University of Maryland, College Park.
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2022 Dec;61(12):1466-1475. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.04.012. Epub 2022 Apr 28.
Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an infant temperament characterized by heightened reactivity and negative affect in response to novel people and situations. BI is among the earliest and strongest predictors of future anxiety problems. However, not all children with a history of BI will manifest anxiety problems. A growing body of evidence suggests that proactive control skills may help buffer youth with BI from future anxiety difficulties; yet, it remains unclear how temperament may interact with the development of cognitive control to influence anxiety risk. The present study tested whether enhancements in proactive control occurring during adolescence may reduce risk for anxiety among youth with a history of BI.
Participants included 185 adolescents (56% female) whose temperament was assessed during toddlerhood. In adolescence, participants completed anxiety assessments and an AX Continuous Performance Test (AX-CPT) to assess cognitive control strategy. Both assessments were administered at age 13 years and again at 15 years.
Latent change score modeling revealed that, on average, participants increasingly used proactive control strategies and experienced worsening anxiety from age 13-15 years. Early BI was associated with a smaller anxiety increase from 13-15 years, but only among participants whose proactive control skills improved at mean or greater rates.
The present findings suggest that greater proactive control development during adolescence protects youth with high BI from age-related increases in anxiety. Results support a framework that highlights cognitive control as a key moderator of anxiety risk among children with a history of high BI.
行为抑制（BI）是一种婴儿气质特征，表现为对陌生人和新情境的反应高度敏感和负面情绪。BI 是未来焦虑问题的最早和最强预测因素之一。然而，并非所有具有 BI 病史的儿童都会表现出焦虑问题。越来越多的证据表明，积极主动的控制技能可能有助于缓冲具有 BI 的年轻人免受未来焦虑困难的影响；然而，目前尚不清楚气质如何与认知控制的发展相互作用，从而影响焦虑风险。本研究测试了在青少年时期增强积极主动的控制是否可以降低具有 BI 病史的年轻人患焦虑症的风险。
参与者包括 185 名青少年（56%为女性），他们的气质在幼儿期进行了评估。在青少年时期，参与者完成了焦虑评估和 AX 连续性能测试（AX-CPT），以评估认知控制策略。这两项评估都是在 13 岁时进行的，然后在 15 岁时再次进行。
潜在变化分数模型显示，平均而言，参与者越来越多地使用积极主动的控制策略，并且从 13 岁到 15 岁的焦虑感加剧。早期 BI 与从 13 岁到 15 岁焦虑感增加幅度较小有关，但仅在积极主动的控制技能以平均或更高速度提高的参与者中才如此。
本研究结果表明，青少年时期积极主动的控制发展更多可以保护高 BI 的年轻人免受年龄相关的焦虑增加。研究结果支持了一个框架，该框架强调认知控制是具有高 BI 病史的儿童焦虑风险的关键调节因素。
