Department of Psychology.
Dev Psychol. 2011 May;47(3):804-819. doi: 10.1037/a0023227.
In the current study, the author tested a model of risk for anxiety in fearful toddlers characterized by the toddlers' regulation of the intensity of withdrawal behavior across a variety of contexts. Participants included low-risk 24-month-old toddlers (N = 111) followed longitudinally each year through the fall of their kindergarten year. The key hypothesis was that being fearful in situations that are relatively low in threat (i.e., are predictable and controllable and in which children have many coping resources) is an early precursor to risk for anxiety development as measured by parental and teacher reports of children's anxious behaviors in kindergarten. Results supported the prediction such that it is not how much fear is expressed but when and how the fear is expressed that is important for characterizing adaptive behavior. Implications are discussed for a model of risk that includes the regulation of fear, the role of eliciting context, social wariness, and the importance of examining developmental transitions, such as the start of formal schooling. These findings have implications for the methods used to identify fearful children who may be at risk for developing anxiety-related problems.
在当前的研究中，作者测试了一个具有恐惧幼儿风险的模型，该模型的特点是幼儿在各种情境中调节退缩行为的强度。参与者包括低风险的 24 个月大的幼儿（N=111），他们每年从幼儿园秋季开始进行纵向跟踪。主要假设是，在威胁程度相对较低的情况下（即可预测、可控制且儿童有许多应对资源）感到恐惧，是日后出现焦虑发展风险的早期前兆，这是通过父母和教师报告的幼儿在幼儿园的焦虑行为来衡量的。结果支持了这一预测，即重要的不是恐惧表达的程度，而是恐惧表达的时间和方式，这对于描述适应性行为很重要。讨论了一种风险模型的意义，其中包括恐惧的调节、诱发情境的作用、社交谨慎以及检查发展过渡（例如正式上学的开始）的重要性。这些发现对用于识别可能有焦虑相关问题风险的恐惧儿童的方法具有启示意义。
