The Temperamental Qualities of Inhibition and Lack of Inhibition

Treatment of parental children and their families: Conceptual and technical issues

“…In our experience, temperamentally inhibited or shy youngsters who prefer contact with familiar adults rather than appropriate age-mates are likely and often willing targets of parental role assignments (cf. Kagan et al, 1990).…”

Predicting preschool effortful control from toddler temperament and parenting behavior

“…Approach-inhibition to novelty or unfamiliar situations is one temperamental characteristic that has been the focus of research because of the impact it has on children's behavioral adjustment. Individual differences in approach-inhibition emerge during the second half the of the first year of life (Goldsmith et al, 1987; Kagan, Reznick, & Snidman, 1990; Rothbart, 1988; Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981), and children continue to show variations in the ways in which they modulate their behavior when presented with unfamiliarity or novelty (Garcia-Coll, Kagan & Reznick, 1984; Kagan, 1997; Rothbart & Bates, 1998, 2006). Children who are high in inhibition, or behaviorally inhibited, are biologically predisposed to show wariness, fear, and distress when exposed to unfamiliar or novel situations, people, places, or objects (Fox, Henderson, Rubin, Calkins, & Schmidt, 2001; Garcia-Coll et al, 1984; Kagan, 1997; Kagan, Reznick, Clark, Snidman, & Garcia-Coll, 1984; Putnam & Stifter, 2005) and avoid or withdraw from novelty so as to regulate the level of their distress.…”

Reliability and comparability of a Spanish‐language form of the preschool and kindergarten behavior scales

“…There is evidence to suggest that social-emotional behavior is specific to developmental level (Caldarella & Merrell, 1997;Cantwell, 1990;Kagan, Reznick, & Snidman, 1990), and that instruments developed specifically for this population are the best indicators of present functional level and the best predictors of future functioning (Feil & Becker, 1993).…”