title: Selective mutism and temperament: the silence and behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar.
abstract: Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a suspected precursor of selective mutism. However, investigations on early behavioral inhibition of children with selective mutism are lacking. Children aged 3-18 with lifetime selective mutism (n = 109), social phobia (n = 61), internalizing behavior (n = 46) and healthy controls (n = 118) were assessed using the parent-rated Retrospective Infant Behavioral Inhibition (RIBI) questionnaire. Analyses showed that children with lifetime selective mutism and social phobia were more inhibited as infants and toddlers than children of the internalizing and healthy control groups, who displayed similar low levels of behavioral inhibition. Moreover, behavioral inhibition was higher in infants with lifetime selective mutism than in participants with social phobia according to the Total BI score (p = 0.012) and the Shyness subscale (p < 0.001). Infant behavioral inhibition, particularly towards social stimuli, is a temperamental feature associated with a lifetime diagnosis of selective mutism. Results yield first evidence of the recently hypothesized temperamental origin of selective mutism. Children at risk should be screened for this debilitating child psychiatric condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe University, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Angelika.Gensthaler@kgu.de.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gensthaler
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe University, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khalaf
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ligges
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaess
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe University, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Freitag
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe University, Deutschordenstraße 50, 60528, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.|Department of Psychology, University of Gießen, Gießen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schwenck
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009155:Mutism / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012792:Shyness; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament
keywords: Infant behavioral inhibition; Selective mutism; Social phobia; Temperament