Temperament and Social Behavior in Adolescence

This study examines the cognitive, social and psychiatric behaviors and outcomes of a sample of adolescents first recruited and selected when they were four-months-of-age. Infants were selected for their reactions to novel auditory and visual stimuli and were assessed at 9,14,24,48, and 84 months of age. Their social and emotional responses to novelty were assessed as were their physiological responses (EEG and ECG) to challenge. Through the measurement of their responses to these tasks we have characterized their infant temperament and have observed how these temperaments remain stable or change over time.

These children, now between the ages of 15-17 are returning to our lab for a new set of assessments. During their visit, they participate in a number of tasks designed to assess their attention, reactions to novelty, and social competence. We are examining issues as varied as their attention bias to threat to their thoughts about romantic relationships.

As well, we are collaborating with Dr. Daniel Pine at the National Institute of Mental Health in a series of studies with these adolescents, examining neural activity to a variety of tasks during functional neuro-imaging of the brain.

We hope that our work will help expand our understanding of temperament into adolescence and also enrich our understanding of how adolescence in and of itself.

This study is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH074454).

For more information please contact:
Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar
Dr. Nathan A. Fox

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