Positive emotionality at age 3 predicts cognitive styles in 7-year-old children

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Abstract
This study examined associations between temperament at age 3 and depressotypic cognitive styles at age 7 in a community sample of children. Sixty-four preschool aged children were assessed for positive emotionality (PE) and negative emotionality (NE) using a standardized battery of laboratory tasks and naturalistic home observations. At follow-up 4 years later, the children completed laboratory tasks designed to tap helplessness in social and problem-solving situations, positive and negative information-processing biases, and self-reports of attributional style. Lower PE at age 3 predicted greater helplessness in the interpersonal task and decreased positive schematic processing. There was little evidence for a relationship between NE and depressotypic cognitive styles. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some portion of cognitive vulnerability to depression may stem from early-emerging differences in the expression of positive emotions.This work is based upon a dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of SUNY at Stony Brook by the first author. Portions of this work were supported by NIMH Research Grants RO1 MH45757 and RO1 MH069942. The authors acknowledge the consultation and support of Hill Goldsmith and Everett Waters, and the assistance of Cindy Huang, Grace Lee, Magda Kulesza, Suzanne Rose, and Jayanta Hegde for their help in data collection. Thanks also to the families who participated in this study.