A 3-year follow-up of children with and without behavioral inhibition

Previous work suggested that children of parents with panic disorder and agoraphobia were likely to be classified as behaviorally inhibited and that behaviorally inhibited children were likely to develop anxiety disorders. Although these findings suggested that "behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar" may be associated with risk for anxiety disorders in children, longitudinal data were needed to confirm the initial impressions.

Using DSM-III structured interviews, the authors examined psychiatric disorders at 3-year follow-up in children of two independently ascertained, previously described, and preexisting samples of children. One sample was cross sectional and clinically derived (Massachusetts General Hospital at-risk sample), and the other was epidemiologically derived and longitudinal (Kagan et al. Longitudinal Cohort).

Analyses of follow-up findings revealed significant differences between inhibited and not inhibited children in the rates of multiple > or = 4 psychiatric disorders, multiple > or = 2 anxiety disorders, avoidant disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia. Among inhibited children, the rates of anxiety disorders increased markedly from baseline to follow-up assessments, attaining statistical significance for multiple > or = 2 anxiety disorders and avoidant disorder. Our findings also show there were significant differences between inhibited and not inhibited children in the emergence of multiple > or = 2 anxiety disorders, avoidant disorder, and separation anxiety disorder in children who did not have these diagnoses at baseline.

These findings indicate that inhibited children are at high risk for developing childhood-onset anxiety disorders and provide additional support for the hypothesis that behavioral inhibition is a predictor of later anxiety disorder.