Early childhood developmental patterns may predict adverse mental health reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and other major life events, according to new research. Researchers analyzed longitudinal data for 291 participants who were enrolled in a long-term study of social and behavioral development when they were 2 years old. Study participants — all of whom turned 18 years old in 2020 — who had experienced consistent patterns of behavioral inhibition (fearfulness of new people and objects), social wariness and excessive worry throughout childhood and adolescence showed elevated anxiety during the first months of the pandemic. Interventions to address these behaviors early on may help prevent symptoms from worsening when stressful life events occur. To learn more, see the study in Longitudinal Psychiatry.