Contextual startle responses moderate the relation between behavioral inhibition and anxiety in middle childhood.
Behavioral inhibition (BI), a temperament characterized in early childhood by wariness and avoidance of novelty, is a risk factor for anxiety disorders. An enhanced startle response has been observed in adolescents characterized with BI in childhood, particularly when they also manifest concurrent symptoms of anxiety. However, no prior study has examined relations among BI, startle responsivity, and anxiety in a prospective manner. Data for the present study were from a longitudinal study of infant temperament. Maternal reports and observations of BI were assessed at ages 2 and 3. At age 7, participants completed a startle procedure, while electromyography was collected, where participants viewed different colors on a screen that were associated with either the delivery of an aversive stimulus (i.e., puff of air to the larynx; threat cue) or the absence of the aversive stimulus (i.e., safety cue). Parental reports of child anxiety were collected when children were 7 and 9 years of age. Results revealed that startle responses at age 7 moderated the relation between early BI and 9-year anxiety. These findings provide insight into one potential mechanism that may place behaviorally inhibited children at risk for anxiety.
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Tyson V
TV
Barker
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.
Bethany
B
Reeb-Sutherland
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Kathryn A
KA
Degnan
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Olga L
OL
Walker
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Andrea
A
Chronis-Tuscano
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Heather A
HA
Henderson
Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Daniel S
DS
Pine
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Nathan A
NA
Fox
D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*
Anxiety; Behavioral inhibition; Risk factors; Startle; Temperament