Behavioral Inhibition, Shyness and Social Withdrawal Multi-Trajectories: Links to Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Emerging Adulthood.

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are a major source of suffering for many children and adolescents and tend to increase with age (Kessler et al., 2005). Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an under-treated yet common and persistent disorder affecting young people (Dugas & Robichaud, 2007). Certain temperamental profiles have been identified as risk factors for anxiety disorders, namely behavioral inhibition (BI: difficulty to adapt to novel situations), shyness (wariness in situations of perceived social evaluation) and social withdrawal (preference for solitude) (Coplan, et al., 2008; 2013; Karevold, et al., 2012). However, these temperament profiles are often confused and used interchangeably although they refer to different concepts. Examining the specificity in the associations between these different temperamental profiles and GAD in young adulthood is particularly important to plan effective early prevention programs and understand GAD development over the lifespan. The objectives of the present study are to (1) Identify the developmental patterns of shyness and social withdrawal symptoms from infancy to mid-childhood simultaneously using multi-trajectory analysis while considering the child’s behavioral inhibition in infancy; (2) Examine the distinct contribution of these multi-trajectory profiles to the prediction of self-reported GAD symptoms at 20 years, while controlling for risk and resilience factors.

Participants are 1596 children born in 1997-1998, and their parents, followed over 20 years. BI was rated by fathers when children were 5 months-old. Childhood shyness and social withdrawal were measured when children were 3½, 4½, 5, 6, and 8 years-old using maternal reports using the Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ; Tremblay et al., 1991). Participants self-reported their GAD symptoms at 20 years-old using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7; Spitzer et al., 2006). Socio-demographic variables were also measured at all time points. Group-based developmental multi-trajectories, which allow simultaneous estimation of trajectories for multiple outcomes (Nagin, et al., 2016), will be modeled for shyness and social withdrawal symptoms from 3½ to 8 years, taking into account behavioral inhibition in infancy, using the Proc Traj procedure in STATA. We identified five multi-trajectory profiles (low-shyness, low-social withdrawal (10.5%), low-shyness (21%), low-social withdrawal (24.2%), moderate-shyness, moderate-social withdrawal (37.1%) and high-shyness, high-social withdrawal (7.2%). Using logistic regression analysis with multi-trajectory groups dummy coded contrasting against a designated control group, we examined the associations between childhood behavioral inhibition, shyness and social withdrawal multi-trajectories with GAD in young adulthood, while controlling for family SES and parent’s mental health. The GAD mild (26.2%), moderate (10.0%) and severe (4.6%) anxiety groups were contrasted against the minimal anxiety group (59.2%). Being a girl was significantly associated with higher anxiety symptoms. When considering moderate GAD symptoms (compared to minimal symptoms), higher levels of childhood behavioural inhibition, poorer parental mental health as well as being in the low shyness group all significantly contributed to higher moderate GAD symptoms in young adulthood. No significant associations were found when considering the severe GAD symptoms in young adulthood. Our results underline the long-lasting effects of early childhood factors on young adulthood mental health and the importance of distinguishing between different temperamental profiles when assessing risk for later psychopathology.

Authors

• Magdalena A. Zdebik, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO)
  Presenting Author

• Michel Boivin, Universite Laval
  Non-Presenting Author

• Richard E. Tremblay, University of Montreal
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sylvana M Côté, Université de Montréal (UdeM)
  Non-Presenting Author