Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T04:55:43.139Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Infant temperament prospectively predicts general psychopathology in childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2021

Santiago Morales*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Alva Tang
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Maureen E. Bowers
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Natalie V. Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
George A. Buzzell
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Elizabeth Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Kaylee Seddio
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Heather A. Henderson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
Nathan A. Fox
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
*
Author for Correspondence: Santiago Morales, University of Maryland, 3304 Benjamin Building, College Park, MD20742, USA, E-mail: moraless@umd.edu.

Abstract

Recent models of psychopathology suggest the presence of a general factor capturing the shared variance among all symptoms along with specific psychopathology factors (e.g., internalizing and externalizing). However, few studies have examined predictors that may serve as transdiagnostic risk factors for general psychopathology from early development. In the current study we examine, for the first time, whether observed and parent-reported infant temperament dimensions prospectively predict general psychopathology as well as specific psychopathology dimensions (e.g., internalizing and externalizing) across childhood. In a longitudinal cohort (N = 291), temperament dimensions were assessed at 4 months of age. Psychopathology symptoms were assessed at 7, 9, and 12 years of age. A bifactor model was used to estimate general, internalizing, and externalizing psychopathology factors. Across behavioral observations and parent-reports, higher motor activity in infancy significantly predicted greater general psychopathology in mid to late childhood. Moreover, low positive affect was predictive of the internalizing-specific factor. Other temperament dimensions were not related with any of the psychopathology factors after accounting for the general psychopathology factor. The results of this study suggest that infant motor activity may act as an early indicator of transdiagnostic risk. Our findings inform the etiology of general psychopathology and have implications for the early identification for children at risk for psychopathology.

Type
Regular Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abe, J. A. A. (2005). The predictive validity of the Five-Factor Model of personality with preschool age children: A nine year follow-up study. Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 423442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles: An integrated system of multi-informant assessment. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Allegrini, A. G., Cheesman, R., Rimfeld, K., Selzam, S., Pingault, J.-B., Eley, T. C., & Plomin, R. (2020). The p factor: Genetic analyses support a general dimension of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61, 3039. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13113CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Erkanli, A. (1999). Comorbidity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 5787. doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00424CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benjamini, Y., & Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Methodological), 57, 289300.Google Scholar
Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2011). Parent-reported mental health in preschoolers: Findings using a diagnostic interview. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 52, 359369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Carlson, G. A., Rose, S., & Klein, D. N. (2012). Psychiatric disorders in preschoolers: Continuity from ages 3 to 6. American Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 11571164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burns, G. L., Geiser, C., Servera, M., Becker, S. P., & Beauchaine, T. P. (2020). Promises and pitfalls of latent variable approaches to understanding psychopathology: Reply to Burke and Johnston, Eid, Junghänel and Colleagues, and Willoughby. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 48, 917922. doi:10.1007/s10802-020-00656-1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buss, D. M., Block, J. H., & Block, J. (1980). Preschool activity level: Personality correlates and developmental implications. Child Development, 51, 401408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buss, K. A., Kiel, E. J., Morales, S., & Robinson, E. (2014). Toddler inhibitory control, bold response to novelty, and positive affect predict externalizing symptoms in kindergarten: Inhibitory control, positive affect, and externalizing. Social Development, 23, 232249. doi:10.1111/sode.12058CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, S. B., Spieker, S., Burchinal, M., Poe, M. D., & NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2006). Trajectories of aggression from toddlerhood to age 9 predict academic and social functioning through age 12. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 791800.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caspi, A., Houts, R. M., Belsky, D. W., Goldman-Mellor, S. J., Harrington, H., Israel, S., … Poulton, R. (2014). The p factor: One general psychopathology factor in the structure of psychiatric disorders? Clinical Psychological Science, 2, 119137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2018). All for one and one for all: Mental disorders in one dimension. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 831844.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chronis-Tuscano, A., Degnan, K. A., Pine, D. S., Perez-Edgar, K., Henderson, H. A., Diaz, Y., … Fox, N. A. (2009). Stable early maternal report of behavioral inhibition predicts lifetime social anxiety disorder in adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 48, 928935. doi:10.1097/CHI.0b013e3181ae09dfCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Class, Q. A., Van Hulle, C. A., Rathouz, P. J., Applegate, B., Zald, D. H., & Lahey, B. B. (2019). Socioemotional dispositions of children and adolescents predict general and specific second-order factors of psychopathology in early adulthood: A 12-year prospective study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128, 574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Degnan, K. A., Hane, A. A., Henderson, H. A., Moas, O. L., Reeb-Sutherland, B. C., & Fox, N. A. (2011). Longitudinal stability of temperamental exuberance and social–emotional outcomes in early childhood. Developmental Psychology, 47, 765780. doi:10.1037/a0021316CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Pauw, S. S., Mervielde, I., & Van Leeuwen, K. G. (2009). How are traits related to problem behavior in preschoolers? Similarities and contrasts between temperament and personality. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 309325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dougherty, L. R., Klein, D. N., Durbin, C. E., Hayden, E. P., & Olino, T. M. (2010). Temperamental positive and negative emotionality and children's depressive symptoms: A longitudinal prospective study from age three to age ten. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29, 462488. doi:10.1521/jscp.2010.29.4.462CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durbin, C. E., Klein, D. N., Hayden, E. P., Buckley, M. E., & Moerk, K. C. (2005). Temperamental emotionality in preschoolers and parental mood disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 2837. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.114.1.28CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egger, H. L., & Angold, A. (2006). Common emotional and behavioral disorders in preschool children: Presentation, nosology, and epidemiology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 313337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Valiente, C., Spinrad, T. L., Cumberland, A., Liew, J., Reiser, M., … Losoya, S. H. (2009). Longitudinal relations of children's effortful control, impulsivity, and negative emotionality to their externalizing, internalizing, and co-occurring behavior problems. Developmental Psychology, 45, 9881008. doi:10.1037/a0016213CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enders, C., & Bandalos, D. (2001). The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 8, 430457. doi:10.1207/S15328007SEM0803_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagot, B. I., & O'Brien, M. (1994). Activity level in young children: Cross-age stability, situational influences, correlates with temperament, and the perception of problem behaviors. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 378398.Google Scholar
Fox, N. A., Henderson, H. A., Rubin, K. H., Calkins, S. D., & Schmidt, L. A. (2001). Continuity and discontinuity of behavioral inhibition and exuberance: Psychophysiological and behavioral influences across the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 121. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00262CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greene, A. L., & Eaton, N. R. (2017). The temporal stability of the bifactor model of comorbidity: An examination of moderated continuity pathways. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 72, 7482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greene, A. L., Eaton, N. R., Li, K., Forbes, M. K., Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., … Docherty, A. R. (2019). Are fit indices used to test psychopathology structure biased? A simulation study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128, 740.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grotzinger, A. D., Cheung, A. K., Patterson, M. W., Harden, K. P., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2019). Genetic and environmental links between general factors of psychopathology and cognitive ability in early childhood. Clinical Psychological Science, 7, 430444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hane, A. A., Fox, N. A., Henderson, H. A., & Marshall, P. J. (2008). Behavioral reactivity and approach-withdrawal bias in infancy. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1491. doi:10.1037/a0012855CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hankin, B. L., Davis, E. P., Snyder, H., Young, J. F., Glynn, L. M., & Sandman, C. A. (2017). Temperament factors and dimensional, latent bifactor models of child psychopathology: Transdiagnostic and specific associations in two youth samples. Psychiatry Research, 252, 139146. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2017.02.061CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harden, K. P., Engelhardt, L. E., Mann, F. D., Patterson, M. W., Grotzinger, A. D., Savicki, S. L., … Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2020). Genetic associations between executive functions and a general factor of psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59, 749758. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2019.05.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang-Pollock, C., Shapiro, Z., Galloway-Long, H., & Weigard, A. (2017). Is poor working memory a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 45, 14771490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jewsuwan, R., Luster, T., & Kostelnik, M. (1993). The relation between parents’ perceptions of temperament and children's adjustment to preschool. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8, 3351. doi:10.1016/S0885-2006(05)80097-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, P. B. (2013). Adult mental health disorders and their age at onset. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 202, s5s10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, J., & Fox, N. A. (2006). Biology, culture, and temperamental biases. In Damon, W. & Lerner, R. M. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 167225). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kagan, J., & Snidman, N. (1991). Infant predictors of inhibited and uninhibited profiles. Psychological Science, 2, 4044. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00094.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Amminger, G. P., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Lee, S., & Ustun, T. B. (2007). Age of onset of mental disorders: A review of recent literature. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 20, 359364. doi:10.1097/YCO.0b013e32816ebc8cCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koch, T., Holtmann, J., Bohn, J., & Eid, M. (2018). Explaining general and specific factors in longitudinal, multimethod, and bifactor models: Some caveats and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 23, 505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kotov, R., Krueger, R. F., Watson, D., Achenbach, T. M., Althoff, R. R., Bagby, R. M., … Clark, L. A. (2017). The hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology (HiTOP): A dimensional alternative to traditional nosologies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lahey, B. B., Rathouz, P. J., Keenan, K., Stepp, S. D., Loeber, R., & Hipwell, A. E. (2015). Criterion validity of the general factor of psychopathology in a prospective study of girls. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56, 415422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahey, B. B., Zald, D. H., Perkins, S. F., Villalta-Gil, V., Werts, K. B., Van Hulle, C. A., … Poore, H. E. (2018). Measuring the hierarchical general factor model of psychopathology in young adults. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 27(1), e1593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laible, D., Panfile, T., & Makariev, D. (2008). The quality and frequency of mother–toddler conflict: Links with attachment and temperament. Child Development, 79, 426443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martel, M. M., Pan, P. M., Hoffmann, M. S., Gadelha, A., do Rosário, M. C., Mari, J. J., … Bressan, R. A. (2017). A general psychopathology factor (P factor) in children: Structural model analysis and external validation through familial risk and child global executive function. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McElroy, E., Belsky, J., Carragher, N., Fearon, P., & Patalay, P. (2018). Developmental stability of general and specific factors of psychopathology from early childhood to adolescence: Dynamic mutualism or p-differentiation? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 59, 667675.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, N. V., Degnan, K. A., Hane, A. A., Fox, N. A., & Chronis-Tuscano, A. (2019). Infant temperament reactivity and early maternal caregiving: Independent and interactive links to later childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60, 4353. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12934CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morales, S., Beekman, C., Blandon, A. Y., Stifter, C. A., & Buss, K. A. (2015). Longitudinal associations between temperament and socioemotional outcomes in young children: The moderating role of RSA and gender. Developmental Psychobiology, 57, 105119. doi:10.1002/dev.21267CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morales, S., Miller, N. V., Troller-Renfree, S. V., White, L. K., Degnan, K. A., Henderson, H. A., & Fox, N. A. (2019). Attention bias to reward predicts behavioral problems and moderates early risk to externalizing and attention problems. Development and Psychopathology, 113. doi:10.1017/S0954579419000166Google Scholar
Murray, A. L., Eisner, M., & Ribeaud, D. (2016). The development of the general factor of psychopathology ‘p factor’ through childhood and adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44, 15731586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olino, T. M., Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Dyson, M. W., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2018). The development of latent dimensions of psychopathology across early childhood: Stability of dimensions and moderators of change. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46, 13731383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olino, T. M., Dougherty, L. R., Bufferd, S. J., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2014). Testing models of psychopathology in preschool-aged children using a structured interview-based assessment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 42, 12011211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Penela, E. C., Walker, O. L., Degnan, K. A., Fox, N. A., & Henderson, H. A. (2015). Early behavioral inhibition and emotion regulation: Pathways toward social competence in middle childhood. Child Development, 86, 12271240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Putnam, S. P., & Rothbart, M. K. (2006). Development of short and very short forms of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Journal of Personality Assessment, 87, 102112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosseel, Y. (2012). Lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling and more. Version 0.5–12 (BETA). Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothbart, M. K. (1981). Measurement of temperament in infancy. Child Development, 52, 569578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., Hershey, K. L., & Fisher, P. (2001). Investigations of temperament at three to seven years: The children's behavior questionnaire. Child Development, 72, 13941408. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00355CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothbart, M. K., & Bates, J. E. (2006). Temperament. In Damon, W., & Lerner, R. M. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed., pp. 99166). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rubin, K. H., Burgess, K. B., Dwyer, K. M., & Hastings, P. D. (2003). Predicting preschoolers’ externalizing behaviors from toddler temperament, conflict, and maternal negativity. Developmental Psychology, 39, 164176. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.39.1.164CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (2001). A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis. Psychometrika, 66, 507514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaughency, E. A., & Fagot, B. I. (1993). The prediction of adjustment at age 7 from activity level at age 5. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 21, 2950.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seedat, S., Scott, K. M., Angermeyer, M. C., Berglund, P., Bromet, E. J., Brugha, T. S., … Kessler, R. C. (2009). Cross-national associations between gender and mental disorders in the world health organization world mental health surveys. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66, 785795. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.36CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Selzam, S., Coleman, J. R. I., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., & Plomin, R. (2018). A polygenic p factor for major psychiatric disorders. Translational Psychiatry, 8, 19. doi:10.1038/s41398-018-0217-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shephard, E., Bedford, R., Milosavljevic, B., Gliga, T., Jones, E. J., Pickles, A., … Baron-Cohen, S. (2019). Early developmental pathways to childhood symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60, 963974.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snyder, H. R., Hankin, B. L., Sandman, C. A., Head, K., & Davis, E. P. (2017). Distinct patterns of reduced prefrontal and limbic gray matter volume in childhood general and internalizing psychopathology. Clinical Psychological Science, 5, 10011013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, H. R., Young, J. F., & Hankin, B. L. (2017). Strong homotypic continuity in common psychopathology-, internalizing-, and externalizing-specific factors over time in adolescents. Clinical Psychological Science, 5, 98110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stifter, C. A., Putnam, S., & Jahromi, L. (2008). Exuberant and inhibited toddlers: Stability of temperament and risk for problem behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 401421. doi:10.1017/S0954579408000199CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strelau, J., & Zawadzki, B. (2012). Activity as a temperament trait. In Zenter, M. & Shiner, R. L. (Eds.), Handbook of temperament (pp. 83104). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Troller-Renfree, S. V., Buzzell, G. A., Pine, D. S., Henderson, H. A., & Fox, N. A. (2019). Consequences of not planning ahead: Reduced proactive control moderates longitudinal relations between behavioral inhibition and anxiety. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 58, 768775.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2018.06.040CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D., Ellickson-Larew, S., Stanton, K., Levin-Aspenson, H. F., Khoo, S., Stasik-O'Brien, S. M., & Clark, L. A. (2019). Aspects of extraversion and their associations with psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128, 777.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, D., Gamez, W., & Simms, L. J. (2005). Basic dimensions of temperament and their relation to anxiety and depression: A symptom-based perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 4666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuan, K. H., & Bentler, P. M. (2000). Three likelihood-based methods for mean and covariance structure analysis with nonnormal missing data. Sociological Methodology, 30, 165200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zajdeman, H. S., & Minnes, P. M. (1991). Predictors of children's adjustment to day-care. Early Child Development and Care, 74, 1128. doi:10.1080/0300443910740102CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Morales et al. supplementary material

Morales et al. supplementary material

Download Morales et al. supplementary material(File)
File 734.2 KB