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Social wariness and preference for solitude, two dimensions of social withdrawal, show unique associations with various socioemotional difficulties in childhood, including internalizing and peer problems. However, their early childhood predictors remain vastly undocumented. The present study aimed to examine whether early indicators of reactivity in situations of unfamiliarity such as behavioral inhibition, affect, and cortisol independently, or in interaction with emotion regulation as indexed by vagal tone, predict later social wariness and preference for solitude. Participants were 1209 children from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study. Vagal tone was assessed at 5 months, and behavioral inhibition, affect, and cortisol were assessed at 19 months in situations of unfamiliarity. Mothers, teachers, and peers evaluated social wariness and preference for solitude repeatedly from 4 to 10 years old. Findings show that three temperamental dimensions, social inhibition, nonsocial inhibition, and affect accounted for the variability in reactions to unfamiliarity. Behavioral inhibition to social unfamiliarity at 19 months predicted social wariness during the preschool years. Poor vagal regulation at 5 months exacerbated the risk associated with negative affect at 19 months to predict preference for solitude during the preschool years. Overall, results show that social wariness and preference for solitude may follow different developmental pathways.

Objectives were to examine whether 1) temperament and cortisol response in situations of unfamiliarity at 19 months predict social wariness and preference for solitude throughout childhood; 2) these predictive associations vary as a function of vagal regulation. Participants were 1199 children from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study, followed from 5 months to 10 years old (51% girl; 86% White). Findings show that behavioral inhibition to social unfamiliarity independently predicted both dimensions of social withdrawal in preschool. Low vagal suppression exacerbated the risk associated with negative affect manifested in unfamiliar situations to predict preference for solitude in preschool. In contrast, high vagal suppression increased the risk associated with strong cortisol response to unfamiliarity to predict social wariness in grade school.

Cette étude porte sur le figement et sa relation avec l’inhibition comportementale, ainsi que sa capacité de prédiction de l’adaptabilité de l’enfant. De plus, l’étude vise à documenter la contribution génétique au figement chez le jeune enfant à l’aide de la méthode de jumeaux. Le projet s’inscrit dans l’Étude longitudinale des Jumeaux Nouveau-nés du Québec (ÉJNQ). Cinq cent six jumeaux de 19.6 mois ont été observés dans une situation de nouveauté dans laquelle l’inhibition comportementale et le figement ont été observés et codifiés. Le trait d’adaptabilité de l’enfant, une dimension du tempérament difficile, a été évalué par la mère auprès de 1130 enfants. Les résultats montrent que le figement et les comportements d’évitement sont modérément associés. Le figement n’a pas de contribution unique à la prédiction de l’adaptabilité au-delà de l’inhibition comportementale. Enfin, l’hypothèse stipulant que la génétique ait une contribution au figement est confirmée. Ces résultats indiquent que le figement et l’inhibition comportementale partagent des caractéristiques communes. Cette étude ouvre la voie à une meilleure compréhension des sources génétiques du figement chez l’humain.