Behavioral Inhibition and Anxiety: The Moderating Roles of Inhibitory Control and Attention Shifting

Behavioral inhibition (BI), a temperament identified in early childhood, is associated with social reticence in childhood
and an increased risk for anxiety problems in adolescence and adulthood. However, not all behaviorally inhibited children
remain reticent or develop an anxiety disorder. One possible mechanism accounting for the variability in the developmental
trajectories of BI is a child’s ability to successfully recruit cognitive processes involved in the regulation of negative
reactivity. However, separate cognitive processes may differentially moderate the association between BI and later anxiety
problems. The goal of the current study was to examine how two cognitive processes—attention shifting and inhibitory control—laboratory
assessed at 48 months of age moderated the association between 24-month BI and anxiety symptoms in the preschool years. Results
revealed that high levels of attention shifting decreased the risk for anxiety problems in children with high levels of BI,
whereas high levels of inhibitory control increased this risk for anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest that different
cognitive processes may influence relative levels of risk or adaptation depending upon a child’s temperamental reactivity.