Association of behavioral inhibition with hair pigmentation in a European sample.

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Blumenstr. 8, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. Eva_Moehler@med.uni-heidelberg.de

Behavioral inhibition, a temperamental trait signalling a predisposition to childhood and adolescent anxiety disorders, is slightly more frequent in America among Caucasian children having blue irises. This paper examines a community sample of 101 German toddlers assessed for behavioral inhibition in a standardized laboratory procedure. Hair pigmentation was found to be significantly associated with behavioral inhibition in the sense that blond children exhibited higher fear scores. As in American samples, blue-eyed children had a higher fear score than did other children, but this difference was not statistically significant.

PMID: 16414174 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]