Behavioral Inhibition in preschool age: the psychopathological risk associated to social and non-social components

Behavioral Inhibition (BI; Kagan et al., 1987) is an early temperamental trait characterized by fear, wariness and reticence when the child is confronting with novelty. BI represents a relevant precursor of impaired outcomes in childhood and adolescence, specifically anxiety problems (Clauss et al., 2012). Traditionally, BI is described as a unitary construct characterized by wariness towards both social (i.e., unfamiliar adults) and non-social (i.e., new objects) stimuli. Recently, some authors (Kertes et al., 2009; Dyson et al., 2011) argued that social and non-social BI are relatively independent, with different psychopathological correlates. The aims of this study were: (1) to explore whether social aspects of BI were related or independent from non-social aspects in preschoolers, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally; (2) to investigate whether children with social or non-social BI, compared to their non-inhibited peers, showed a higher risk for internalizing difficulties, specifically anxiety problems. A sample of 45 children (aged 4 years) and their teachers were recruited from kindergartens in Bologna. Social and non-social features of BI were assessed through LAB-TAB (Goldsmith et al., 1999) in 2 repeated assessments during a scholastic year. Teachers completed the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQSF:Putnam & Rothbart,2006) for the assessment of temperamental traits and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL 1.5/5yrs: Achenbach,2004) for child internalizing problems. Main results: Social and non-social aspects of BI resulted to be highly correlated (p<0.05) between the assessments. However, only the social component of BI resulted to be a risk factor for internalizing problems in preschoolers. Further findings will be presented and discussed during the Congress. Relevant implications for the development of psycho-educational interventions for inhibited children will be discussed.