The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus Medical Center, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2014 Sep;23(9):729-41. doi: 10.1007/s00787-014-0542-y. Epub 2014 Apr 13.
Temperament and psychopathology are intimately related; however, research on the prospective associations between positive emotionality, defined as a child's positive mood states and high engagement with the environment, and psychopathology is inconclusive. We examined the longitudinal relation between positive emotionality and internalizing problems in young children from the general population. Furthermore, we explored whether executive functioning mediates any observed association. Within a population-based Dutch birth cohort, we observed positive emotionality in 802 children using the laboratory temperament assessment battery at age 3 years. Child behavior checklist (CBCL) internalizing problems (consisting of Emotionally Reactive, Anxious/Depressed, and Withdrawn scales) were assessed at age 6 years. Parents rated their children's executive functioning at ages 4 years. Children with a lower positive emotionality at age 3 had a higher risk of withdrawn problems at age 6 years (OR = 1.20 per SD decrease in positive emotionality score, 95 % CI: 1.01, 1.42). This effect was not explained by preexisting internalizing problems. This association was partly mediated by more problems in the shifting domain of executive functioning (p < 0.001). We did not find any relation between positive emotionality and the CBCL emotionally reactive or anxious/depressed scales. Although the effect sizes were moderate, our results suggest that low levels of positive emotionality at preschool age can result in children's inflexibility and rigidity later in life. The inflexibility and rigidity are likely to affect the child's drive to engage with the environment, and thereby lead to withdrawn problems. Further research is needed to replicate these findings.
气质与精神病理学密切相关；然而，关于积极情绪（定义为儿童的积极情绪状态和与环境的高度互动）与精神病理学之间的前瞻性关联的研究尚无定论。我们研究了一般人群中幼儿的积极情绪与内化问题之间的纵向关系。此外，我们还探讨了执行功能是否介导了任何观察到的关联。在一个基于人群的荷兰出生队列中，我们在 3 岁时使用实验室气质评估电池观察了 802 名儿童的积极情绪。在 6 岁时，使用儿童行为检查表（CBCL）评估了内化问题（包括情绪反应性、焦虑/抑郁和退缩）。父母在 4 岁时对孩子的执行功能进行了评分。3 岁时积极情绪较低的儿童在 6 岁时更有可能出现退缩问题（OR = 1.20，每降低 1 个标准偏差的积极情绪评分，95%CI：1.01，1.42）。这种效应不受先前存在的内化问题的解释。这种关联部分由执行功能转换领域的更多问题介导（p < 0.001）。我们没有发现积极情绪与 CBCL 情绪反应性或焦虑/抑郁量表之间的任何关系。尽管效应大小适中，但我们的研究结果表明，学龄前儿童的积极情绪水平较低可能导致孩子在以后的生活中缺乏灵活性和僵化。这种不灵活性和僵化性可能会影响孩子与环境互动的动力，从而导致退缩问题。需要进一步研究来复制这些发现。
