Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:12:49.391Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early childhood temperament as a determinant of externalizing behavior in adolescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2009

Carl E. Schwartz ,
Nancy Snidman  and
Jerome Kagan
Carl E. Schwartz*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Nancy Snidman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Jerome Kagan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University
*
Carl E. Schwartz, M. D., Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, 74 Fenwood Road, Boston, MA 02115.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two cohorts of adolescents who were categorized at either 21 or 31 months of age as extremely inhibited or uninhibited completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR), and their parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). In the second year, inhibited children typically cease ongoing behavior and vocalizing, seek comfort from a familiar person, or withdraw in response to unfamiliar situations. By contrast uninhibited children do not become subdued by novelty and are sociable and outgoing, often vocalizing, smiling, and approaching unfamiliar persons or objects. The 13-year-old adolescents who had been categorized as inhibited at 21 months of age scored significantly lower than adolescents originally classified as uninhibited on the Total Externalizing, Delinquent Behavior, and Aggressive Behavior Scales. Parental ratings of Total Externalizing and Aggressive behavior on the CBCL agreed with the Youth Self-Report. The second cohort of adolescents who had been selected at 31 months yielded similar findings, but only for males. These results suggest that important aspects of the original temperamental profile have been preserved over a 12-year period.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , Summer 1996 , pp. 527 - 537
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. S. (1978). The classification of child psychopathology: A review and analysis of empirical efforts. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1275–1301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. S. (1979). The child behavior profile: II. Boys aged 12–16 and girls aged 6–11 and 12–16. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 223–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Achenbach, T. M. (1991a). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Achenbach, T. M. (1991b). Manual for the Youth Self-Report and 1991 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Asendorpf, J. B. (1990). Development of inhibition during childhood. Developmental Psychology, 26, 721–730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asendorpf, J. B. (1994). The malleability of behavioral inhibition. Developmental Psychology, 30, 912–919.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, J. E. (1986). The measurement of temperament. In: Plomin, R. & Dunn, J. (Eds.), The Study of Temperament: Changes, Continuities and Challenges, (pp. 1–12). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bates, J. E. (1989). Concepts and measures of temperament. In Kohnstamm, G. A., Bates, J. E., & Rothbart, M. K. (Eds.), Temperament in Childhood. (pp. 3–26). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Biederman, J., Rosenbaum, J. F., Hirshfeld, D. R., Farone, S. V., Bolduc, E. A., Gersten, M., Meminger, S. R., Snidman, N., Resnick, J. S., & Kagan, J. (1990). Psychiatric correlates of behavioral inhibition in young children of parents with and without psychiatric disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 21–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bronson, G. W. (1970). Fear of visual novelty. Developmental Psychology, 2, 33–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronson, G. W., & Pankey, W. B. (1977). On the distinction between fear and wariness. Child Development, 48, 1167–1183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bronson, W. C. (1981). Toddlers' Behavior with Agemates. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Buss, D., & Plomin, R. (1984). Temperament: Early Developing Personality Traits. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Caspi, A., & Silva, P. A. (1995). Temperamental qualities at age 3 predict personality traits in young adulthood. Child Development, 66, 486–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coll, C. G., Kagan, J., & Reznick, J. S. (1984). Behavioral Inhibition in Young Children. Child Development, 55, 1005–1019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelbrock, C., & Costello, A. J. (1988). Convergence between statistically derived behavior problem syndromes and child psychiatric diagnoses. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 219–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edelbrock, C., Costello, A. J., & Kessler, M. D. (1984). Empirical corroboration of attention deficit disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry. 23, 285–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gittelman, R., & Klein, D. F. (1984). Relationship between separation anxiety and panic and agoraphobic disorders. Psychopathology, 17 (suppl 1), 56–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldsmith, H. H., & Campos, J. J. (1986). Fundamental issues in the study of early temperament. In: Lamb, M. E. & Brown, A. (Eds.), Advances in Developmental Psychology (pp. 231–283). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gray, J. A. (1982). The Neuropsychology of Anxiety. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hinde, R. A., Stevenson-Hinde, J., & Tamplin, A. (1985). Characteristics of three to four-year-olds assessed at home and in their interactions in preschool. Developmental Psychology, 21, 130–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirshfeld, M. A., Rosenbaum, J. F., Biederman, J., Bolduc, E. A., Faraone, S. V., Snidman, N. S., Reznick, J. S., & Kagan, J. (1992). Stable Behavioral Inhibition and Its Association with Anxiety Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 31, 103–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howell, D. C. (1987). Statistical Methods for Psychology. Boston: Duxbury Press pp. 298–305.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1994). Galen's Prophecy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Kagan, J., & Moss, H. A. (1962). Birth to Maturity. New York: Wiley (reprinted New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).Google Scholar
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., Clarke, C., Snidman, N., & Garcia-Coll, C. (1984). Behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar. Child Development, 55, 2212–2225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Snidman, N. (1987). The Physiology and Psychology of Behavioral Inhibition in Children. Child Development, 58, 1459–1473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Snidman, N. (1988). Biological bases of childhood shyness. Science, 240, 167–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerr, M., Lambert, W. W., Stattin, H., & Klackenberg-Larsson, . (1994). Stability of inhibition in the Swedish Longitudinal Sample. Child Development, 65, 138–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConaughy, S. H., & Achenbach, T. M. (1988). Practical Guide for the Child Behavior Checklist and related materials. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Mash, E. J., & Johnston, C. (1983). Parental perceptions of child behavior problems, parenting selfesteem, and mothers' reported stress in younger and older hyperactive and normal children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 86–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matheny, A. (1983). The Longitudinal Twin Study of stability of components of Bayley's Infant Behavior Record. Child Development, 54, 356–360.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matheny, A. (1990). Developmental behavior genetics. In Hahn, M. E. (Ed.), Developmental Behavior Genetics: Neural, Biometrical, and Evolutionary Approaches (pp. 25–38). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., & Dunn, J. (1986). The Study of Temperament: Changes, Continuities and Challenges. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., & Daniels, D. (1986). Genetics and shyness. In: Jones, W. H., Cheek, J. M., & Briggs, S. R. (Eds.), Shyness, (pp. 63–80). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., & Derryberry, D. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In: Lamb, M. E. & Brown, A. L. (Eds.), Advances in Developmental Psychology, Vol 1. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., & Goldsmith, H. H. (1985). Three approaches to the study of temperament. Developmental Review, 5, 237–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, K. H. (1993). The Waterloo Longitudinal Project. In Rubin, K. H. & Asendorpf, J. B. (Eds.), Social Withdrawal, Inhibition, and Shyness in Childhood (pp. 291–314). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Snidman, N. (1989). Behavioral inhibition and sympathetic influence on the cardiovascular system. In: Reznick, J. S. (Ed.), Perspectives on Behavioral Inhibition (pp. 51–69). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Snidman, N., Kagan, J., Riordan, L., & Shannon, D. C. (1995). Cardiac function and behavioral reactivity during infancy. Psychophysiology. 32, 199–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and Development. New York: Brunner Mazel.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. A., Lamb, M. E. (1982) Stranger sociability and its relationships to temperament and social experience during the second year. Infant Behavior and Development, 5, 277–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinstein, S. R., Noam, G. G., Grimes, K., Stone, K., & Schwab-Stone, M. (1990). Convergence of DSM-III diagnoses and self-reported symptoms in child and adolescent inpatients. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 29, 627–634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, M. M., Orvaschel, H., & Padian, N. (1980). Comparison of mothers' and children's reports. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168, 736–740.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Werner, E. E. (1993). Risk, resilience, and recovery. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 503–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar