The Continuous Dimensions of Fear Reactivity and Regulation

• In Event: Using Intensive Longitudinal Approaches to Understand Child Development

Abstract

Children with dysregulated fear (DF) express high levels of fear that do not match the situation. It is important to identify children with DF early and accurately because they are at increased risk for anxiety (Buss et al., 2013). Previous work has used dynamic system methods to identify clusters of children’s fearful behavior trajectories across time within a task. However, the temporal dynamics of fear expression might be better characterized as one or more continuous scales, rather than discrete cluster-based groupings. We applied Discrete Sequence Analysis using Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) of sequences identified via Hidden Markov Models (HMM) to evaluate potential underlying continuous dimensions of children’s fear reactivity and regulation. Methods that capture the temporal dynamics of fear expression might offer novel insights into the identification of children at risk and inform prevention programs to target specific behaviors that in the moment will perpetuate anxious behavior.

The sample consists of 124 children (61 girls, Mage = 24.43 months, SDage = .47). The children participated in a low-fear task in a room with the caregiver and a puppet show, designed to be novel but not fear evoking , and a high-fear task where they were in a room with the caregiver and a giant toy spider. Facial fear, bodily fear, and proximity to caregiver were coded from the video.

Data were modeled using HMMs, which approximate each child’s latent underlying fear states and models their state transitions over time. Results revealed that children's behavior is best represented as transitions among six behavioral states, characterized by variation in fearfulness and proximity to caregiver (Table 1). These underlying states were analyzed using Discrete Sequence Analysis and MDS to identify continuous dimensions underlying the dynamic trajectories through the states. Results showed that four dimensions fit the data best. The first dimension, which we named Fear Reactivity, was characterized by fearful/at-caregiver states at the high end and the no fear/far-from-caregiver states at the lower end (Figure 1, top left). For dimension 2, Regulation, the upper end is characterized by low fear/far-from-caregiver and no fear/near-caregiver, whereas the lower end shows high and low fear both at and far from the caregiver (Figure 1, top right). This pattern hints at use of the caregiver as a potential regulation strategy at the lower end of the dimension, and more internal strategies at the upper end. The third dimension, Fear Variability, shows children move between low fear/far-from-caregiver to no fear/at-caregiver, to no fear/near-caregiver at the upper end, showing the difference between highly variable fear states at high levels, versus a more consistent process at the lower level (Figure 1, bottom left). The last dimension, Exploration, was characterized by low fear/far-from-caregiver and fear/far-from-caregiver in the upper end and by near or at caregiver states at the lower end (Figure 1, bottom right). The dimension seems to represent the child’s boldness in exploring their environment. These outlined dimensions delineate by fear reactivity, regulation type, and the exploratory behavior throughout the episodes, and suggest an underlying continuous structure.

Authors

• Elizabeth Ann Shewark, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Timothy Raymond Brick, Penn State Univeristy
  Non-Presenting Author

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