News Release

Toddler-style 'sensation seeking' behavior identified

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Penn State

University Park, Pa. --- No, parents, you're not imagining it; some toddlers DO behave like miniature Evel Knievels.

Penn State researchers have identified "sensation seeking" characteristics in children as young as 2 years of age and found that babies who are quicker to reach for and react to new toys and sounds were more likely to be highly positive, exploratory and risk-taking a year later as toddlers, too.

Dr. Cynthia Stifter, professor of human development and family studies, says, "These kids appear to be very positive and have an intense interest and zest for life. Parents should be thrilled that their child shows that much happiness and interest in life. On the other hand, the parenting role is necessarily bigger in making sure that the child's environment is as safe as it possibly can be. Parents need to construct environments in which children with these temperaments can act out their interests and not get hurt."

The findings were generated in dissertation research conducted by Dr. Sam Putnam, courtesy research associate, University of Oregon, when he was a doctoral candidate at Penn State under Dr. Stifter's direction. Recently, Putnam and Stifter presented their findings in a poster at the International Conference on Infant Studies in Brighton, England. Their presentation was titled "Behavioral Approach: Continuity from Six to 24 months, Structure at Two Years, and Relations with Cardiac Physiology."

The researchers placed 90 children at 6 months, 12 months, 24 months and 25 months in situations that ested for kid-style sensation-seeking characteristics. For example, while seated in a high chair, the 6-month-olds and 12-month-olds were shown two sets of toys. One set was of low intensity, a block, plate and cup, and the other of high intensity, a flashing light, toy beeper and a wind-up dragon. The children who reached out quickly for the toys were considered more "approach-motivated" than the children who went more slowly to these same toys.

At two years of age, the same children who were tested at six and 12 months were given the opportunity to explore a black box with a hole in one side. The "low-approach" children generally refused to put their hand into the hole to explore the interior while some "high-approach" children actually tried to climb inside the box. The same children were also asked to approach a staircase with three steps and to jump off the steps onto a little mattress. High-approach children ran right up and jumped off the top step while some low-approach kids refused to leave their parent to go near the stairs.

Putnam says, "We collected multiple behavioral variables, such as the child's proximity to their parent, the number and type of positive and negative emotional expressions, the number of verbalizations, as well as the child's willingness to participate in the jumping and box exploring. When these variables were grouped statistically, there appeared to be a distinction between those children who were approach-based and those who were more inhibition-based. In another analysis, these variables aligned themselves into groups similar to adult forms of sensation seeking.

"More exciting was the finding that high approach behavior at two years old can be predicted by their behavior in an extremely simple task at one-year," he adds. "Children who reached quickly when presented with high intensity toys as one-year-olds were likely to be highly positive, exploratory and risk-taking a year later."

Previous research by other investigators had shown that adults who are high in sensation seeking tend to react to unexpected or unfamiliar noises with heart deceleration. Persons who are low in sensation seeking are more likely to respond with heart acceleration. These findings also proved true in the Penn State study of young children who responded in the same ways to unfamiliar sounds, as did the adults.

The researchers found four distinct forms of "sensation seeking" in the babies and toddlers that corresponded roughly to sensation seeking behaviors found in adults, including thrill and adventure seeking, social disinhibition or the lack of shyness, and experience seeking. In addition, they found a dimension of positive affect or happiness.

Stifter notes, "Parents who are fortunate enough to have a sensation seeking child should revel in the fact that their offspring loves life but they also have to be mindful that the child may put him or herself in situations that are risky. Don't inhibit them but be watchful and do teach safety."

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EDITORS: Dr. Stifter is at (814) 865-2666 or tvr@psu.edu by e-mail; Dr. Putnam is at (541) 346-1991 or sputnam@darkwing.uoregon.edu by email.



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