Selective mutism and temperament: the silence and behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a suspected precursor of selective mutism. However, investigations on early behavioral inhibition of children with selective mutism are lacking. Children aged 3-18 with lifetime selective mutism (n = 109), social phobia (n = 61), internalizing behavior (n = 46) and heal...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gensthaler, Angelika (Author) , Khalaf, Sally (Author) , Ligges, Marc (Author) , Kaess, Michael (Author) , Freitag, Christine M. (Author) , Schwenck, Christina (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 12 March 2016
In: European child & adolescent psychiatry
Year: 2016, Volume: 25, Issue: 10, Pages: 1113-1120
ISSN:1435-165X
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Author Notes:Angelika Gensthaler, Sally Khalaf, Marc Ligges, Michael Kaess, Christine M. Freitag, Christina Schwenck
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Summary:Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a suspected precursor of selective mutism. However, investigations on early behavioral inhibition of children with selective mutism are lacking. Children aged 3-18 with lifetime selective mutism (n = 109), social phobia (n = 61), internalizing behavior (n = 46) and healthy controls (n = 118) were assessed using the parent-rated Retrospective Infant Behavioral Inhibition (RIBI) questionnaire. Analyses showed that children with lifetime selective mutism and social phobia were more inhibited as infants and toddlers than children of the internalizing and healthy control groups, who displayed similar low levels of behavioral inhibition. Moreover, behavioral inhibition was higher in infants with lifetime selective mutism than in participants with social phobia according to the Total BI score (p = 0.012) and the Shyness subscale (p < 0.001). Infant behavioral inhibition, particularly towards social stimuli, is a temperamental feature associated with a lifetime diagnosis of selective mutism. Results yield first evidence of the recently hypothesized temperamental origin of selective mutism. Children at risk should be screened for this debilitating child psychiatric condition.
Item Description:Gesehen am 03.06.2020
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1435-165X