Factors contributing to the emergence of anxiety among behaviorally inhibited children: The role of attention

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament that can be identified early in childhood. Children with BI are socially reticent, withdraw from engaging unfamiliar peers, and often have problems in forming friendships. They are also at risk for developing anxiety disorders as they get older. There is, however, as much discontinuity as continuity in the expression of BI over time. One set of processes that appear to moderate the continuity of BI involve attention. Children with BI who display heightened orienting towards threat and more error monitoring are more likely to remain stable in BI and develop anxiety in early adolescence.