Shy Toddlers Risk Mental Disorders as Adults, Tests Find

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SHY TODDLERS are likely to grow into shy adults whose emotional inhibitions put them at greater risk of developing more serious mental disturbances in later life, a 20-year study has found.

An inhibited temperament - marked by features such as shyness, caution or withdrawal - tended to stay with someone for life and was linked with hyperactivity in a region of the brain known as the "seat of fear".

Scientists analysed the behaviour and brain patterns of 22 young adults whom they had interviewed twice before, once as early teenagers and once as small children.

They were particularly interested in the way the brain's amygdala - an almond-sized structure …