Temperamental contributions to social behavior: The moderating roles of frontal EEG asymmetry and gender

Objectives: Infant temperament is thought to provide one of the fundamental bases for social and emotional development. Few studies have examined the direct and indirect influences of early temperament and physiological dispo sition on later development. Method: This article presents results of a lon gitudinal study that took place between the years 1989 and 1996 in which th e relations between maternal reports of negative reactivity at 9 months of age and maternal ratings and laboratory observations of social wariness and sociability at 4 years of age (n = 97) were examined. Also examined were t he moderating roles of (1) frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry as assessed at 9 months of age and (2) the child's gender. Results: Negative r eactivity predicted social wariness for infants with right frontal EEG asym metry, but not for those with left frontal EEG asymmetry and for boys but n ot girls. The only significant predictor of sociability was gender. Specifi cally, at 4 years of age girls were rated higher on the measure of sociabil ity than were boys. Conclusion: The findings are discussed in terms of the roles of frontal EEG asymmetry and gender in moderating the impact of tempe ramental negative reactivity on later social behavior.