Four distinct peer interaction variables as moderators of the fearful temperament-anxiety association, using data from the Generation R Study.

Résumé

BACKGROUND: Pediatric anxiety disorders are common and have severe long-term consequences. Early-life fearful temperament is a predictor of later anxiety, but not all children with highly fearful temperament will eventually develop an anxiety disorder. Therefore, it is important to identify factors that moderate the fearful temperament-anxiety association. The goal of this study it to replicate the fearful temperament-anxiety association in a large cohort study, explore sex as a moderator of this association, and to investigate four distinct peer interaction variables as moderators of this association.METHODS: 2730 children (51.0% girls) with parent-reported fearful temperament at 6 months and parent-reported anxiety symptoms at 13 years were included from a prospective cohort study (Generation R Study). Fearful temperament was also observed in a subset ( = 643, 49.3% girls) of these children. Peer interactions were measured in four different ways: mother-reported victimization (at age 7), self-reported friendship quality (at age 9), and self-reported feelings and facial expressions during social exclusion in a lab-based task (at age 9).RESULTS: Children with higher parent-reported, but not observed, fearful temperament showed more anxiety symptoms as adolescents,  = 0.07,