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Title: Daylength During Pregnancy and Shyness in Children: Results from Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Gortmaker, Steven L.
Kagan, Jerome
Caspi, Avshalom
Silva, Phil A.
Daylength During Pregnancy and Shyness in Children: Results from Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Developmental Psychobiology 31,2 (September 1997): 107-114.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/%28SICI%291098-2302%28199709%2931:2%3C107::AID-DEV3%3E3.0.CO;2-O/abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Gerontological Society of America
Keyword(s): Behavior; Children, Behavioral Development; Cross-national Analysis; Genetics; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Shyness; Temperament

An extreme degree of shyness in young children is a temperamental trait under modest genetic influence and characterized by distinct physiological profiles. Complete longitudinal data for the US were available for 2,415 children (aged 2-7 yrs) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience, Youth cohort. A 2nd analysis used data from a complete cohort of births born during a 1-yr period in New Zealand. These data indicate that maternal exposure to short daylenth during pregnancy, especially the midpoint of gestation, predicts an increased risk of subsequent shy behavior in children. Estimates of attributable risk indicate that approximately one-quarter of shyness prevalence can be linked to pregnancy during times of reduced daylength. This phenomenon might be mediated by changing concentrations of melatonin, serotonin, or other neurotransmitters or corticoids that are known to covary with seasonal variations in daylength. (PsycINFO Database Copyright 1997 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)
Bibliography Citation
Gortmaker, Steven L., Jerome Kagan, Avshalom Caspi and Phil A. Silva. "Daylength During Pregnancy and Shyness in Children: Results from Northern and Southern Hemispheres." Developmental Psychobiology 31,2 (September 1997): 107-114.