Behavioral Inhibition and Social Maladjustment: The Moderation Role of Social Behaviors During Cooperative and Competitive Peer Interactions

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperamental characterized in early childhood by intense wariness and negative affect toward novelty, and is linked to children's emotional symptoms and peer problems. How children behave or respond toward diverse social contexts can influence the relation between BI and social adjustment. This study investigated the effect of children's affiliative and antagonistic behavior in cooperative and competitive contexts on the relation between early BI and social adjustment using a longitudinal design. Children's BI (at age 2) was assessed via laboratory observations. Affiliative and antagonistic behaviors (at age 4) were coded during a dyadic truck game in the cooperative and competitive contexts. Children's emotional symptoms and peer problems (at age 4) were assessed using parental reports. These results suggest that high affiliative behavior in the cooperative context was linked to a reduced level of peer problems in inhibited children. Interestingly, highly antagonistic behavior in the competitive context was linked to a reduced level of emotional symptoms in inhibited children. These findings extend our understanding of the role social behavior plays in the social adjustment of behaviorally inhibited children by highlighting the contribution of socially appropriate behaviors in social contexts.