Timing of Violence Exposure and Girls’ Temperament Stability From Childhood to Adolescence

Abstract

Individual differences in temperament (e.g., negative emotionality) are robust early predictors of emotional and behavioral health. Although temperament is often conceptualized as relatively stable across the lifespan, evidence suggests that it may change over time as a function of social context. Extant studies have been limited by cross-sectional or short-term longitudinal designs that have precluded tests of stability as well as factors that may influence stability across developmental periods. In addition, few studies have tested the impact of social contexts that are common for children living in urban and under-resourced environments, such as exposure to community violence. In the present study we hypothesized that levels of negative emotionality, activity, and shyness would decrease across development from childhood to mid-adolescence as a function of early exposure to violence in the Pittsburgh Girls Study, a community study of girls enriched for families living in low-resourced neighborhoods. Temperament was assessed by parent- and teacher-report on the Emotionality Activity Sociability Shyness Temperament Survey in childhood (5–8-years-old), early-adolescence (11-years-old), and mid-adolescence (15-years-old). Violence exposure (e.g., victim of or witness to violent crime, exposure to domestic violence) was assessed annually via child and parent report. Results showed that on average, combined caregiver and teacher reports of negative emotionality and activity level exhibited small but significant reductions from childhood to adolescence, whereas shyness remained stable. Violence exposure in early adolescence predicted increases in negative emotionality and shyness by mid-adolescence. Violence exposure was not associated with stability of activity level. Our findings suggest that exposure to violence, particularly in early adolescence, amplifies individual differences in shyness and negative emotionality, underlying an important pathway of risk for developmental psychopathology.