Poster #211 - Person-centered infant temperament profiles and infant prosocial behaviors with peers predict childhood social engagement

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Fearful infants often withdraw from social novelty (Garcia-Coll, et al., 1984; Kagan, et al., 1984) and may exhibit social anxiety later in life (Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2009). Recent work indicates that infants exhibiting Dysregulated Fear (fear in low-threat situations) may be at greatest risk for social withdrawal during childhood (Buss, 2011; Buss et al., 2013; Buss, et. al., 2017). Additionally, decreasing prosocial behaviors across development may cause fearful children to be more wary of novel peers (Buss et al., 2013). The current study examines how infant temperament and changing prosocial behaviors may interact to predict social engagement during childhood.
The current study examining relations between temperament and socio-emotional development in 235 children (126 boys) drawn from two longitudinal studies. The first sample (N = 111; 63 boys) was collected in a small midwestern city. The second sample (N = 124; 63 boys) was collected in a rural city in the Mid-Atlantic region, and oversampled for fear and anxiety. The samples did not differ in income (p = .54) or mother (p = .08) or father (p = .14) education level.
At age 24-months (N = 235, Mage24mo = 24.69, SDage24mo = 1.40), children completed 6 Lab-TAB episodes that assessed temperament (Buss & Goldsmith, 2000), with, as shown in Figure 1, four temperament profiles identified using latent profile analysis of fear behavior observed during the 6 episodes (BIC: 12477.00, Entropy: .75): High Fear to High Threat (HFHT), Normative (NM), High Fear to Social Threat (HFST), Dysregulated Fear (DF). At ages 24-months and 36-months (N = 165; Mage36mo = 37.57, SDage36mo = 3.21), parents reported their infant’s prosocial behaviors with peers via the ITSEA (Carter et al., 2003). Change in prosocial behaviors with peers (CPBP) was calculated as the difference between total scores at age 24-months and 36-months. At age 72-months (N = 141; Mage72mo = 74.80, SDage36mo = 4.05), children participated in a free-play with novel peers to assess social engagement (Rubin, 2001). Data were coded for instances of Conversation and Reticence.

Relations among temperament, CPBP, and social engagement were examined using Poisson regressions (Figure 2). HFHT (b = 0.37, p < .05) and HFST (b = 0.76, p < .05) exhibited greater Conversation when prosocial behaviors increased over time. Conversely, DF (b = -0.26, p < .05) exhibited less Conversation when prosocial behaviors increased over time. NM (b = -0.43, p < .05) and HFHT (b = -0.82, p < .05) exhibited less Reticence when prosocial behaviors increased over time. Conversely, HFST (b = 0.75, p < .05) and DF (b = 0.63, p < .05) exhibited more Reticence when prosocial behaviors increased over time. The current results indicate that the development of prosocial behaviors may interact differentially with temperament types to predict childhood social engagement.

Authors

• Alicia Vallorani, The Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Xiaoxue Fu, The Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nilam Ram, Penn State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristin A Buss, The Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author