Maternal Intrusiveness, Frontal EEG Asymmetry, and the Trajectories of Shyness and Anger/Frustration Across Childhood

• In Event: The Multilevel Factors Influencing the Development of Temperament

Abstract

Shyness and anger/frustration represent two robust temperamental foundations of children’s socioemotional problems. Identifying the early predictors of shyness and anger/frustration development is an important step in advancing timely and effective intervention for children at increased risk for subsequent disorders. Temperament is shaped by the complex interactions among genetic, biological, and environmental factors (Shiner et al., 2012). We examined the interactions of maternal intrusiveness (MI) and frontal EEG asymmetry (FA) at age 4 in predicting the developmental trajectories of shyness and anger/frustration from age 4 to age 9.

180 children (92 boys, 88 girls) participated in the study. At age 4, baseline EEG was recorded for 2 minutes while children quietly watched a film clip from Finding Nemo. FA was calculated by subtracting the asymmetry scores at left hemisphere from right hemisphere. Positive and negative FA values indicate greater left and right FA, respectively. MI was observed in an interactive puzzle task, during which mothers and their children were asked to work together on two puzzles for a total of 6 minutes. Shyness and anger/frustration at age 4 and age 6 were measured with the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (Rothbart et al., 2001). Shyness and anger/frustration at age 9 were measured with the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire (Ellis, & Rothbart, 2001).

Latent growth curve modeling was conducted using Mplus. Gender was included as a covariate given its association with temperament. Shyness and anger/frustration exhibited a linear decrease from age 4 to age 9. There was significant variation across children in the initial level of temperament and the rate of change. Multi-group analysis indicated that the effect of MI on the trajectory of shyness and anger/frustration varied across FA group. Specifically, for children who had right FA at age 4, MI positively predicted the initial level of shyness (b = 0.87, p = 0.046) but not the rate of change in shyness (b = -0.14, p = 0.15). For those with left FA, however, MI did not predict the initial level of shyness (b = -0.68, p = 0.49) or the rate of change in shyness (b = 0.26, p = 0.14; see Figure 1). As shown in Figure 2 (upper), MI significantly predicted concurrent shyness only when children had right but not left FA. Moreover, for children who had left FA at age 4, MI positively predicted the rate of decrease in anger/frustration (b = 0.27, p = 0.01), indicating that children who experienced higher level of MI showed a slower decrease in their anger/frustration (see Figure 2 lower). For children with right FA, however, MI did not predict the initial level of anger/frustration (b = 0.33, p = 0.45) or the rate of change in anger/frustration (b = -0.09, p = 0.07; see Figure 1).

Taken together, these findings suggest that temperament is the product of the dynamic interactions between biological and environmental factors across development (Shiner et al., 2012). FA shapes the way that MI influences children’s emotional reactivity (Gatzke-Kopp et al., 2014). Implications for interventions will be discussed.

Authors

• Ran Liu, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer Julia Phillips, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Non-Presenting Author