[Stability of shy-anxious-inhibited behavior in kindergarten children]

The stability of internalizing disorders was studied over a period of 15 months in a sample of three- to five-year-old children attending preschool (N = 280). Stability coefficients for shyness/inhibition (rT1-T2 = .65/.77), oversensitivity (rT1-T2 = .49/.69) and dependency (rT1-T2 = .43/.64) showed a high to moderate (normative) continuity during this stage of development. There were no sex differences but there were significant age variations: The stability of shyness/inhibition was about twice as high in the oldest cohort as in the youngest age group. Persistence of internalizing behavior dimensions was much stronger in a withdrawn-aggressive group than in a withdrawn-nonaggressive group. Peer status had some predictive utility, but for the sample as a whole there was only a low correlation between sociometric variables (T1) and internalizing scores (T2); the level of correlation was strongly dependent on the children's age and sex.