Poster #96 - Can Behaviorally Inhibited Preschoolers Make Friends?

• In Event: Poster Session 10

Abstract

It is now well-established that preschoolers who display stable, inhibited behavior are at risk for the development of anxiety disorders in later childhood and adolescence. However, behavioral inhibition (BI) is a multifaceted characteristic. For example, some children characterized as BI are fearful when confronted by unfamiliar adults and unfamiliar objects; others are fearful in the company of unfamiliar peers (Rubin et al., 1997). Thus far, however, researchers have not examined individual differences in the peer relationships of children identified as extremely BI. The purpose of this investigation was to examine individual differences in the extent to which preschoolers classified as BI are capable of making friends. In this study, 60 highly inhibited children aged 3.5 to 5.25 years old (35 females, Mage = 52.57 months) were observed during 8 weekly 10-minute sessions of free play in the company of initially unfamiliar BI peers (n = approximately 5-7 children per play group). These sessions occurred prior to receipt of a weekly intervention session designed to reduce the negative outcomes putatively caused by BI (Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2022). An observational protocol allowed for the identification of children who were able to make a friend during the 8-week sessions. A friendship was defined by observing a given child spending at least 30% of the total free play period in social or parallel play with/near the same peer, as well as having a 50 percent success rate at attempting to initiate social interactions with that peer (Rubin, 1982; Howes et al., 1988). Different sub-types of BI were assessed by parents prior to the first play session (baseline). At the same time, the children’s preschool teachers completed an assessment of classroom behaviors. Of the 60 children comprising the sample, by week 8, 26 preschoolers met the criteria for having a friend. A Chi-square test for independence (with Yates Continuity Correction) indicated a non-significant association between gender and friendship categorization. To address the primary aims of the study, a series of regression analyses was conducted to identify whether children who made a friend were different from their counterparts who failed to make a friend based on different sub-types of BI. Child age, sex, race, cohort, and parents’ education were included as covariates in all the regression models predicting different subscales of the BIQ. Models were estimated using a robust maximum likelihood estimator in Mplus Version 8.6 (Muthén & Muthén, 2017). Missing data were handled using FIML methods (Enders & Bandalos, 2001). Those preschoolers who failed to make a friend were those who, at baseline, scored significantly higher on parental ratings of difficulty separating from parents. They were also rated by their teachers as being more asocial/withdrawn in school and excluded/rejected by their familiar peers. The results clearly suggest that not all preschoolers who are highly inhibited share the same characteristics. As such, interventions for BI must begin to take into account those characteristics that may prove most likely to predict specific negative outcomes (e.g., separation anxiety; social withdrawal; peer rejection).

Authors

• Hailey Fleece, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Nicholas James Wagner, Boston University

• Kelly Smith, University of Maryland, College Park

• Nila Shakiba, Boston University

• Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, University of Maryland, College Park

• Danielle Novick, University of Maryland - College Park

• Lindsay R Druskin, West Virginia University

• Christina Danko

• Kenneth H Rubin, University of Maryland - College Park