Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System ANS Activity in Toddlers - Resting and Developmental Challenges
08:22

Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System ANS Activity in Toddlers - Resting and Developmental Challenges

Published on: February 25, 2016

16.1K

The relation between reactivity at 4 months and Behavioral Inhibition in the second year: Replication Across Three

Nathan A Fox1, Nancy Snidman2, Sara A Haas1

  • 1Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.

Infancy : the Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
|January 10, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Infant temperament, including motor activity and distress to novelty, predicts later behavioral inhibition. Sex differences emerge by 24 months, with high-reactive boys showing more inhibition than girls.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Child Psychology

Background:

  • Infant temperament is a key predictor of later behavioral outcomes.
  • Understanding early predictors of behavioral inhibition is crucial for developmental research.
  • Temperamental biases assessed in infancy may forecast social and emotional development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the predictive relationship between infant temperamental biases and inhibited behavior.
  • To examine these relations across multiple independent samples and research settings.
  • To identify sex differences in the development of inhibited behavior from infancy to toddlerhood.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal assessment of infant temperament at 4 months.
  • Evaluation of inhibited behavior at 14 and 24 months of age.
  • Analysis of three independent samples from two research laboratories.

Main Results:

  • High levels of motor activity and distress to unfamiliar events at 4 months predicted inhibited behavior at 14 months in both genders.
  • By 24 months, significant sex differences were observed: high-reactive boys exhibited more inhibition than high-reactive girls.
  • Consistent findings across independent samples support the reliability of these temperamental predictors.

Conclusions:

  • Early temperamental characteristics, specifically reactivity to novelty, are significant predictors of behavioral inhibition.
  • Sex-specific developmental trajectories for behavioral inhibition emerge by toddlerhood.
  • These findings underscore the importance of early temperament in shaping later behavioral patterns.

Keywords:
behavioral inhibitioninfant reactivitytemperament

More Related Videos

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses14:05

Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses

Published on: January 23, 2017

29.9K
Three Laboratory Procedures for Assessing Different Manifestations of Impulsivity in Rats09:12

Three Laboratory Procedures for Assessing Different Manifestations of Impulsivity in Rats

Published on: March 17, 2019

10.6K

Related Concept Videos

Socioemotional Development during Infancy01:30

Socioemotional Development during Infancy

Socio-emotional development in infancy is primarily shaped by early emotional responses and social connections, with temperament playing a central role. Temperament refers to the consistent patterns in an individual's emotional and behavioral responses, observable even in infancy. By examining temperament, researchers can better understand an infant's unique ways of interacting with the world, influencing subsequent personality and socio-emotional growth.
Primary Temperament Types
1.4K
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
2.6K
Relationship with Parents: Attachment01:28

Relationship with Parents: Attachment

Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
370
Attachment01:20

Attachment

Attachment is vital for infant development, as warm social interactions support growth and well-being. In a classic 1958 study by Harry Harlow, the significance of warmth and comfort in forming attachments was examined. Harlow separated newborn monkeys from their mothers and provided two artificial "mothers": one made of cold wire and the other covered in soft cloth. Despite the wire mother offering food, the infant monkeys preferred the comfort of the cloth mother, demonstrating that...
756
Theory of Romantic Attachment in Adulthood03:34

Theory of Romantic Attachment in Adulthood

Attachment is a long-standing connection or bond with others. While Attachment Theory was conceived in developmental psychology to describe infant-caregiver bonding, it's been extended into adulthood to include romantic relationships. 
50.3K