NeuroPsychiatry Reviews 2008 Feb;9(2)
BOSTON-Children with inhibited behavior in early childhood showed brain differences on fMRI in a longitudinal study, indicating that temperament in early childhood may be implicated in the development of social anxiety disorder in adolescence and adulthood, reported Carl Schwartz, MD, at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Thirty years ago, Jerome Kagan, PhD, observed 2-year-old children and classified them as having either inhibited or uninhibited temperament. Signs of behavioral inhibition included long latencies to play or interact with unfamiliar people or objects, long time spent proximal to the mother, and sensation of play or vocalization whenever a novel or unfamiliar person or object entered the room.