title: Early behavioral inhibition and increased error monitoring predict later social phobia symptoms in childhood.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an early childhood temperament characterized by fearful responses to novelty and avoidance of social interactions. During adolescence, a subset of children with stable childhood BI develop social anxiety disorder and concurrently exhibit increased error monitoring. The current study examines whether increased error monitoring in 7-year-old, behaviorally inhibited children prospectively predicts risk for symptoms of social phobia at age 9 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 291 children were characterized on BI at 24 and 36 months of age. Children were seen again at 7 years of age, when they performed a Flanker task, and event-related potential (ERP) indices of response monitoring were generated. At age 9, self- and maternal-report of social phobia symptoms were obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children high in BI, compared to those low in BI, displayed increased error monitoring at age 7, as indexed by larger (i.e., more negative) error-related negativity (ERN) amplitudes. In addition, early BI was related to later childhood social phobia symptoms at age 9 among children with a large difference in amplitude between ERN and correct-response negativity (CRN) at age 7.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Heightened error monitoring predicts risk for later social phobia symptoms in children with high BI. Research assessing response monitoring in children with BI may refine our understanding of the mechanisms underlying risk for later anxiety disorders and inform prevention efforts.
authors.affiliation: McMaster University. Electronic address: lahata@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: Ayelet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lahat
authors.affiliation: University of New Orleans.
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lamm
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chronis-Tuscano
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pine
authors.affiliation: University of Miami.
authors.forename: Heather A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fox
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012306:Risk
keywords: anxiety; behavioral inhibition; error monitoring; error-related negativity (ERN); longitudinal