Negative emotionality in childhood is typically positively associated with internalizing behaviors, whereas inhibitory control is negatively associated with internalizing behaviors. Recent work, however, has also found that inhibitory control paradoxically increases risk for internalizing behaviors in the context of some reactive temperamental styles. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether inhibitory control moderated the association between negative emotionality and prospective internalizing behaviors in typically developing preschoolers (N = 104, 51 girls, M_age = 3.46 years, SD_age = 0.19). We found that negative emotionality at T1 was only positively associated with internalizing behaviors at T2 in preschoolers with relatively higher inhibitory control. Our results suggest that relatively high levels of inhibitory control may be less adaptive for children who also have relatively high levels of negative emotionality. Findings are discussed in the context of cognitive overcontrol in understanding risk for internalizing behaviors before formal school entry.

童年时期的消极情绪通常与内化行为呈正相关，而抑制控制与内化行为呈负相关。然而，最近的研究还发现，在某些反应性气质风格的背景下，抑制性控制反而增加了内化行为的风险。本研究的目的是检查抑制控制是否调节典型发育学龄前儿童的负面情绪与预期内化行为之间的关联（N  = 104，51 名女孩，M_年龄 = 3.46 岁，SD_年龄 = 0.19）。我们发现，在抑制控制相对较高的学龄前儿童中，T1 阶段的负面情绪仅与 T2 阶段的内化行为呈正相关。我们的结果表明，相对较高水平的抑制控制可能不太适合负面情绪水平也相对较高的儿童。调查结果在认知过度控制的背景下讨论，以了解正式入学前内化行为的风险。