Some children are innately predisposed to react to novelty with worries and anxiety. They tend to avoid new situations, places, and people. Some infants move their limbs vigorously in stressful cognitive tasks. Many, but not all, infants with these characteristics tend to become behavioral inhibition, avoidant and anxious behavior to novelty, in his/her later live. Most important thing is that children with inhibited temperament will have social anxiety disorder and/or major depression or other psychiatric disorders as adolescent.
On the other hand, selective mutism is reckoned as a childhood anxiety disorder, although no conclusion has yet been drawn. But, given behavioral inhibition and selective mutism have childhood anxiety in common, I wonder whether selectively mute children is characterised by inhibited temperament or not. What percentage of children with selective mutism exhibit behavioral inhibition?
