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Negative Affectivity, Effortful Control, and Attention to Threat-Relevant Stimuli

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Abstract

There is increasing recognition of temperamental influences on risk for psychopathology. Whereas the link between the broad temperament construct of negative affectivity (NA) and problems associated with anxiety and depression is now well-established, the mechanisms through which this link operate are not well understood. One possibility involves interactions between reactive and effortful components of temperament, as well as cognitive factors, like attentional biases to threat stimuli. This study tested a predicted relation between high levels of NA, low levels of effortful control (EC), and an attentional bias toward threat in children. A sample of 104 4th through 12th graders, selected from a larger screening sample because they reported high or low levels of trait NA and EC, completed a dot probe detection task. Results indicated that EC moderated the relation between NA and attentional bias; only children with low levels of EC and high levels of NA showed an attentional bias to threat stimuli. This pattern was not moderated by grade level or age.

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Notes

  1. In this article, we use the label NA, which stems from Rothbart’s theory (Rothbart et al. 1995) but we regard this dimension as largely isomorphic with dimensions in other theories labeled variously Emotionality (Buss and Plomin 1984), Neuroticism (Eysenck 1967), Behavioral Inhibition (Gray and McNaughton 2000), Harm Avoidance (Cloninger 1987), Trait Anxiety (Spielberger 1973), etc. Evidence suggests that these dimensions show a high degree of convergence with one another (see Nigg 2006 for a review). Further, we regard this broad dimension to be closely related to the temperament category of behavioral inhibition (BI) proposed by Kagan and his colleagues (Kagan 1997).

  2. Because this version of the PDT requires participants to read the upper word, their attention starts in the upper word position rather than midway between the two word positions as in versions not requiring the upper word to be read and in which each trial is preceded by a central fixation stimulus. Because the bias toward threat seen in the PDT appears to reflect mainly delayed disengagement from threat cues (see Koster et al. 2004; 2006), the requirement to read the upper word may limit the tasks sensitivity to the bias for upper probes. Instead, the bias would mainly be apparent in trials in which the threat word appears in the upper position but the probe appears in the lower position.

  3. Given the marginal NA x EC interaction for ECS-I, we also conducted this analysis with ECS-I included as a covariate and the results were unchanged. Because ECS-I was unavailable for four participants, it was not included in the main analysis.

  4. The pattern of results was identical for RCMAS scores. Although it was not possible to create extreme groups based on RCMAS scores because participants were selected to be extreme on NA, we conducted a regression analysis in which we substituted continuous RCMAS scores for the NA group variable. Following Aiken and West (1991) we tested the interaction between RCMAS and EC group and found it to be significant, sr = -0.19, p < 0.05. Other variables in this regression model were age, sex, PA, and the RCMAS and EC group main effects.

  5. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this possibility.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported, in part, by a grant to Christopher Lonigan from the Florida State University, Council on Research and Creativity. Views expressed herein are those of the authors and have not been reviewed or approved by the grantor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-1270, USA

    Christopher J. Lonigan

  2. Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210-1222, USA

    Michael W. Vasey

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  1. Christopher J. Lonigan
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  2. Michael W. Vasey
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Correspondence to Michael W. Vasey.

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Lonigan, C.J., Vasey, M.W. Negative Affectivity, Effortful Control, and Attention to Threat-Relevant Stimuli. J Abnorm Child Psychol 37, 387–399 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-008-9284-y

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