Change over time in interactions between unfamiliar toddlers.

The frequency and length of games, conflicts, and contingency sequences that took place between toddlers as they got to know one another were studied using archival data. The sample consisted of 28 unfamiliar 20- and 30-month-old toddlers (predominantly White, 16 males) who met separately with each of two other toddlers for 18 play dates. The frequency of games increased over time, while the frequency of conflict and contingency sequences decreased. The length of games increased over time while the length of conflicts and contingency sequences were stable. Age and language ability predicted changes in frequency and length of the different types of sequences. Thus, toddlers engage in less structured interactions when they first meet; their interactions become increasingly more organized and positive as the relationship evolves.

Positive and negative actions early in the relationship predict later interactions among toddlers.

Very little is known about the role of early interactions in the development of peer relationships among toddlers. The present study examined whether behaviors early in the formation of toddler relationships predict interactions later in their relationships. Twenty-eight unfamiliar 20- and 30-month-old toddlers from a predominately European background met separately with each of two other toddlers for 18 playdates. Both positive and negative behaviors at the beginning of the relationship predicted a higher frequency of games later in the relationship. Positive behaviors at the beginning of the relationship predicted fewer conflicts later in the relationship. Negative behaviors at the beginning predicted more conflicts later in the relationship. These findings suggest that toddlers' behaviors, when they initially meet, underlie the pathway in which their relationship develops.

Approach-avoidance conflict and shyness: A developmental investigation.

One long-standing theoretical model of shyness proposes that the origins and maintenance of shyness are associated with an approach-avoidance motivational conflict (Asendorpf, 1990), such that shy individuals are motivated to socially engage (high approach motivation) but are too anxious to do so (high avoidance motivation). However, this model has not been empirically tested in predicting the development of shyness. In two separate longitudinal studies, we used the Carver and White (1994) Behavioral Inhibition and Activation System (BIS/BAS) scales as a proxy of approach-avoidance motivations and growth curve analyses to examine whether individual differences in these hypothesized motivational tendencies were associated with the development of shyness across 3 years from late childhood to adolescence (Study 1, N = 1284; 49.8% female, Mage = 10.72, SDage = 1.73, M level of parental education fell between associate's degree/diploma and undergraduate degree) and across nearly a decade from emerging adulthood to young adulthood (Study 2, N = 83; 57.8% females, Mage = 23.56 years, SDage = 1.09 years, 92.8% had at least a high school education). Contrary to the approach-avoidance conflict model of shyness, we found that a combination of high BIS/low BAS, not high BIS/high BAS, was associated with relatively higher shyness contemporaneously and across development in both studies. We discuss the processes that might link individual differences in approach-avoidance motivations to the development of shyness in adolescence and young adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Children's shyness and neural responses to social exclusion: Patterns of midfrontal theta power usually not observed until adolescence.

Adverse peer experiences, such as social exclusion, are known risks for socioemotional problems among shy youth. Yet, little is known about how shy children and adolescents process social exclusion in the brain and whether these responses are amplified in adolescence. Using the Cyberball task, we examined mediofrontal theta (4-7 Hz) event-related EEG spectral power during conditions of fair play and social exclusion in 122 participants (58 children, ages 10-12 years, and 64 adolescents, ages 14-17 years). Age effects of the task showed that adolescents displayed heightened theta power to both outright rejection and baseline "not my turn" events, whereas children showed higher theta power to rejection compared with "not my turn" events. Further results on individual differences showed that children with relatively higher levels of shyness displayed enhanced theta power to both rejection and "not my turn" events-a pattern that also was observed in adolescents. These findings suggest that a pattern of heightened neural sensitivity to both outright social exclusion and threats of exclusion, which is the norm by adolescence, also is observed in children with higher levels of shyness. The similar neural response pattern might be driven by salient social motivations that similarly modify the social cognition and behaviors of these groups and might reflect neural antecedents of rejection sensitivity.

Conducting Event-Related Potential (ERP) Research with Young Children: A Review of Components, Special Considerations and Recommendations for Research on Cognition and Emotion.

There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of research studies employing event-related potential (ERP) techniques to examine dynamic and rapidly-occurring neural processes with children during the preschool and early childhood years. Despite this, there has been little discussion of the methodological and procedural differences that exist for studies of young children versus older children and adults. That is, reviewers, editors, and consumers of this work often expect developmental studies to simply apply adult techniques and procedures to younger samples. Procedurally, this creates unrealistic expectations for research paradigms, data collection, and data reduction and analyses. Scientifically, this leads to inappropriate measures and methods that hinder drawing conclusions and advancing theory. Based on ERP work with preschoolers and young children from 10 laboratories across North America, we present a summary of the most common ERP components under study in the area of emotion and cognition in young children along with 13 realistic expectations for data collection and loss, laboratory procedures and paradigms, data processing, ERP averaging, and typical challenges for conducting this type of work. This work is intended to supplement previous guidelines for work with adults and offer insights to aid researchers, reviewers, and editors in the design and evaluation of developmental research using ERPs. Here we make recommendations for researchers who plan to conduct or who are conducting ERP studies in children between ages 2 and 12, focusing on studies of toddlers and preschoolers. Recommendations are based on both data and our cumulative experience and include guidelines for laboratory setup, equipment and recording settings, task design, and data processing.

Neurodevelopmental differences to social exclusion: An event-related neural oscillation study of children, adolescents, and adults.

Although the neural correlates of social exclusion have been well-documented, most studies have examined single age groups. No studies have directly compared specific age-related differences in social exclusion across children, adolescents, and adults using event-related oscillatory electroencephalogram (EEG) dynamics. The authors examined event-related theta EEG power and phase coherence in fair play and social exclusion conditions during the Cyberball task in 166 participants: 42 children (ages 10-12), 56 adolescents (ages 14-17), and 68 adults (ages 18-28). Children and adolescents displayed the greatest theta power to rejection events, whereas adults displayed the greatest theta power to "not my turn" events. Moreover, the functional link between theta power to rejection and self-reported distress was strongest among the adolescents. These findings suggest that an enhanced neural response to social exclusion is present by preadolescence, but the association between neural and subjective responses is most prominent during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal Associations Among Child Maltreatment, Resting Frontal Electroencephalogram Asymmetry, and Adolescent Shyness.

Child maltreatment is linked to distinct neurophysiological patterns and social-emotional vulnerability. Relations among maltreatment, relative resting frontal alpha asymmetry, shyness, and psychopathology were examined prospectively. Adolescent girls (age 14-16) who experienced child maltreatment (N = 55) were compared to nonmaltreated controls (N = 25), and returned for 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Among participants exhibiting relative right frontal asymmetry, maltreated adolescents reported higher shyness than controls at Time 1. Low-stable and high-stable shyness trajectories were observed for maltreated participants. Compared to low shy, participants in high-shy trajectory reported at Time 3: higher neuroticism and generalized anxiety; and lower extraversion if they also exhibited relative right frontal asymmetry. Thus, right frontal brain activity and shyness are involved in social-emotional vulnerability of adolescents who experienced child maltreatment.

Trajectories of resting frontal brain activity and psychopathology in female adolescents exposed to child maltreatment.

Resting frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry patterns reflecting different affective and motivational tendencies have been proposed as a putative mechanism underlying resilience among maltreated youth. This 2-year prospective study examined whether developmental stability of resting frontal alpha asymmetry moderated the relation between child maltreatment severity and psychopathology in female adolescents (n = 43; ages 12-16) recruited from child protection agencies. Results identified two trajectories of resting frontal asymmetry: 60.5% displayed stable right and 39.5% displayed stable left frontal alpha asymmetry. Although individuals with these alpha asymmetry profiles experienced comparable childhood trauma severity, adolescents with stable left alpha asymmetry and lower levels of trauma were less likely to present symptoms or an episode of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression over 2 years than those with stable right alpha asymmetry and lower levels of trauma. These findings suggest that developmental patterns of resting left frontal brain activity may buffer against psychopathology in maltreated female youth.

Neural responses to reward in childhood: relations to early behavioral inhibition and social anxiety.

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an early temperamental profile characterized by negative reactivity to novelty, withdrawal from social situations, and increased risk for social anxiety. Previous research associated BI assessed in early childhood to striatal hypersensitivity in mid-to-late adolescence. The present study examined this association among 10 year-olds, characterized with BI at ages 24 and 36 months on measures of temperamental reactivity. Participants (n = 40) were studied at age 10 using a reward processing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Child- and maternal-report of social anxiety symptoms was collected at ages 10 and 13. Findings indicate greater caudate activation and stronger striatal connectivity in high, compared to low, behaviorally inhibited children. Caudate activation related to social anxiety symptoms at both ages. These findings suggest that enhanced striatal responsivity reliably manifests among high behaviorally inhibited children as early as age 10. This may reflect hyper-sensitivity to reward or excessive motivation to avoid errors.

Sensitivity to facial expressions among extremely low birth weight survivors in their 30s.

The current study investigated the impact of birth weight on the ability to recognize facial expressions in adulthood among the longest known prospectively followed cohort of extremely low birth weight survivors (ELBW; <1,000 g). We measured perceptual threshold to detect subtle facial expressions and confusion among different emotion categories in order to disentangle visual perceptual ability from emotional processing. ELBW adults (N = 64, Mage = 31.9 years) were more likely than normal birth weight (NBW) controls (N = 82, Mage = 32.5 years) to see fear in angry faces. This finding was not a result of increased perceptual efficiency in processing fearful expressions in the ELBW adults, since the two groups did not differ on their threshold to detect emotion in low intensity facial expressions. These findings suggest that a processing bias toward fear may reflect long-term developmental effects from being born at ELBW that may portend socioemotional problems that characterize ELBW survivors.

Developmental programming of happiness.

Being born at an extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1,000 grams) is presumed to reflect a suboptimal intrauterine environment and thus presents an opportunity for examining developmental programming hypotheses. Interfacing prenatal programming and differential susceptibility hypotheses, we tested whether individuals with ELBW in different childhood rearing environments showed different attention biases to positive and negative facial emotions in adulthood. Using the oldest known, prospectively followed cohort of ELBW survivors, we found that relative to normal birth weight controls (NBW; >2,500 grams), ELBW survivors displayed the highest and lowest attention bias to happy faces at age 30-35, depending on whether their total family income at age 8 was relatively low (environmental match) or high (environmental mismatch), respectively. This bias to happy faces was associated with a reduced likelihood of emotional problems. Findings suggest that differential susceptibility to positive emotions may be prenatally programmed, with effects lasting into adulthood. We discuss implications for integrating prenatal programming and differential susceptibility hypotheses, and the developmental origins of postnatal plasticity and resilience.

Shyness Trajectories across the First Four Decades Predict Mental Health Outcomes.

Although childhood shyness is presumed to predict mental health problems in adulthood, no prospective studies have examined these outcomes beyond emerging adulthood. As well, existing studies have been limited by retrospective and cross-sectional designs and/or have examined shyness as a dichotomous construct. The present prospective longitudinal study (N = 160; 55 males, 105 females) examined shyness trajectories from childhood to the fourth decade of life and mental health outcomes. Shyness was assessed using parent- and self-rated measures from childhood to adulthood, once every decade at ages 8, 12-16, 22-26, and 30-35. At age 30-35, participants completed a structured psychiatric interview and an experimental task examining attentional biases to facial emotions. We found 3 trajectories of shyness, including a low-stable trajectory (59.4%), an increasing shy trajectory from adolescence to adulthood (23.1%), and a decreasing shy trajectory from childhood to adulthood (17.5%). Relative to the low-stable trajectory, the increasing, but not the decreasing, trajectory was at higher risk for clinical social anxiety, mood, and substance-use disorders and was hypervigilant to angry faces. We found that the development of emotional problems in adulthood among the increasing shy trajectory might be explained in part by adverse peer and social influences during adolescence. Our findings suggest different pathways for early and later developing shyness and that not all shy children grow up to have psychiatric and emotional problems, nor do they all continue to be shy.

Personality Development Within a Generational Context: Life Course Outcomes of Shy Children.

Studies have shown that shy children born in the 1920s and 1950s had delayed marriage and parenthood, less stable careers, and lower occupational attainment as adults than other children. Do these effects still hold true? We examined demographic and social outcomes of children born between 1977 and 1982 in a prospective longitudinal study. We assessed shyness in childhood (age 8), adolescence (age 12-16), young adulthood (age 22-26), and adulthood (age 30-35), and derived three shyness trajectories (i.e., decreasing, increasing, and low-stable). Social and demographic outcomes for shy children who outgrew their shyness (i.e., decreasing trajectory) were indistinguishable from those who were consistently low on shyness measures. However, a shyness trajectory beginning in adolescence and increasing to adulthood was associated with poorer outcomes, similar to previous studies. These findings highlight the importance of multiple assessments in long-term longitudinal studies and the need to consider personality development within a generational context.

Extremely low birth weight babies grown up: Gene-environment interaction predicts internalizing problems in the third and fourth decades of life.

Extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1000 g) infants have been exposed to stressful intrauterine and early postnatal environments. Even greater early adversity has been experienced by ELBW survivors who were also born small for gestational age (SGA; <10th percentile for GA) compared to those born appropriate for GA (AGA). ELBW survivors, particularly those born SGA, face increased risk for internalizing problems compared to normal BW (NBW; ≥2500 g) controls. Internalizing problems are related to allelic variations in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region gene (5-HTTLPR). We followed the oldest longitudinal cohort of ELBW survivors to adulthood. Participants provided buccal cells and reported on internalizing problems, using the Young Adult Self-Report when they were in their mid-20s (ELBW/SGA, N = 28; ELBW/AGA, N = 60; NBW, N = 81) and mid-30s (ELBW/SGA, N = 27; ELBW/AGA, N = 58; NBW, N = 76). The findings indicate that ELBW/SGAs carrying the 5-HTTLPR short allele reported increased internalizing problems, particularly depression, during the third and fourth decades of life. This is the first known report on gene-environment interactions predicting psychopathology among ELBW survivors. Our findings elucidate putative neurobiological pathways that underlie risk for psychopathology.

Linking Temperamental Shyness and Social Anxiety in Childhood and Adolescence: Moderating Influences of Sex and Age.

Although childhood shyness has been linked to social anxiety problems, the factors playing a role in this association have gone largely unexplored. Here we examined the potential moderating roles of sex and age on this relation in a sample of 119 (75 girls) children (10-12 years) and adolescents (14-16 years). As predicted, shyness was positively associated with social anxiety symptoms. Sex, but not age, served as a moderating factor in linking shyness and social anxiety. Specifically, shyness was more strongly associated with social anxiety symptoms among girls than boys. These results suggest the importance of considering sex differences when examining the relation between shyness and social anxiety in childhood and adolescence.

Small for gestational age and poor fluid intelligence in childhood predict externalizing behaviors among young adults born at extremely low birth weight.

Although infants born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; birth weight < 1000 g) are at increased risk for developing later psychopathology, the mechanisms contributing to this association are largely unknown. In the present study, we examined a putative cognitive link to psychopathology in a cohort of ELBW survivors. These individuals were followed up prospectively at age 8 and again at ages 22-26. At 8 years, participants completed measures of fluid and general intelligence. As young adults, a subset of ELBW survivors free of major neurosensory impairments provided self-reports of personality characteristics related to psychopathology. Data from 66 participants indicated that, as predicted, the association between ELBW and externalizing behaviors was moderated by fluid intelligence. Specifically, ELBW individuals with poor fluid intelligence who were born small for gestational age (birth weight < 10th percentile for gestational age) showed the highest level of externalizing behaviors. These findings provide support for a cumulative risk model and suggest that fluid intelligence might be a cognitive mechanism contributing to the development of psychopathology among nonimpaired individuals who were born at ELBW and small for gestational age.

Cognitive processing of moral and social judgements: a comparison of offenders, students, and control participants.

Examining cognitive processes related to offenders' moral and social judgements is important in order to better understand their criminal behaviour. In the present study, 30 offenders, 30 students, and 24 control participants were administered the moral-conventional judgements computer task, which requires responding under strict time constraints. Participants read scenarios and were asked to judge whether the act was acceptable or unacceptable when rules were either assumed or removed. Additionally, participants completed an executive function (EF) task in order to examine the relation between EF and moral and social judgements. The findings revealed that, as expected, controls and students had faster reaction times (RTs) and a higher percentage of normative judgements than offenders. Additionally, offenders had a low percentage of normative judgements, particularly in the conventional rule removed condition. Finally, RTs of moral and conventional judgements in most conditions were related to EF among students but not controls or offenders. We conclude that offenders, as compared to controls and students, may rely more on rule-oriented responding and may rely less on EF when making moral and social judgements.

ADHD among young adults born at extremely low birth weight: the role of fluid intelligence in childhood.

Poor executive function (EF) has been linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1000 g) have been found to show both poor EF, as well as elevated levels of symptoms of ADHD. In the present study, we examined whether fluid intelligence moderates the link between birth weight and later ADHD symptoms by prospectively following a cohort of 179 survivors who were born at ELBW. When participants were 8 years-old, they were matched with 145 normal birth weight (NBW; ≥2500 g) control participants. At age 8, fluid intelligence was measured, and during young adulthood (ages 22-26), participants' self-reported levels of ADHD symptoms were examined. We found that ELBW survivors, who also showed poor fluid intelligence, had the highest rates of ADHD symptoms, and particularly, symptoms of inattention. These findings point to the importance of examining developmental trajectories that contribute to risk for psychopathology in those exposed to intrauterine adversity.

Early behavioral inhibition and increased error monitoring predict later social phobia symptoms in childhood.

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. METHOD: 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.

Cognitive conflict links behavioral inhibition and social problem solving during social exclusion in childhood.

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament characterized by heightened negative affect and social reticence to unfamiliar peers. In a longitudinal study, 291 infants were assessed for BI at 24 and 36 months of age. At age 7, N2 amplitude was measured during a Flanker task. Also at age 7, children experienced social exclusion in the lab during an interaction with an unfamiliar peer and an experimenter. Our findings indicate that children characterized as high in BI, relative to those low in BI, had larger (i.e., more negative) N2 amplitudes. Additionally, among children with a large N2, BI was positively related to withdrawal and negatively related to assertiveness during social exclusion. These findings suggest that variations in conflict detection among behaviorally inhibited children plays a role in their social behavior during stressful social situations.