Infant emotionality, parenting, and 3-year inhibition: exploring stability and lawful discontinuity in a male sample

Bidirectional associations between coparenting relations and family member anxiety: a review and conceptual model

Research into anxiety has largely ignored the dynamics of family systems in anxiety development. Coparenting refers to the quality of coordination between individuals responsible for the upbringing of children and links different subsystems within the family, such as the child, the marital relationship, and the parents. This review discusses the potential mechanisms and empirical findings regarding the bidirectional relations of parent and child anxiety with coparenting. The majority of studies point to bidirectional associations between greater coparenting difficulties and higher levels of anxiety. For example, the few available studies suggest that paternal and perhaps maternal anxiety is linked to lower coparental support. Also, research supports the existence of inverse links between coparenting quality and child anxiety. A child's reactive temperament appears to have adverse effects on particularly coparenting of fathers. A conceptual model is proposed that integrates the role of parental and child anxiety, parenting, and coparenting, to guide future research and the development of clinical interventions. Future research should distinguish between fathers' and mothers' coparenting behaviors, include parental anxiety, and investigate the coparental relationship longitudinally. Clinicians should be aware of the reciprocal relations between child anxiety and coparenting quality, and families presenting for treatment who report child (or parent) anxiety should be assessed for difficulties in coparenting. Clinical approaches to bolster coparenting quality are called for.

Associations among Context-Specific Maternal Protective Behavior, Toddler Fearful Temperament, and Maternal Accuracy and Goals

Maternal protective responses to temperamentally fearful toddlers have previously been found to relate to increased risk for children's development of anxiety-spectrum problems. Not all protective behavior is "overprotective," and not all mothers respond to toddlers' fear with protection. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify conditions under which an association between fearful temperament and protective maternal behavior occurs. Participants included 117 toddlers and their mothers, who were observed in a variety of laboratory tasks. Mothers predicted their toddlers' fear reactions in these tasks and reported the importance of parent-centered goals for their children's shyness. Protective behavior displayed in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts related to concurrently observed fearful temperament and to mother-reported shy/inhibited behavior one year later. The relation between fearful temperament and protective behavior in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts was strengthened by maternal accuracy in anticipating children's fear and maternal parent-centered goals for children's shyness.

Who should report abnormal behavior at preschool age? The case of behavioral inhibition

Children who are behaviorally "inhibited"-a condition at the extreme of the behavioral inhibition dimension-experience distress in uncertain social situations. Although parents and teachers are in the best position to detect this condition, they rarely agree. This study aims to analyze the agreement between parents and teachers and to examine the relations between ratings made by parents and teachers and assessments made by clinicians and researchers. Parents, teachers and clinicians rated the behavioral inhibition of 365 preschoolers. Seventy-three randomly selected participants were observed using an adaptation of the Behavioral Inhibition Paradigm. Parent-teacher correlations on 34 items and different clusters were, on average, r = .3. The degree of convergence between observational measures and ratings by parents and teachers was moderate-low and did not improve when considering only subsamples from the ends of the distributions. Discriminant analysis suggests that both parents and teachers tend to have a moderate-low ability to detect "inhibited" children.

Maternal Caregiving Moderates the Relation Between Temperamental Fear and Social Behavior with Peers

Temperament works in combination with a child's environment to influence early socioemotional development. We examined whether maternal caregiving behavior at infant age 9 months moderated the relation between infant temperamental fear (9 months) and observations of children's social behavior with an unfamiliar peer at age 2 in a typically-developing sample of 155 children. When infants received lower quality maternal caregiving, temperamental fear was inversely related to observed social engagement and aggression. These relations were nonsignificant when infants received higher quality maternal caregiving. Findings indicate that variations in temperamental fear may predict individual differences in future peer interactions, but sensitive, nonintrusive caregiving behaviors can attenuate these associations.

Prospective relations among fearful temperament, protective parenting, and social withdrawal: the role of maternal accuracy in a moderated mediation framework

Early social withdrawal and protective parenting predict a host of negative outcomes, warranting examination of their development. Mothers' accurate anticipation of their toddlers' fearfulness may facilitate transactional relations between toddler fearful temperament and protective parenting, leading to these outcomes. Currently, we followed 93 toddlers (42 female; on average 24.76 months) and their mothers (9% underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds) over 3 years. We gathered laboratory observation of fearful temperament, maternal protective behavior, and maternal accuracy during toddlerhood and a multi-method assessment of children's social withdrawal and mothers' self-reported protective behavior at kindergarten entry. When mothers displayed higher accuracy, toddler fearful temperament significantly related to concurrent maternal protective behavior and indirectly predicted kindergarten social withdrawal and maternal protective behavior. These results highlight the important role of maternal accuracy in linking fearful temperament and protective parenting, which predict further social withdrawal and protection, and point to toddlerhood for efforts of prevention of anxiety-spectrum outcomes.

Longitudinal stability of temperamental exuberance and social-emotional outcomes in early childhood

The goals of the current study were to investigate the stability of temperamental exuberance across infancy and toddlerhood and to examine the associations between exuberance and social-emotional outcomes in early childhood. The sample consisted of 291 4-month-olds followed at 9, 24, and 36 months and again at 5 years of age. Behavioral measures of exuberance were collected at 9, 24, and 36 months. At 36 months, frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry was assessed. At 5 years, maternal reports of temperament and behavior problems were collected, as were observational measures of social behavior during an interaction with an unfamiliar peer in the laboratory. Latent profile analysis revealed a high, stable exuberance profile that was associated with greater ratings of 5-year externalizing behavior and surgency, as well as observed disruptive behavior and social competence with unfamiliar peers. These associations were particularly true for children who displayed left frontal EEG asymmetry. Multiple factors supported an approach bias for exuberant temperament but did not differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive social-emotional outcomes at 5 years of age.

Nature and nurturing: parenting in the context of child temperament

Accounting for both bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and child temperament can fine-tune theoretical models of the role of parenting and temperament in children's development of adjustment problems. Evidence for bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and children's characteristics of frustration, fear, self-regulation, and impulsivity was reviewed, and an overall model of children's individual differences in response to parenting is proposed. In general, children high in frustration, impulsivity and low in effortful control are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of negative parenting, while in turn, many negative parenting behaviors predict increases in these characteristics. Frustration, fearfulness, and effortful control also appear to elicit parenting behaviors that can predict increases in these characteristics. Irritability renders children more susceptible to negative parenting behaviors. Fearfulness operates in a very complex manner, sometimes increasing children's responses to parenting behaviors and sometimes mitigating them and apparently operating differently across gender. Important directions for future research include the use of study designs and analytic approaches that account for the direction of effects and for developmental changes in parenting and temperament over time.

Ordinary variations in human maternal caregiving in infancy and biobehavioral development in early childhood: A follow-up study

Rodent models of early caregiving find that pups reared by dams providing low levels of early stimulation subsequently display heightened stress reactivity and social aggression. We examined these effects in humans by investigating the effects of early caregiving on markers of biobehavioral development at ages 2 and 3 years. This study extended the findings reported by Hane and Fox (Hane and Fox [2006] Psychol. Sci. 17: 550-556) in which 185 mothers and infants were observed and scored for variations in maternal caregiving behavior (MCB) at age 9 months. Relative to young children who received high-quality MCB in infancy, those who received low-quality MCB showed significantly higher socially inhibited behavior with adults, right frontal electroencephalographam (EEG) asymmetry, aggressive play, and maternal reported internalizing behavior problems and anger proneness. These effects were independent of early temperamental reactivity. Results parallel rodent models and demonstrate that ordinary variations in MCB influence stress reactivity and social behavior in young children.

Emerging self-regulation in toddlers born preterm or low birth weight: differential susceptibility to parenting?

The differential susceptibility to parenting model was examined in relation to toddler self-regulation in a prospective longitudinal study of infants born preterm or low birth weight. We followed 153 mother-infant dyads across five time points between the infant's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay and 24 months postterm. Assessments of infant temperament, quality of early parenting interactions, contextual variables, and toddler effortful control and behavior problems were conducted. Results supported differential susceptibility and dual risk models in addition to documenting main effects of early parenting on children's emerging self-regulation. Our data suggested that preterm or low birth weight infants who were prone to distress or rated by mothers as more difficult were particularly susceptible to the effects of early negative parenting.

The dopamine D2 receptor gene and depressive and anxious symptoms in childhood: associations and evidence for gene-environment correlation and gene-environment interaction

OBJECTIVES

Research implicates the A1 allele of the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) Taq1A polymorphism in the development of depression and anxiety. Furthermore, recent papers suggest that children with A1 allele of this gene may receive less positive parenting, and that the effects of this gene on child symptoms may be moderated by parenting. We sought to replicate and extend these findings using behavioral measures in a nonclinical sample of young children.

METHODS

In a sample of 473 preschool-aged children and their mothers, structured clinical interview measures and maternal reports of child symptoms were collected, and standardized observations of parent-child interactions were conducted.

RESULTS

An association was detected between the DRD2 A1 allele and symptoms of depression and anxiety indexed using interview and parent report methods. As found in previous reports, children with the DRD2 A1 allele received less supportive parenting and displayed higher levels of negative emotionality during parent-child interactions. Tests of mediation and moderation were conducted.

CONCLUSION

We found associations between the DRD2 A1 allele and early-emerging anxious and depressive symptoms in a community sample of preschool-aged children, and evidence of a gene-environment correlation and moderation of the main effect of child genotype on child symptoms by parenting.

Early temperament, propensity for risk-taking and adolescent substance-related problems: a prospective multi-method investigation

One hundred thirty seven adolescents (M=15.3 yrs, SD=1.0 yr, n=72 girls) were recruited into temperament groups when they were 4 months of age based on reactivity to novel auditory/visual stimuli (Fox, Henderson, Rubin, Calkins, & Schmidt, 2001). Behavioral inhibition was observed across infancy (14 and 24 months). Additionally, self-reported substance-related problems and behavioral risk-taking was assessed during adolescence. High behavioral inhibition increased risk for substance-related problems among boys, whereas high behavioral inhibition protected against substance-related problems among girls, B=-1.18, SE=.48, 95% CI=-2.13 to -.24; p<.05. Additionally, high behavioral inhibition protected lower risk-taking children from adolescent substance-related problems whereas high behavioral inhibition increased risk for substance-related problems among higher risk-taking children, B=.04, SE=.02, 95% CI=.00 to .08. Findings from this prospective, multi-informant, longitudinal study suggest that risk-taking and gender may interact with temperamental traits to place adolescents at differential risk for substance-related related behavior problems.

Temperament and Maternal Emotion Socialization Beliefs as Predictors of Early Childhood Social Behavior in the Laboratory and Classroom

OBJECTIVE

We examined the roles of children's approach behavior and maternal emotion socialization practices in the development of social behavior in unfamiliar and familiar contexts from preschool to early childhood years.

DESIGN

At 4.5 years of age, children were observed, and an assessment of approach behavior was obtained; at this time, mothers reported about their emotion socialization beliefs. Two years later, children returned to the laboratory to participate in a peer play paradigm. When children were 7 years of age, teachers completed a questionnaire about children's social behaviors in the classroom.

RESULTS

Mothers' emotion socialization beliefs contribute to the developmental outcomes of approach behavior. For instance, observations of approach behaviors predicted a greater proportion of group play in the unfamiliar peer group when mothers reported highly supportive emotion socialization beliefs.

CONCLUSION

Mothers' emotion socialization beliefs appear to play an important role in modifying the developmental course of approach behavior during early childhood.

Mental disorders in five-year-old children with or without developmental delay: focus on ADHD

Epidemiological studies of children and adolescents with intellectual disability have found 30 to 50% exhibiting clinically significant behavior problems. Few studies, however, have assessed young children, included a cognitively typical comparison group, assessed for specific disorders, and/or studied family correlates of diagnosis. We assessed 236 5-year-old children--95 with developmental delay (DD) and 141 with typical development--for clinical diagnoses using a structured interview. Every disorder assessed was more prevalent in the DD group. The percent of children meeting criteria for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) most highly differentiated the two groups (ratio = 3.21:1). There was high stability from externalizing behavior problems at age 3 to ADHD diagnoses at age 5 in both groups. In regression analyses, parenting stress at child age 3 related to later ADHD diagnosis in both groups and maternal scaffolding (sensitive teaching) also predicted ADHD in the DD group.

Maternal Accuracy and Behavior in Anticipating Children's Responses to Novelty: Relations to Fearful Temperament and Implications for Anxiety Development

Previous research has suggested that mothers' behaviors may serve as a mechanism in the development from toddler fearful temperament to childhood anxiety. The current study examined the maternal characteristic of accuracy in predicting toddlers' distress reactions to novelty in relation to temperament, parenting, and anxiety development. Ninety-three two-year-old toddlers and their mothers participated in the study. Maternal accuracy moderated the relation between fearful temperament and protective behavior, suggesting this bidirectional link may be more likely to occur when mothers are particularly attuned to their children's fear responses. An exploratory moderated mediation analysis supported the mechanistic role of protective parenting in the relation between early fearful temperament and later anxiety. Mediation only occurred, however, when mothers displayed high accuracy. Results are discussed within the broader literature of parental influence on fearful children's development.

Temperament and the environment in the etiology of childhood anxiety

Anxiety disorders are prevalent throughout childhood and adolescence. As such, identifying the factors and mechanisms that precede, maintain, or exacerbate anxiety disorders is essential for the development of empirically based prevention and intervention programs. The current review focuses on child temperament (i.e., behavioral inhibition) and the child's environment, including parenting, childcare, and peer relationships, as these factors have been linked to internalizing problems and anxiety diagnoses. Research programs are needed that examine the associations between the environment and anxiety in temperamentally at-risk populations. In order to be successful, early intervention and prevention programs require a more detailed analysis of the interplay between various environmental contexts, both distal and proximal to the child, and the child's temperamental reactivity to novelty and threat. Furthermore, conducting these investigations across multiple levels of analysis in large-scale, longitudinal samples would be an important addition to the literature on the developmental psychopathology of anxiety.

Relations among temperament, parenting and problem behavior in young children

The first objective of this study was to investigate which aspects of temperament are related to externalizing problem behavior and which aspects are related to internalizing problem behavior. The second objective was to investigate how parenting influences the link between temperament and problem behavior. The sample included 89 two-parent families and their firstborn 36-month-old children, and 81 day care and preschool playgroup teachers. Mothers, fathers and teachers filled in questionnaires and home observations took place. The results showed that different temperament characteristics predict externalizing and internalizing problems. Further, the results indicate that parenting moderates the relation between temperament and problem behavior. More specifically, positive control of the father buffered the relation between impulsivity and externalizing problems, whereas negative control of the mother and father strengthened the relation between fear and internalizing problems.

Assessment of parental experiential avoidance in a clinical sample of children with anxiety disorders

This investigation seeks to establish the psychometric properties of an adapted measure of experiential avoidance (EA) in the parenting context by assessing its relation to other parenting constructs and psychosocial correlates of child anxiety in a clinical sample. Participants were 154 children (90 female, 64 male) diagnosed with anxiety disorders and their parents (148 mothers, 119 fathers). The newly developed Parental Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (PAAQ) was administered to parents along with self-report measures of adult experiential avoidance, parental psychopathology, affective expression, and parental control behaviors. A subsample of participants, n = 35, were re-administered the PAAQ to assess temporal stability. Factor analysis of the PAAQ yielded a two-factor solution with factors labeled Inaction and Unwillingness. Temporal stability of the PAAQ was found to be moderate, r = .68-.74. Internal consistency was fair across subscales of the PAAQ, alpha = .64-.65. Correlational analysis of the PAAQ and parent-report measures support the criterion validity of the PAAQ, suggesting that the PAAQ correlates with parent-report measures of parental locus of control, affective expression, and controlling parental behaviors as well as child psychopathology symptoms. Finally, the clinical applicability of the PAAQ is indicated by the PAAQ's ability to predict a significant amount of variance in parent- and clinician-rated levels of child anxiety and related psychopathology.

Development of Shyness: Relations With Children's Fearfulness, Sex, and Maternal Behavior

The relations of childhood fearfulness (observed and adult reported) and adult-reported shyness at 18 (n = 256) and 30 (n = 230) months of age were assessed. Fear was positively related to shyness concurrently and longitudinally, but slightly more consistently at 18 months. The moderating roles of observed maternal sensitivity and children's sex in the relation between 18-month fearfulness and 30-month shyness, and between 18- and 30-month shyness, were tested. The positive relation between mother-reported fearfulness and shyness was strongest for sons of insensitive mothers but was not significant for daughters of sensitive, average, or insensitive mothers. The positive relation between mother-reported 18- and 30-month shyness was strongest for sons of insensitive mothers and for daughters of sensitive mothers. Moreover, when using scores of fear or shyness that were independent of each other, 18-month mother-reported fearfulness continued to interact with sex and sensitivity to predict 30-month shyness; however, the positive relation between Time 1 and Time 2 shyness was consistent across sex and levels of sensitivity.

Differential effects of maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress on social-emotional functioning

Associations between maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress and infant social-emotional adjustment were examined in a subset of dyads from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 376). Mothers reported on infant temperament at 1 and 6 months postpartum, and maternal sensitivity to distress and nondistress were observed at 6 months. Child behavior problems, social competence, and affect dysregulation were measured at 24 and 36 months. Maternal sensitivity to distress but not to nondistress was related to fewer behavioral problems and higher social competence. In addition, for temperamentally reactive infants, maternal sensitivity to distress was associated with less affect dysregulation. Sensitivity to nondistress only prevented affect dysregulation if sensitivity to distress was also high.

Agree or Agree to Disagree? Assessing the Convergence between Parents and Observers on Infant Temperament

The assessment of infant temperament has been typically accomplished with parent questionnaires. When compared with temperament behaviours observed in the laboratory, parents and observers generally do not agree, leading some researchers to question the validity of parent report. This paper reports on a representative sample of infants whose families resided in non-metropolitan counties and whose temperament was measured in three ways: (1) standard parent report (Infant Behavior Questionnaire); (2) observer ratings across two lengthy home visits; and (3) observer coding of second-by-second reactions to specific emotion-eliciting tasks. In order to account for both trait and method variance, structural equation modelling was applied to a sample of 955 infants (M age = 7.3 months) using variables from the three methods that reflected the dimensions of positivity and negativity. Although models based solely on method factors and trait factors fit the data well, results indicated that a model that included method and trait factors provided the best fit. Results also indicated that parents and observers (either across the home visit or to specific tasks) converge, to a degree, on ratings of the positivity dimension but diverge on the negativity dimension.

Genetic and environmental influences on the stability of withdrawn behavior in children: a longitudinal, multi-informant twin study

We examined the contribution of genetic and environmental influences on the stability of withdrawn behavior (WB) in childhood using a longitudinal multiple rater twin design. Maternal and paternal ratings on the withdrawn subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were obtained from 14,889 families when the twins were 3, 7, 10 and 12 years old. A longitudinal psychometric model was fitted to the data and the fit of transmission and common factor models were evaluated for each variance component. WB showed considerable stability throughout childhood, with correlation coefficients ranging from about .30 for the 9-year time interval to .65 for shorter time intervals. Individual differences in WB as observed by the mother and the father were found to be largely influenced by genetic effects at all four time points, in both boys (50-66%) and girls (38-64%). Shared environmental influences explained a small to modest proportion (0-24%) of the variance at all ages and were slightly more pronounced in girls. Non-shared environmental influences were of moderate importance to the variance and slightly increased with age, from 22-28% at age 3 to 35-41% at age 12 years. The stability of WB was largely explained by genetic effects, accounting for 74% of stability in boys and 65% in girls. Shared environmental effects explained 7% (boys) and 17% (girls) of the behavioral stability. Most shared environmental effects were common to both raters, suggesting little influence of rater bias in the assessment of WB. The shared environmental effects common to both raters were best described by a common factor model, indicating that these effects are stable and persistent throughout childhood. Non-shared environmental effects accounted for the remaining covariance over time.

Exuberant and inhibited toddlers: stability of temperament and risk for problem behavior

Temperament, effortful control, and problem behaviors at 4.5 years were assessed in 72 children classified as exuberant, inhibited, and low reactive as 2-year-olds. Exuberant toddlers were more positive, socially responsive to novel persons, less shy, and rated as having more problem behaviors, including externalizing and internalizing behaviors, than other children as preschoolers. Two forms of effortful control, the ability to delay a response and the ability to produce a subdominant response, were associated with fewer externalizing behaviors, whereas expressing more negative affect (relative to positive/neutral affect) when disappointed was related to more internalizing behaviors. Interaction effects implicated high levels of unregulated emotion during disappointment as a risk factor for problem behaviors in exuberant children.

Theoretical models of affectionate versus affectionless control in anxious families: a critical examination based on observations of parent-child interactions

Psychosocial theories focused on the intrafamilial transmission of anxiety often concentrate on specific parenting behaviors that increase risk of anxiety disorders in children. Two such theories--affectionate versus affectionless control--both implicate parenting, although differently, in the pathogenesis of childhood anxiety. The present article reviews observational studies that focus on interactions between parents and children in anxious families in order to examine critically each of these two models. We divide these observational studies into two groups: those that seek to characterize the behavior of anxious parents (top-down studies) versus parents of anxious children (bottom-up studies). This approach reveals that there is a consistent relationship between controlling parental behavior in families with anxiety-disordered children as well as a consistent relationship between parental behavior low in warmth and families with anxiety-disordered parents. The present article discusses the implications of the pattern that unfolds from the observational studies of the last decade and provides suggestions for future research in the area.

Selective mutism: more than social anxiety?

This study investigated the relationship between selective mutism (SM), social phobia (SP), oppositionality, and parenting styles. Twenty-one children with SP, 21 children with SM and SP, and 21 normal children ages 7-15, and the mother of each child, participated in an assessment of psychopathological factors potentially related to SM. Children with SM did not endorse higher levels of social anxiety than did children with SP, although clinicians gave higher severity ratings to those who had both disorders. In addition, although a dimensional measure of oppositionality (Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory) did not reveal group differences, there were significantly more diagnoses of oppositional defiant disorder among children with SM (29%) in comparison to children with SP alone (5%). With respect to parenting styles, there were no significant differences among parents of children with SM and the other groups, except that children with SP reported significantly less warmth/acceptance from parents than normal children. These data replicate previous findings that children with SM do not report greater social anxiety than other children with a SP diagnosis. Furthermore, they suggest that oppositional behaviors may be part of the clinical presentation of a subset of children with SM.

Ordinary variations in maternal caregiving influence human infants' stress reactivity

We sought to extend earlier work by examining whether there are ordinary variations in human maternal caregiving behavior (MCB) that are related to stress reactivity in infants. We observed 185 mother-infant dyads and used standard coding systems to identify variations in caregiving behavior. We then created two extreme groups and found that infants receiving low-quality MCB showed more fearfulness, less positive joint attention, and greater right frontal electroencephalographic asymmetry than infants receiving high-quality MCB. Group differences in stress reactivity were not a result of measured infant temperament. However, infants receiving low-quality MCB manifested significantly more negative affect during caregiving activities than did infants receiving high-quality MCB. The results suggest that ordinary variations in MCB may influence the expression of neural systems involved in stress reactivity in human infants.

The correlates of dyadic synchrony in high-risk, low-income toddler boys

Synchrony has been broadly conceptualized as the quality of the parent-child dyadic relationship. Parenting, factors that compromise caregiving quality, and child characteristics have all been theoretically linked to synchrony, but little research has been conducted to validate such associations. The present study examined correlates of synchrony including parenting, maternal psychological resources and child attributes, among a sample of 120 mother-son dyads who were participating in a treatment study for children identified as being at risk for developing early conduct problems. There families participated in an at-home assessment, which included a series of mother-son interactions. Synchrony was associated with aspects of parenting and child attributes, including maternal nurturance, and child emotional negativity and language skills. The findings are discussed in terms of parent and child contributions to the development of synchrony.

Family issues in child anxiety: attachment, family functioning, parental rearing and beliefs

Family studies have found a large overlap between anxiety disorders in family members. In addition to genetic heritability, a range of family factors may also be involved in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety. Evidence for a relationship between family factors and childhood as well as parental anxiety is reviewed. Four groups of family variables are considered: (I) attachment; (II), aspects of family functioning, such as marital conflict, co-parenting, functioning of the family as a whole, and sibling relationships; (III) parental rearing strategies; and (IV) beliefs that parents hold about their child. The reviewed literature provides evidence for an association between each of these family factors and child anxiety. However, there is little evidence as yet that identified family factors are specific to child anxiety, rather than to child psychopathology in general. Moreover, evidence for a relationship between child anxiety and family factors is predominantly cross-sectional. Therefore, whether the identified family factors cause childhood anxiety still needs to be investigated. Further research that investigates mechanisms mediating the relationship between family factors and child anxiety is also called for. Finally, parental beliefs are identified as important predictors of parental behaviour that have largely not been investigated in relation to child anxiety disorders.

Behavioral Inhibition: Linking Biology and Behavior within a Developmental Framework

Behavioral inhibition refers to a temperament or style of reacting that some infants and young children exhibit when confronted with novel situations or unfamiliar adults or peers. Research on behavioral inhibition has examined the link between this set of behaviors to the neural systems involved in the experience and expression of fear. There are strong parallels between the physiology of behaviorally inhibited children and the activation of physiological systems associated with conditioned and unconditioned fear. Research has examined which caregiving behaviors support the frequency of behavioral inhibition across development, and work on the interface of cognitive processes and behavioral inhibition reveal both how certain cognitive processes moderate behavioral inhibition and how this temperament affects the development of cognition. This research has taken place within a context of the possibility that stable behavioral inhibition may be a risk factor for psychopathology, particularly anxiety disorders in older children. The current chapter reviews these areas of research and provides an integrative account of the broad impact of behavioral inhibition research.

Behavioral Approach?Inhibition in Toddlers: Prediction From Infancy, Positive and Negative Affective Components, and Relations With Behavior Problems

In this study, 126 children were observed at 6 months, 12 months, and 2 years. During infancy, latencies to reach for novel objects were measured. At 2 years, positive and negative affect, and behavioral approach-inhibition to low- and high-intensity situations were coded, and mothers assessed behavior problems. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a 3-dimension model of positivity, negativity, and behavioral approach-inhibition. Positivity was related to low- and high-intensity behavioral approach-inhibition, whereas negativity was linked only to low-intensity behavioral approach-inhibition. Shorter 12-month latencies to reach were predictive of low negativity, high positivity, and behavioral approach at 2 years. Positivity and negativity were correlated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors, respectively. Finally, cluster analysis identified an exuberant group high in externalizing and an inhibited group high in internalizing.

Maternal Intrusiveness, Maternal Warmth, and Mother-Toddler Relationship Outcomes: Variations Across Low-Income Ethnic and Acculturation Groups

The present study investigated the extent to which maternal intrusiveness and warmth during play, observed in 579 European American, 412 African American, and 110 more and 131 less acculturated Mexican American low-income families when children were approximately 15 months old, predicted 3 dimensions of the mother-toddler relationship 10 months later. Intrusiveness predicted increases in later child negativity in all 4 groups. Among African Americans only, this association was moderated by maternal warmth. Intrusiveness predicted negative change in child engagement with mothers only in European American families. Finally, near-significant trends suggested that intrusiveness predicted later decreased dyadic mutuality in European American and more acculturated Mexican American families, but not in African American or less acculturated Mexican American families.

The etiology of social phobia: toward a developmental profile

Social phobia is an extremely disruptive and distressing anxiety disorder that can impact on many areas of an individual's life. Yet, despite the fact that lifetime prevalence rates are relatively high, its etiology is still poorly understood. The aim of this review is to draw together findings from the broad base of nonclinical literature associated with behavioral inhibition (BI), shyness, social anxiety, and passive-anxious withdrawal and to compare these findings with those from the limited number of clinical studies with social phobics. Such comparison is not unproblematic due to conceptual differences between terms used and methodological divergence; these issues are discussed in some detail. The consonance of findings, however, suggests a viable profile for the developmental course of social phobia. This profile incorporates temperament variables, behavioral motivational, parenting styles, peer relationships, and internalization problems. Finally, specific suggestions for future research are offered.

Longitudinal relations between child vagal tone and parenting behavior: 2 to 4 years

The longitudinal relations between physiological markers of child emotion regulation and maternal parenting practices were examined from 2 to 4 years of age. At Time 1, cardiac vagal tone was assessed for one hundred four 2-year-olds (54 females); their mothers completed an assessment of parenting styles. Two years later, at Time 2, 84 of the original participants were reassessed on measures of cardiac vagal tone and parenting style. Results indicated both baseline cardiac vagal tone and maternal parenting practices to be stable from 2 to 4 years of age. Children's cardiac vagal tone predicted specific parenting practices from the toddler to preschool years. Further, child cardiac vagal tone moderated maternal restrictive-parenting practices from 2 to 4 years of age; mothers of children who were highly or moderately physiologically dysregulated were more likely to report restrictive parenting practices at both 2 and 4 years of age.

The relations of parenting, effortful control, and ego control to children's emotional expressivity

The relations of observed parental warmth and positive expressivity and children's effortful control and ego control with children's high versus low emotional expressivity were examined in a 2-wave study of 180 children (M age = 112.8 months). There were quadratic relations between adults' reports of children's emotional expressivity and effortful control; moderate expressivity was associated with high effortful control. Structural equation models supported the hypothesis that children's ego overcontrol (versus undercontrol) mediated the relation between parental warmth or positive expressivity and children's emotional expressivity, although parenting at the follow-up did not uniquely predict in children's expressivity after controlling for the relations in these constructs over time. The alternative hypothesis that children's ego overcontrol elicited positive parenting and expressivity also was supported.

Continuity of parenting practices across generations in an at-risk sample: a prospective comparison of direct and mediated associations

A prospective model of parenting and externalizing behavior spanning 3 generations (G1, G2, and G3) was examined for young men from an at-risk sample of young adult men (G2) who were in approximately the youngest one third of their cohort to become fathers. It was first predicted that the young men in G2 who had children the earliest would show high levels of antisocial behavior. Second, it was predicted that G1 poor parenting practices would show both a direct association with the G2 son's subsequent parenting and a mediated effect via his development of antisocial and delinquent behavior by adolescence. The young fathers had more arrests and were less likely to have graduated from high school than the other young men in the sample. Findings were most consistent with the interpretation that there was some direct effect of parenting from G1 to G2 and some mediated effect via antisocial behavior in G2.