Temperament and Parenting Styles in Early Childhood Differentially Influence Neural Response to Peer Evaluation in Adolescence

Abstract

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperament characterized by social reticence and withdrawal from unfamiliar or novel contexts and conveys risk for social anxiety disorder. Developmental outcomes associated with this temperament can be influenced by children’s caregiving context. The convergence of a child’s temperamental disposition and rearing environment is ultimately expressed at both the behavioral and neural levels in emotional and cognitive response patterns to social challenges. The present study used functional neuroimaging to assess the moderating effects of different parenting styles on neural response to peer rejection in two groups of adolescents characterized by their early childhood temperament (Mage = 17.89 years, N= 39, 17 males, 22 females; 18 with BI; 21 without BI). The moderating effects of authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles were examined in three brain regions linked with social anxiety: ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), striatum, and amygdala. In youth characterized with BI in childhood, but not in those without BI, diminished responses to peer rejection in vlPFC were associated with higher levels of authoritarian parenting. In contrast, all youth showed decreased caudate response to peer rejection at higher levels of authoritative parenting. These findings indicate that BI in early life relates to greater neurobiological sensitivity to variance in parenting styles, particularly harsh parenting, in late adolescence. These results are discussed in relation to biopsychosocial models of development.

Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition Predicts Cortical Thickness in Adulthood

“…35 For each of the four time points, observed behavioral and maternal report measures were standardized in the full cohort and then averaged to create a single measure of early childhood BI. 9,36,37 For our primary analyses, we used this continuous composite measure of early childhood BI and social reticence. This composite provides a stable measure of early childhood BI and has been used extensively in prior work.…”

“…This composite provides a stable measure of early childhood BI and has been used extensively in prior work. 11,12,36,37 For a secondary analysis to compare results with other studies, we categorized participants on the basis of their reactivity profiles at 4 months of age. This analysis attempts to replicate findings from the only other longitudinal structural brain study of young adults with histories of BI in infancy.…”

The neurobiology of the emotional adolescent: From the inside out

“…These findings suggest that warm and supportive parenting earlier in adolescence may have neuroprotective effects on adolescent brain development. Furthermore, two recent studies showed that the quality of parenting can influence how adolescents respond to peer feedback, with negative parenting attenuating striatal responsiveness to peer acceptance (Tan et al, 2014) and positive parenting attenuating striatal reactivity to peer rejection (Guyer et al, 2015). These findings demonstrate that, given continued plasticity in the neural circuitry that supports affective behavior during adolescence, relationships with parents remain influential on how adolescents process and manage both positive and negative emotional experiences.…”

The Role of Caregiver Support in the Development of Adaptive Approaches to Learning for Preschoolers Who Exhibit Anxious-Withdrawal

“…In a longitudinal study of children from the ages of 4-15, those with parents who reported use of more supportive practices displayed a slower increase in the development of internalizing problem behaviors as compared to peers with parents employing less supportive practices (Williams et al, 2009). More recently, in a neuroimaging study, after experiencing peer rejection, adolescents with a history of AW, and who had parents who reported use of more supportive practices, displayed less activation in the brain region associated with fear and anxiety than counterparts with parents who reported less use of supportive practices (Guyer et al, 2015). This suggests that supportive parenting practices can buffer children exhibiting more AW from having as strong of a negative emotional response to negative social appraisal -possibly through the development of higher stress tolerance and confidence.…”

“…Broadly speaking, less supportive parenting practices are considered risk factors for all children, but especially those who display their own personal risk factors such as high levels of AW (Guyer et al, 2015;Pluess & Belsky, 2010). For instance, given that these children are more hypervigilant, anxious, and sensitive to criticism than peers, insecurity and stress are likely to increase when caregivers place high demands, but do not provide adequate emotional responsiveness to support the child in meeting them (Darling & Steinberg, 1993).…”