, and life-course timing were examined in a longitudinal study of 205 individuals from childhood (ages 8 to 12) to early adulthood (ages 17 to 24). Behavioral inhibition was conceptualized as stranger wariness and measured through ratings made by interviewers following individual interview or testing sessions. Individual differences in behavioral inhibition were consistent from childhood to early adulthood (r = .57). In early adulthood, higher behavioral inhibition was associated with a less positive, less active social life for both sexes and, for men, with greater emotional distress and negative emotionality. For both genders, participants who were inhibited as children were less likely to have moved away from their family of origin by the early adulthood assessment.

Temperamental inhibition and activation: Hormonal and psychosocial correlates and associated psychiatric disorders

A 4-fold temperament typology was created by cross-classifying 4462 male US military veterans on MMPI indexes of behavioral inhibition and activation. Higher behavioral inhibition was associated with somewhat higher levels of cortisol, lower levels of social support, and a higher prevalence of lifetime generalized anxiety and major depressive disorders. Higher behavioral activation was associated with higher levels of testosterone, greater alcohol consumption and aggression, and higher prevalence of alcohol, substance abuse, and antisocial personality disorders. The most pervasive dysfunction was indicated for a “mixed” subtype with both high inhibition and high activation, as these persons showed higher levels of testosterone, aggression, hostility, and alcohol consumption, as well as higher levels of both internalizing (e.g. major depression) and externalizing (e.g. ASP) lifetime psychiatric disorders.

Symposium: Developmental Perspectives on Infant Temperament

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an infant temperament characterized by heightened reactivity and negative affect in response to novel people and situations. BI is among the earliest and strongest predictors of future anxiety problems. However, not all children with a history of BI will manifest anxiety problems. A growing body of evidence suggests that proactive control skills may help buffer youth with BI from future anxiety difficulties; yet, it remains unclear how temperament may interact with the development of cognitive control to influence anxiety risk. The present study tested whether enhancements in proactive control occurring during adolescence may reduce risk for anxiety among youth with a history of BI.Participants included 185 adolescents (56% female) whose temperament was assessed during toddlerhood. In adolescence, participants completed anxiety assessments and an AX Continuous Performance Test (AX-CPT) to assess cognitive control strategy. Both assessments were administered at age 13 years and again at 15 years.Latent change score modeling revealed that, on average, participants increasingly used proactive control strategies and experienced worsening anxiety from age 13-15 years. Early BI was associated with a smaller anxiety increase from 13-15 years, but only among participants whose proactive control skills improved at mean or greater rates.The present findings suggest that greater proactive control development during adolescence protects youth with high BI from age-related increases in anxiety. Results support a framework that highlights cognitive control as a key moderator of anxiety risk among children with a history of high BI.

Correlation between cyclic strain range and low-cycle fatigue life of metals : J. Morrow and T. A. Johnson, Materials Research and Standards5, 30 (1965)

Being aggressive has been related to fearlessness, low empathy and premeditated antisocial behaviors. The current study examined how school bullies and victims respond to affective situations presented through imagery. It was hypothesized that victims would perceive fear imagery as more fearful than bullies, demonstrating their proneness to fear and high behavioral inhibition. Bullies were expected to perceive fear imagery as less fearful and experience less negative affect, based on their callous-unemotional characteristics. Children participated in a tone-cued imagery experiment during which they imagined for 8 s twelve pre-normed scripts describing fear, anger, joy and pleasant relaxation. Children rated their experienced emotions of fear, anger, joy and sadness for each scene. Bullies responded with low levels of fear to fear imagery and across emotion types and reported overall higher positive affect, even during provocative anger scenes. In contrast, victims responded with higher fear, anger and sadness. The varied emotional responses appeared to be partly explained by group differences in behavioral inhibition, which was high in victims. Results are discussed in light of aggression theories and potential interventions.