American researchers confirm that behavior inhibited in childhood will influence personality in adulthood.
- The character traits of babies up to 14 months are reflected in their adult personality
- Behavioral inhibition in children can later lead to anxiety disorders
It would be possible to determine the temperament that a baby will have in adulthood. In any case, this is what researchers from the University of Maryland (USA), in the review Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Behavioral inhibition influences temperament
The latter focused on behavioral inhibition, a personality trait that makes you fearful and very cautious. They assessed this temperament in 165 babies with an average age of 14 months, then again in 115 of them at the age of 15 and finally, in 109 of them at the age of 26. The researchers also studied their psychopathologies, identified their personality, and analyzed their relationship to others and their academic and professional results.
Result: babies displaying behavioral inhibition tend to become more reserved 26-year-old adults, having fewer romantic relationships and social and family interactions than others. According to the researchers, behavioral inhibition does not, however, impact academic results or professional success.
An increased risk of anxiety disorders
In 2013, these same researchers were already doing the link between inhibited personality and anxiety disorders : “Behavioral inhibition could not only specifically predispose to anxiety but also be a more general risk factor for internalizing disorders”, they explained. In this recent study, they confirm that 15-year-olds displaying behavioral inhibition had a higher risk of suffering from anxiety and depression in adulthood.
Several studies have been carried out on behavioral inhibition since the early 1900s. In 1962, Jérôme Kagan, then a professor of psychology at Harvard University, discovered while studying the results of a study carried out on the subject since that some very fearful children had inhibitory reactions to unfamiliar situations. “Most of these children had become adults who had retained these personality traits, with an anxious profile, and who presented a pronounced shy character, pathological, and often an attitude of withdrawal in the face of social situations, or until the avoidance”written in 2008 Victor Segalen, in his thesis Social phobia and behavioral inhibition in children and adolescents.
According to Kagan, these children find it difficult to speak spontaneously to unfamiliar children or adults, do not smile spontaneously at strangers, take time to relax when they find themselves in new situations, or suffer from muscle tension, an increased heart rate in the face of stress and when standing and atopic allergies.
