BEHAVIORAL AND NEUROENDOCRINE RESPONSES IN SHY CHILDREN

Previous research has shown that infants who display a high frequency of motor activity and negative affect at 4 months of age are likely to be behaviorally inhibited toddlers. We examined social behaviors, mat ernal report of temperament, salivary cortisol, and baseline startle r esponses at age 4 in a sample of children, some of whom displayed a hi gh frequency of motor activity and negative affect at 4 months of age. Infants who displayed this temperamental profile were reported by the ir mothers as more shy at age 4 compared with other children. We also found that I-year-olds who displayed a high frequency of wary behavior during peer play exhibited relatively high morning salivary cortisol, were reported as contemporaneously shy by their mothers, and were beh aviorally inhibited at 14 months of age. There were no significant rel ations found between baseline startle and morning salivary cortisol an d measures of shyness at age 4. We speculate that high levels of corti sol in shy children may induce changes in the amygdala, exacerbating t heir fearfulness. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.