Toddlers Into Kindergarteners: Emotions Study (TIKES)
A substantial number of children and adolescents develop internalizing disorders such as anxiety and research has focused, in part, on individual risk factors such as fearful temperament. A key question is which fearful children are at greatest risk? This study extended the previous literature linking fearful temperament with risk for internalizing spectrum disorders by examining two cohorts of children using observational, parent report, teacher report, child self-report, and physiological methodologies.
The overarching goal was to identify a more homogeneous group of children at greater risk for internalizing behaviors compared to typically-identified fearful children. Children with these dysregulated fear profiles were followed from 24 months of age through the first year of school (age 6). Goal 1 addressed whether children with dysregulated fear profiles at 24 months of age were more likely to have emotional and behavioral adjustment problems consistent with the internalizing spectrum 3 years later, during kindergarten. Goal 2 addressed the role that physiological reactivity has in identifying dysregulated fear and the association between dysregulated fear and internalizing. Goal 3 addressed the stability of dysregulated fear behavior from 24 months of age to 6 years of age.