中学生亲子依恋的特点及其对社会适应的影响:父母亲密的调节作用

以六城市2630名中学生为被试,用问卷法考察中学生亲子依恋、父母亲密和社会适应的状况,发现:(1)中学生母子依恋质量高于父子依恋质量;男生的父子沟通、母子疏离和父子疏离的得分显著高于女生;随年级升高,亲子依恋质量显著下降;(2)亲子依恋各维度与社会适应各维度存在显著相关.积极社会适应四维度上的得分,存在双亲安全依恋型>一方安全依恋型(父子安全-母子不安全型和父子不安全-母子安全型)>双亲不安全依恋型的情况,消极社会适应的得分则恰好相反;(3)父母亲密能够调节亲子依恋对社会适应的预测作用.     

儿童中期亲子依恋与焦虑症状的交叉滞后分析

以Kerns依恋安全性量表、Spence儿童焦虑量表为研究工具,对2所普通小学的472名三年级学生进行为期1年的追踪,考察儿童中期亲子依恋和焦虑症状的发展变化,以及亲子依恋与焦虑症状之间的关系。结果发现:(1)儿童中期的亲子依恋和焦虑症状在1年内较为稳定,分离焦虑、社交恐惧、恐慌障碍和强迫冲动障碍表现出一定的发展变化。(2)亲子依恋与焦虑症状呈显著负相关,依恋越安全,儿童的焦虑水平越低。(3)交叉滞后分析显示,亲子依恋在更大程度上影响儿童焦虑;母子依恋只具有同时性的影响,父子依恋既有同时性也有继时性的影响。(4)安全型父子依恋能够有效缓解不安全母子依恋的消极影响,安全型母子依恋对不安全父子依恋的补偿作用较小。     

父母心理控制与对立违抗障碍儿童抑郁和攻击行为的关系:父子依恋和母子依恋的中介效应

采用父母心理控制、亲子依恋、抑郁量表对从北京市、山东省和云南省14所小学筛选出来的246名对立违抗障碍(Oppositional Defiant Disorder,ODD)儿童进行施测,并由被试的班主任填写儿童攻击行为量表,考察父、母心理控制对ODD儿童抑郁和攻击行为的影响,以及父子依恋和母子依恋在其中的中介作用。结果发现:(1)ODD儿童中男生人数更多,且男孩的抑郁和攻击行为更严重;(2)父亲对男孩的心理控制更强,而母亲在对男孩和女孩的心理控制上没有显著差异;(3)父、母心理控制与ODD儿童的父子依恋、母子依恋和抑郁均呈显著相关,但只有父亲心理控制与ODD儿童的攻击行为显著相关;(4)父子依恋在父母心理控制和ODD儿童抑郁之间没有起到显著的中介作用,母子依恋在母亲心理控制和ODD儿童抑郁之间有显著的中介作用。父子依恋和母子依恋在父、母心理控制和ODD儿童攻击行为之间均没有起到显著的中介作用。     

家庭环境、亲子依恋与青少年网络成瘾

本研究从北京、重庆和石家庄选取三所初中学校1038名初一到初三学生为被试,采用问卷调查的方式,探讨青少年的家庭环境、亲子依恋对其网络成瘾的影响及作用机制,以检验“人-情境交互作用理论”和“过程-个人-情境-时间”模型提出的理论观点。结果表明:(1)家庭环境和亲子依恋均与青少年的网络成瘾成显著负相关;(2)家庭环境中家庭亲密度对青少年网络成瘾有显著预测作用,父子依恋中的父子信任能显著负向预测青少年网络成瘾,母子依恋中的母子疏离能显著正向预测青少年网络成瘾;(3)家庭亲密度不仅直接影响青少年的网络成瘾,而且还通过母子疏离和父子信任间接影响青少年的网络成瘾,但母子疏离和父子信任所起的中介作用差异不显著。研究结果不仅说明了家庭环境对青少年心理行为发展的重要性,同时支持了“人-情境交互作用理论”和“过程-个人-情境-时间”模型提出的相应理论观点。     

婚姻满意度对儿童心理适应性的影响:成人依恋、父母情绪表达、亲子依恋的多重中介作用

对390名小学4-6年级儿童及其父母进行问卷调查,考察父母婚姻满意度对儿童心理适应性的影响,以及成人依恋、父母情绪表达和亲子依恋的多重中介作用。结果表明:父亲(母亲)婚姻满意度分别通过6条途径影响儿童心理适应性:(1)父亲(母亲)婚姻满意度通过父亲回避,父亲积极情绪表达,父子依恋安全性影响儿童心理适应性;(2)父亲(母亲)婚姻满意度通过父亲回避,母亲积极情绪表达,母子依恋安全性影响儿童心理适应性;(3)父亲(母亲)婚姻满意度通过母亲回避,父亲积极情绪表达,父子依恋安全性影响儿童心理适应性;(4)父亲(母亲)婚姻满意度通过母亲回避,父子依恋安全性影响儿童心理适应性;(5)父亲(母亲)婚姻满意度通过母亲回避,母子依恋安全性影响儿童心理适应性;(6)父亲(母亲)婚姻满意度通过母亲回避,母亲积极情绪表达,母子依恋安全性影响儿童心理适应性。     

亲子依恋和师生关系对留守儿童内化问题的影响：同伴依恋的中介作用

为探究亲子依恋和师生关系对留守儿童内化问题的延时影响及同伴依恋在其中的中介作用,采用亲子依恋问卷、同伴依恋问卷、师生关系量表及长处与困难问卷对604名小学三年级留守儿童进行间隔半年的两次问卷调查。结果表明：师生关系负向预测留守儿童内化问题,父子依恋和母子依恋对内化问题的预测均不显著;同伴依恋在亲子依恋和师生关系与留守儿童内化问题之间均起中介作用。     

亲子依恋、同伴依恋与青少年消极情感的关系:有调节的中介模型

以3353名初一、初二、高一、高二年级学生为被试,探讨了青少年消极情感的特点,并进一步检验了不同依恋类型对青少年消极情感的独特效应、同伴依恋在亲子依恋与消极情感中的中介作用以及二者对消极情感的交互作用。结果发现:1)青少年的消极情感水平总体上呈现从初一到高二逐渐上升的趋势,且女生得分显著高于男生;2)同伴与父子依恋对消极情感的独特效应显著,但母子依恋的独特效应不显著,且同伴依恋在消极情感中的独特效应显著高于父子与母子依恋;3)同伴依恋部分中介父子依恋与消极情感、完全中介母子依恋与消极情感的联系,同时,父子与母子依恋又调节同伴依恋对消极情感的影响,表现为同伴依恋对消极情感的预测在高亲子依恋个体中更显著。因而,依恋对消极情感的作用机制中,间接效应模型与交互作用模型同时成立,是有调节的中介效应。     

亲子依恋与儿童抑郁症状的关系：儿童对环境的生物敏感性的作用及父母差异

不良的亲子依恋是导致儿童抑郁症状的风险因素,但其对儿童的影响会因儿童对环境的生物敏感性不同而存在差异。为探究家庭中母子、父子依恋对儿童抑郁症状的影响及儿童生物敏感性(本文中采用迷走神经抑制作为指标)在其中的作用,本研究结合行为任务、问卷报告、生理测量等多种研究手段,招募150名学龄儿童(平均年龄8.64岁,63名女孩)参与研究。结果表明：(1)学龄儿童的母子依恋水平高于父子依恋水平。(2)高水平的母子依恋与父子依恋会同等程度地降低儿童的抑郁症状。(3)儿童对环境的生物敏感性对母子依恋影响儿童抑郁症状路径的调节作用显著,生理上对环境更敏感(高迷走神经抑制)的儿童更易得益于高母子依恋,表现出较低的抑郁水平;但同时,这类儿童在母子依恋较低时也更易表现出较高的抑郁水平。(4)儿童的生物敏感性对父子依恋影响儿童抑郁症状路径的调节作用不显著,高父子依恋对生物敏感性水平不同的儿童均存在有利影响。(5)在不同情境中测量的迷走神经抑制对亲子依恋影响儿童抑郁症状的调节作用模式相似,表现出跨情境一致的特点。本研究率先揭示儿童迷走神经抑制与亲子依恋对儿童抑郁症状的联合作用机制及父母角色差异。     

初中生依恋与主观幸福感:自尊的中介作用

为了探讨初中生亲子依恋、同伴依恋对其主观幸福感的影响以及集体自尊和个体自尊在两者之间所起的中介作用,本研究采用问卷调查的方法对两所初中学校的857名初一至初三的学生进行了调查.主要结果如下:(1)总体而言,男生的父子依恋水平、集体自尊水平和生活满意度更高,女生的同伴依恋水平和消极情绪更高;(2)男女生表现出不同的年级发展特点,女生在亲子依恋、集体自尊和消极情绪,男生在集体自尊上表现出明显的初二现象;(3)亲子依恋、同伴依恋水平越高,初中生的集体自尊和个体自尊水平越高,其主观幸福感程度也越强;(4)母子依恋、同伴依恋、个体自尊和父子依恋依次显著正向预测初中生的生活满意度,并依次负向预测初中生的消极情绪;同伴依恋、个体自尊、母子依恋和集体自尊依次显著正向预测初中生的积极情绪;(5)亲子、同伴依恋不仅能直接影响初中生的主观幸福感,而且通过两种途径(依恋→集体自尊→主观幸福感;依恋→集体自尊→个体自尊→主观幸福感)间接对其产生影响.     

教养方式的母子感知差异与儿童抑郁的关系：母子依恋的中介作用

本研究以300个三至六年级双亲家庭中的儿童和母亲为研究对象,采用儿童版和家长版教养方式问卷、父母与同伴依恋问卷、流调中心抑郁量表,通过响应面分析法探讨了母子感知到的教养方式差异与儿童抑郁的关系,并使用标准分差法计算感知差异,通过结构方程模型分析了母子依恋是否在其中起到中介作用。研究发现:(1)母亲感知到的权威型、独裁型教养方式显著高于儿童感知,而纵容型教养方式则显著低于儿童;(2)权威型教养方式的母子感知差异正向线性预测儿童抑郁,独裁型教养方式的母子感知差异负向线性预测儿童抑郁,纵容型教养方式的感知差异对儿童抑郁没有显著预测作用;(3)母子依恋质量在权威型教养方式的母子感知差异和儿童抑郁之间起完全中介作用,但在独裁型教养方式的母子感知差异对儿童抑郁的预测中没有起到中介作用。     

儿童版特里尔社会应激测试对儿童唾液皮质醇、唾液α-淀粉酶和情绪的影响

研究以150名五、六年级的学生为被试,考察儿童版特里尔社会应激测试（TSST-C）对儿童客观生理反应（唾液皮质醇和唾液α-淀粉酶）和主观情绪反应的影响。结果发现,TSST-C引起了儿童显著的应激反应,包括皮质醇和唾液α-淀粉酶水平的升高,以及主观消极情绪（如焦虑和紧张）的增加,这表明TSST-C在中国儿童中的适用情况良好,能够有效诱发儿童的应激反应。同时,研究也发现,皮质醇反应和唾液α-淀粉酶反应不存在相关,生理反应和情绪反应之间也不存在相关。     

父母感知的家庭压力对儿童问题行为的影响：父母心理攻击和儿童应激下皮质醇反应的中介作用

儿童问题行为受到环境与个体因素的协同影响。研究以北京150名五、六年级儿童及其家长为被试,探究心理攻击和应激下皮质醇反应在父母感知的家庭压力与儿童问题行为间的中介作用。采用儿童版特里尔社会应激测试测量儿童应激下皮质醇反应,并由家长报告感知的家庭压力、对儿童的心理攻击及儿童的问题行为。结果发现:(1)父母感知的家庭压力可正向预测儿童问题行为;(2)心理攻击在父母感知的家庭压力与儿童问题行为间起中介作用;(3)心理攻击和儿童应激下皮质醇反应在父母感知的家庭压力与儿童问题行为之间起链式中介作用。研究揭示了父母感知压力对儿童问题行为影响的心理和生理机制,从父母和儿童角度为减少儿童问题行为提供了参考。     

Subjective, Autonomic, and Endocrine Reactivity during Social Stress in Children with Social Phobia

Reports of exaggerated anxiety and physiological hyperreactivity to social-evaluative situations are characteristic of childhood social phobia (SP). However, laboratory research on subjective, autonomic and endocrine functioning in childhood SP is scarce, inconsistent and limited by small sample sizes, limited breadth of measurements, and the use of non-standardized stressor tasks. We exposed 8–12-year-old children with DSM-IV SP (n = 41) and matched healthy control children (HC; n = 40) to the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C) while measuring subjective anxiety, heart rate (HR) and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) as well as salivary cortisol. The SP children showed heightened reactivity to the TSST-C on subjective anxiety compared to the HC children but not a heightened reactivity in HR, sAA or cortisol. However, the SP children showed chronically elevated HR levels throughout the whole laboratory session. Whereas subjective anxiety seems to respond specifically to social-evaluative stress in childhood SP, HR levels may be chronically elevated suggesting a more generalized autonomic hyperreactivity.     

Individual differences in cortisol responses to fear and frustration during middle childhood

The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences in the activation and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in prepubertal children after exposure to two different stress modalities and to evaluate the utility of an individual differences approach to the examination of HPA axis functioning. After a 30-min controlled baseline period, 73 7-year-olds (40 boys and 33 girls) were randomly assigned to a validity check condition or one of two experimental tasks designed to elicit fear or frustration. This was followed by a 60-min controlled regulation phase. A total of 17 saliva samples were collected, including 12 poststress samples at 5-min intervals. There was a significant stress modality effect, with children exposed to the fear condition reaching peak cortisol levels at 25 min poststress and those exposed to the frustration condition reaching peak levels at 45 min poststress. There was no difference in peak cortisol levels between the stress modalities. Individual variability across conditions was significant, with participants reaching peak levels as early as 10 min poststress and as late as 60 min poststress. Our data suggest that analysis of individual curves prior to making group-level comparisons may improve the explanatory power of HPA axis behavior models.     

Post-event Processing in Children with Social Phobia

In the aftermath of a distressing social event, adults with social phobia (SP) engage in a review of this event with a focus on its negative aspects. To date, little is known about this post-event processing (PEP) and its relationship with perceived performance in SP children. We measured PEP in SP children (n = 24) and healthy controls (HC; n = 22), aged from 8 to 12 years, after the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C). Children also rated their performance immediately after the TSST-C and 2.5 h later. SP children reported more negative and less positive PEP than controls. Regression analyses indicated that negative PEP was associated with social anxiety and perceived task performance independent of comorbid depression. The SP group rated their performance immediately after the TSST-C as worse compared to HCs and ratings remained stable over the following 2.5 h. Results are discussed in relation to current theories of SP.     

Sleep-dependent consolidation of procedural motor memories in children and adults: the pre-sleep level of performance matters

In striking contrast to adults, in children sleep following training a motor task did not induce the expected (offline) gain in motor skill performance in previous studies. Children normally perform at distinctly lower levels than adults. Moreover, evidence in adults suggests that sleep dependent offline gains in skill essentially depend on the pre-sleep level of performance. Against this background, we asked whether improving children's performance on a motor sequence learning task by extended training to levels approaching those of adults would enable sleep-associated gains in motor skill in this age group also. Children (4-6 years) and adults (18-35 years) performed on the motor sequence learning task (button-box task) before and after ~2-hour retention intervals including either sleep (midday nap) or wakefulness. Whereas one group of children and adults, respectively, received the standard amount of 10 blocks of training before retention intervals of sleep or wakefulness, a further group of children received an extended training on 30 blocks (distributed across 3 days). A further group of adults received a restricted training on only two blocks before the retention intervals. Children after standard training reached lowest performance levels, whereas in adults performance after standard training was highest. Children with extended training and adults after reduced training reached intermediate performance levels. Only at these intermediate performance levels did sleep induce significant gains in motor sequence skill, whereas performance did not benefit from sleep in the low-performing children or in the high-performing adults. Spindle counts in the post-training nap were correlated with performance gains at retrieval only in the adults benefitting from sleep. We conclude that, across age groups, sleep induces the most robust gain in motor skill at an intermediate pre-sleep performance level. In low-performing children sleep-dependent improvements in skill may be revealed only after enhancing the pre-sleep performance level by extended training.     

Trajectories of Social Anxiety in Children: Influence of Child Cortisol Reactivity and Parental Social Anxiety

Few studies have examined the interactive effect of intra- and extra-individual vulnerability factors on the trajectory of social anxiety in children. In this study, we examined the joint influence of familial vulnerability (i.e., parental social anxiety) and child biological stress vulnerability (i.e., cortisol reactivity) on trajectories of social anxiety. Children (N?=?112 (57 males), M _age?=?8.14 years, S.D. = 2.25) were followed over three visits spanning approximately three years. Parental social anxiety was assessed using the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory, children’s behavior and salivary cortisol reactivity were measured in response to a speech task, and children’s social anxiety was assessed at all three visits using the Screen for Child Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED; Parent-report). A growth curve analysis was used to examine trajectories of child social anxiety as predicted by children’s cortisol reactivity and parental social anxiety, adjusting for covariates. We found a significant interaction between parental social anxiety and child cortisol reactivity in predicting child social anxiety across time. Having a socially anxious parent coupled with heightened cortisol reactivity predicted the highest levels of child social anxiety, with scores that remained above clinically significant levels for social anxiety across all visits. Children with familial risk for social anxiety and who also exhibit high stress-reactivity appear to be at risk for persistent, clinically significant social anxiety. This highlights the importance of considering the interaction between both biological and contextual factors when considering the development, maintenance, and treatment of social anxiety in children across time.     

Children's objective and subjective sleep disruptions: links with afternoon cortisol levels.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine possible relations between the quality and amount of children's sleep and cortisol in healthy children. DESIGN: Children's sleep was monitored with actigraphs for 7 nights. Children came to the laboratory to provide saliva samples, which were used to assess cortisol. Children reported on their sleepiness and sleep/wake problems. Sixty-four healthy children participated (M = 8.75 years; SD = .55). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported sleepiness and sleep/wake problems, actigraphy-measured total sleep minutes, sleep efficiency, minutes awake after sleep onset, and sleep activity, and afternoon cortisol levels. Results: After controlling for demographic variables and child characteristics, higher levels of cortisol were related to increased subjective sleep problems and objective measures of shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality. CONCLUSION: These findings are of importance for understanding critical facets of children's health and well-being, and are noteworthy given the high prevalence of sleep disruptions in otherwise normally developing children in the United States.     

The Conundrum of the Laboratory: Challenges of Assessing Preschool-Age Children’s Salivary Cortisol Reactivity

The laboratory assessment of young children’s cortisol reactivity is a major obstacle in psychoneuroendocrine research. The current study aimed to test the effectiveness of a developmentally-appropriate stressor paradigm in the laboratory with a sample of 152 preschool-age children. Salivary cortisol samples were obtained at 30 min after arrival to the laboratory and at 20, 30, 40, and 50 min post-stressor. Observations of children’s positive emotions (PE) and negative emotions (NE) were coded to assess children’s behavioral response to the paradigm. Children’s mean growth curve evidenced a significant linear decrease in cortisol values from baseline to 20 min post-stress and a leveling off by 40 min post-stress. However, when taking into account children’s individual differences in the timing of peak cortisol response, we observed a significant increase in cortisol from children’s baseline sample to their peak post-stressor sample. Moreover, children’s PE significantly decreased and NE significantly increased during the stressor, providing further support for the validity of the stress-inducing nature of the paradigm. Additionally, children’s PE and NE during the task were significantly associated with individual differences in their cortisol responses. Our findings highlight the challenges for neuroendocrine researchers with respect to obtaining mean increases in preschoolers’ cortisol reactivity in the laboratory and have important methodological implications, particularly regarding the importance of collecting multiple post-stressor samples.     

Timing is everything: Anticipatory stress dynamics among cortisol and blood pressure reactivity and recovery in healthy adults

Psychological states of anticipation modulate biological stress responsivity. While researchers generally investigate how subjective distress corresponds to the magnitude of stress reactivity, physiological recovery after acute stressors must also be considered when investigating disease vulnerabilities. This study assessed whether anticipatory stress would correspond to stress reactivity and recovery of salivary cortisol and blood pressure levels in response to a well-validated psychosocial stressor. Thirty participants (63% female; mean?±?SEM age 45.4?±?2.12 years) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) consisting of a public speech and mental arithmetic. Ten salivary cortisol samples and systolic and diastolic blood pressure recordings were collected at time points spanning 50?min before and up to 50?min after stress exposure. These data were transformed into parameters representing stress reactivity (area under the curve) and stress recovery (percent change). The Primary Appraisal Secondary Appraisal scale assessed anticipatory stress before exposure to the TSST. Our results revealed that increased anticipatory stress predicted increased stress reactivity for cortisol (p?=?0.009) but not blood pressure. For stress recovery, increased anticipatory stress predicted greater decrements of cortisol concentration (p?=?0.015) and blood pressure (p?=?0.039), even when controlling for total systemic "output" by incorporating baseline activity. This efficient shutdown of stress responses would have otherwise been ignored by solely investigating reactive increases. These findings underscore the importance of measuring multiple dynamic parameters such as recovery when investigating physiological stress response patterns as a function of psychosocial factors.