Key result
Behavioral profiles of inhibition at 21 months predicted behavior at 7.5 years, with shy children becoming socially avoidant and sociable children becoming interactive.
Cohort (n=41)
Early childhood behavioral profiles of inhibition predict later social behavior, though physiological differences like heart rate and cortisol may attenuate over time.
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May guide pediatric behavioral monitoring; leaves open whether interventions targeting early inhibition alter social trajectories.
Behavioral and physiological assessments of 41 7 1/2-year-old children who had been selected to be inhibited or uninhibited at 21 months and observed again at 4 and 5 1/2 years revealed that each of the 2 original behavioral profiles predicted theoretically reasonable derivatives. A majority of the formerly shy, timid children became quiet and socially avoidant in unfamiliar social situations, while a majority of the formerly sociable children became talkative and interactive with peers and adults. Absolute heart-rate and cortisol level at 7 1/2 years were not as discriminating of the 2 behavioral groups as they had been 2 years earlier.
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Kagan et al. (1988) conducted a cohort in Behavioral inhibition (n=41). Inhibited behavioral profile vs. Uninhibited behavioral profile was evaluated on Behavioral and physiological derivatives at 7 1/2 years. Behavioral profiles of inhibition at 21 months predicted behavior at 7.5 years, with shy children becoming socially avoidant and sociable children becoming interactive.
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