A growing literature identifies the concomitants of internalizing symptoms in early childhood (Rubin & Mills, 1991). Notably, the social reticence accompanying behavioral inhibition in toddlers is associated with risk for peer rejection and self-perceptions of lower social competence in early childhood, particularly in girls (Nelson, Rubin, & Fox, 2005). 5 These temperament and social factors then set the stage for a self-defeating cognitive style about social events that further exacerbates risk for internalizing symptoms and leads to social withdrawal. As such, behaviorally inhibited infants are at a greater risk for internalizing symptoms as toddlers, which in turn increases their risk for social withdraw and other forms of interpersonal skill deficits at the point of school entry.
