The heterogeneity of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and conduct problems: Cognitive inhibition,emotion regulation,emotionality, and disorganized attachment

This study examined the contributions of several important domains of functioning to attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and conduct problems. Specifically, we investigated whether cognitive inhibition, emotion regulation, emotionality, and disorganized attachment made independent and specific contributions to these externalizing behaviour problems from a multiple pathways perspective. The study included laboratory measures of cognitive inhibition and disorganized attachment in 184 typically developing children (M age = 6 years, 10 months, SD = 1.7). Parental ratings provided measures of emotion regulation, emotionality, and externalizing behaviour problems. Results revealed that cognitive inhibition, regulation of positive emotion, and positive emotionality were independently and specifically related to ADHD symptoms. Disorganized attachment and negative emotionality formed independent and specific relations to conduct problems. Our findings support the multiple pathways perspective on ADHD, with poor regulation of positive emotion and high positive emotionality making distinct contributions to ADHD symptoms. More specifically, our results support the proposal of a temperamentally based pathway to ADHD symptoms. The findings also indicate that disorganized attachment and negative emotionality constitute pathways specific to conduct problems rather than to ADHD symptoms.     

Associations between Stress,Psychosomatic Complaints,and Parental Criticism among Affluent Adolescent Girls

A growing body of research has shown that adolescent girls in the context of affluence face a series of unique pressures that may increase social-emotional problems. Little research, however, has examined associations between perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints among privileged youth. In the present study, we investigated the relationships between stress, psychosomatic complaints, and parental criticism in a sample of preadolescent and adolescent girls (n?=?218) from selective, private schools. Using OLS regression analyses, cross-sectional and longitudinal associations were evident between perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints, with increases in stress associated with increases in psychosomatic problems. Parental criticism was also examined as a predictor of girls’ psychosomatic complaints and stress levels. Results indicated that parental criticism was significantly and positively associated with psychosomatic problems in cross-sectional models and that perceived stress levels mediated this association. Additional analyses demonstrated that the relationship between psychosomatic complaints and stress may be bidirectional. Taken together, results from this exploratory study suggest that girls in the context of affluence may also experience psychosomatic complaints, in addition to social-emotional problems.     

The Relation of Parental Emotionality and Related Dispositional Traits to Parental Expression of Emotion and Children's Social Functioning

The purpose of this study was to test relations between parental temperamental emotionality and regulation or related personality characteristics and parental behavior, children's regulation, and children's social functioning. Mothers and fathers reported on their own personality and/or temperament and expressivity in the family (mothers only); parents and teachers rated children (71 girls and 99 boys; M age = 73 months) on their temperamental regulation, social competence, and problem behavior. Mothers also were observed interacting with their child, and behavioral measures of children's regulation were obtained. In general, high parental regulation and low negative emotionality were associated with positive developmental outcomes in children and more positive parental behaviors, and mothers' expression of positive emotion in the family mediated some of the relations of their dispositions to children's socioemotional functioning.     

Intrusive parenting,teacher sensitivity,and negative emotionality on the development of emotion regulation in early head start toddlers

Toddler emotion regulation develops within the context of relationships but is also influenced by toddlers’ individual characteristics. Drawing on transactional and differential susceptibility frameworks, this study examined direct and interactive associations of intrusive parenting, teacher sensitivity, and negative emotionality on toddler emotion regulation development in a sample of Early Head Start families utilizing center-based child care. Latent growth models indicated that, after controlling for a series of family and child care covariates, intrusive parenting at 14 months had diminishing effects on trajectories of emotion regulation across toddlerhood (14 to 36 months), whereas teacher sensitivity in child care was promotive for emotion regulation growth. Toddlers with high negative emotionality were not more susceptible to the effects of intrusive parenting or teacher sensitivity on emotion regulation development, however, results suggested emerging evidence for individual differences in the protective nature of teacher sensitivity in the context of high intrusion at home. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for informing parents and early care and education providers in nurturing relationships with the children who may be the most challenging to care for but may stand to make the greatest gains in emotion regulation development in quality caregiving settings.     

Psychosomatic complaints in adolescence: Untangling the relationship between offline and online peer victimization,psychosomatic complaints and social support

Offline peer victimization has been linked to psychosomatic complaints. As peer victimization is no longer limited to adolescents’ offline relationships, it is crucial that we investigate whether online peer victimization has similar negative consequences. To date, no study systematically investigated the unique contribution of online vs. offline peer victimization on psychosomatic complaints, and the possible protective effect of social support. The current study disentangled offline and online peer victimization by distinguishing four victim types: non-victims, offline, online, and dual victims (N = 897, 9-to-18-year-olds). In addition, we assessed perceived social support from teachers, parents, friends and classmates. A main effect was found for victim type on psychosomatic complaints. Victims (offline or dual) reported more psychosomatic complaints than non-victims. Notably, online victims reported similar levels of psychosomatic complaints compared to non-victims. Furthermore, although social support from parents and classmates was related to fewer psychosomatic complaints, only limited support was found for a buffering effect of social support.     

Family and child influences on early academic and emotion regulatory behaviors

Research on child and family factors in early childhood has shown that both are associated with social and instrumental functioning at school entry. The present study sought to examine the direct and indirect effects of child negative emotionality, maternal education, depression, IQ, and quality of maternal instruction on children's academic and emotion regulatory behaviors from the toddler period to school entry using a sample of 174 boys from low-SES backgrounds. Results revealed direct effects of maternal IQ on academic outcomes at school entry that were mediated by maternal instruction. Further, maternal instruction predicted the child's academic and emotion regulation (ER) outcomes even after accounting for other maternal and child variables. The effects of both instruction variables moderated the impact of maternal education. The results suggest that maternal instruction plays an important role in early school success, particularly for children at risk for school problems.     

Just the way you are. Understanding emotion regulation strategies in youth from temperamental differences

High negative emotionality (NE), low positive emotionality (PE), and low effortful control (EC) have repeatedly been independently associated with youth depressive symptoms. Less research examined the joint contributions of these traits on such symptoms and, despite of clinical relevance, no study investigated how these traits jointly contribute to emotion regulation problems. The present study examined temperamental profiles in youth as well as their link with depressive symptoms and emotion regulation strategies in 1098 Flemish youth (60% girls, 7–17 years). Latent profile analyses identified a 4-profile solution (resilient, vulnerable, average, reactive-undercontrolled) to best fit the data. Meaningful associations emerged between these temperamental profiles, symptoms, and one’s preferred emotion regulation repertoire, including profile-specific emotion regulation deficits.     

Emotion Regulation and Attachment: Unpacking Two Constructs and Their Association

This study examined the association between the security of attachment and processes influencing the development of emotion regulation in young children. A sample of 73 4 1/2-year-olds and their mothers were observed in an emotion regulation probe involving mild frustration for children, and mothers and children were later independently interviewed about how the child had felt. Fewer than half the mothers agreed with children’s self-reports in the emotion they attributed to children (a lower rate than the concordance of observer ratings with children’s self-reports), and higher mother-child concordance was associated with secure attachment and mother’s beliefs about the importance of attending to and accepting their own emotions. Mother-child conversations about recent events evoking children’s negative emotion were also analyzed. Children were less likely to avoid conversing about negative feelings when they were in secure attachments and when mothers were more validating of the child’s perspective. Children’s greater understanding of negative emotions was also significantly associated with higher mother-child concordance and less child conversational avoidance. Taken together, these findings underscore the multiple influences of attachment on emotion regulation and the importance of children’s emotion understanding to these processes.     

The Role of Emotion in Parent-Child Relationships: Children’s Emotionality,Maternal Meta-Emotion,and Children’s Attachment Security

This study was intended to examine the relationship among children’s emotionality, parental meta-emotion, and parent–child attachment. The sample consisted of 546 5th and 6th grade children and their mothers. The test instruments used in this study were the Emotionality subscale of the EAS Temperament Survey (mothers’ ratings only), the Parental Meta-Emotion Survey (mothers’ ratings only) and the Attachment Security Scale (children’s ratings only). Our results showed that maternal meta-emotion (emotion coaching plus emotion dismissing) was associated with children’s attachment security vis-à-vis their mothers. Mothers who tended to adopt an emotion-coaching philosophy were more likely to achieve secure parent–child attachments, as reported by their children. Children whose mothers tended to adopt an emotion-dismissing philosophy reported lower levels of attachment security. There were no direct or indirect effects of children’s emotionality on their attachment security. Parental meta-emotion, but not children’s emotionality, was significantly associated with children’s attachment security. The results indicate the importance of parenting factors in determining the parent–child relationship. Parental education programs that focus on parental attitudes and practices related to emotion should be advocated.     

Negative emotionality,attachment quality,and behavior problems in early childhood

Negative emotionality, as well as attachment security and disorganization, are seen as major contributors to social adjustment and maladjustment in childhood. However, relatively little is known about whether infant negative emotionality and attachment quality operate together to affect developing behavior problems. The present study thus aims to contribute to this question. Participants were 64 healthy firstborn children and their primary caregivers. Negative emotionality was assessed at the infant ages of 4, 8, and 12 months using laboratory routines. At 18 months, the Strange Situation procedure was conducted to assess infant attachment security and disorganization, and at 30 months, the child's behavior problems were assessed within a structured clinical interview. Attachment security and attachment disorganization were significantly associated with subsequent behavior problems. There was no significant relation between infant negative emotionality and behavior problems. However, there were indications of a stronger association between attachment disorganization and behavior problems in infants high in negative emotionality. The results underpin the importance of attachment quality as well as negative emotionality in social adjustment. Disorganized attachment precedes poor adjustment, especially in infants high in negative emotionality.     

Adolescent Female Aggression: Functions and Etiology

Despite the narrowing gap between male and female use of aggressive behavior, much of the extant aggression research has centered on males. Various internal, or psychological factors, including attachment, emotion regulation, and impulsivity, are typically examined independently from external, or social, factors, such as the quality of the family environment and exposure to community violence. Additionally, the studies rarely distinguish among forms and functions of aggression. The current study was the first to simultaneously examine these factors and their relationships to the distinct functions of aggression in a low-income urban community sample of adolescent females. Participants (N = 214) were recruited from grades 8 through 12 at a diverse all-girls public school in a city in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that greater attachment security and emotion regulation reduced the impact of a more negative family environment upon the use of reactive and proactive aggression. The results also demonstrated that impulsivity and the family environment mediated the relationships between exposure to community violence and the presence of reactive aggression. With higher levels of impulsivity, an increased use of reactive aggression was demonstrated. Lastly, in the context of greater exposure to community violence, a positive family environment decreased the use of reactive aggression. Overall, the results from this study suggested the role of these internal and external factors in the development of aggressive behavior in female adolescents. Further empirical experimental investigation may shed light on the most optimal interventions to prevent the development of aggression.     

Adult attachment,emotional control,and marital satisfaction

This study extends previous research into the relations among attachment style, emotional experience, and emotional control. Questionnaire measures of these variables were completed by a broad sample of 238 married couples. Continuous measures of attachment showed that insecure attachment (low Comfort with closeness; high Anxiety over relationships) was related to greater control of emotion, regardless of whether the emotion was partner-related or not. Insecure attachment was also associated with less frequent and intense positive emotion and with more frequent and intense negative emotion, although these links depended on context (partner-related or not), attachment dimension, and gender. Emotional control added to the prediction of marital satisfaction, after controlling for attachment dimensions; the most robust links with satisfaction were inverse relations with own control of positive emotion and with partner's control of negative emotion. The results are discussed in terms of attachment theory, affect regulation, and communication in marriage.     

Maternal Emotion Socialization,Depressive Symptoms and Child Emotion Regulation: Child Emotionality as a Moderator

This study tested a model of children's emotionality as a moderator of the links between maternal emotion socialization and depressive symptoms and child emotion regulation. Participants were 128 mother–preschooler dyads. Child emotion expression and emotion regulation strategies were assessed observationally during a disappointment task, and a principal component analysis revealed three factors: passive soothing (including sadness and comfort seeking), negative focus on distress (including anger, focus on distress and low active distraction) and positive engagement (including positive emotion, active play and passive waiting, which was loaded negatively). Hierarchical linear regression models revealed that child positive emotionality (PE) and negative emotionality (NE) moderated the links between maternal support/positive emotion expression and child emotion regulation strategies. In particular, children's low PE exacerbated the association between lack of maternal support and child passive soothing, whereas high PE enhanced the association between maternal positive expression and reduced negative focus on distress. Furthermore, the associations of mothers' support and reduced passive soothing and negative focus on distress, as well as the association between mothers' positive expression and child positive engagement, were stronger for children with low levels of NE, compared with those with average and high levels of NE. Findings partially support a diathesis–stress model in understanding the effects of both child characteristics and the familial influence on child emotion regulation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotion processing and regulation in women with morbid obesity who apply for bariatric surgery

Emotional eating, the tendency to eat when experiencing negative affect, is prevalent in morbid obesity and may indicate that ways to deal with emotions are disturbed. Our aim was to compare emotion processing and regulation between 102 women with morbid obesity who apply for bariatric surgery and 102 women from the general population (control group) and to examine in the group with morbid obesity the association of emotion processing and regulation with emotional eating. The group with morbid obesity reported higher scores on difficulty identifying feelings (alexithymia, p?=?0.002) and suppression of emotions (p?=?0.003) than the control group. In the women with morbid obesity, more negative affect and a higher difficulty identifying feelings were correlated with more emotional eating (r?=?0.36 and r?=?0.35, p?<?0.001). Our study suggests that negative emotions and unhealthy emotion processing may play a role in emotional eating, and it indicates the possible relevance of emotion processing and emotional regulation as initiating or perpetuating mechanisms in morbid obesity.     

Diminished ability to identify facial emotional expressions in children with disorganized attachment representations

The development of children's ability to identify facial emotional expressions has long been suggested to be experience dependent, with parental caregiving as an important influencing factor. This study attempts to further this knowledge by examining disorganization of the attachment system as a potential psychological mechanism behind aberrant caregiving experiences and deviations in the ability to identify facial emotional expressions. Typically developing children (N = 105, 49.5% boys) aged 6–7 years (M = 6 years 8 months, SD = 1.8 months) completed an attachment representation task and an emotion identification task, and parents rated children's negative emotionality. The results showed a generally diminished ability in disorganized children to identify facial emotional expressions, but no response biases. Disorganized attachment was also related to higher levels of negative emotionality, but discrimination of emotional expressions did not moderate or mediate this relation. Our novel findings relate disorganized attachment to deviations in emotion identification, and therefore suggest that disorganization of the attachment system may constitute a psychological mechanism linking aberrant caregiving experiences to deviations in children's ability to identify facial emotional expressions. Our findings further suggest that deviations in emotion identification in disorganized children, in the absence of maltreatment, may manifest in a generally diminished ability to identify emotional expressions, rather than in specific response biases.     

Behavioural Problems in Children with Headache and Maternal Stress: Is Children's Attachment Security a Protective Factor?

Headache is a potentially disabling condition involving enduring pain that negatively influences the quality of family life. Behavioural problems are more common in children with headache and are potentially associated with higher levels of parental stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which children's behavioural problems were associated with maternal stress and how the child's perception of security in the maternal attachment relationship moderates this association. Seventy‐one school‐aged children with headache (headache group (HG), age M = 9.8 years old, SD = 1.3) and 71 children from a low‐risk normative population (control group (CG), age M = 9.2 years old, SD = 1) and their mothers were involved in the study. Mothers' reports of children's behavioural problems were associated with higher maternal stress in the caring task both in the HG and in the CG. Results also showed that the HG was more at risk for behavioural problems, whereas no difference between groups was detected for parenting stress and for attachment insecurity. In children with headache, perception of attachment security decreased the strength of the association between maternal stress and externalizing behavioural problems. Secure attachment may provide children with headache and their parents with support in managing the negative emotions that arise in the context of significant health issues. Implications for practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The moderating role of internalising negative emotionality in the relation of self-regulation to social adjustment in Italian preschool-aged children

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of internalising negative emotionality (i.e., anxious, concerned, and embarrassed displays) in the association between children's self-regulation and social adjustment. Seventy-four Italian children (44 girls, 30 boys; M age?=?35.05 months, SD?=?3.57) were assessed using two self-regulation tasks. Internalising negative emotionality was assessed through observations of children's emotion expressions during the tasks. Teachers evaluated children's social competence and internalising and externalising problems. Results demonstrated that among children who exhibited internalising negative emotionality, self-regulation was positively associated with social competence and negatively related to externalising problems. Our results suggest that self-regulation may play a crucial role for social adjustment when children show emotions such as anxiety and embarrassment during challenging situations.     

Influences of parent and child negative emotionality on young children's everyday behaviors

Negative emotionality is linked to unfavorable life outcomes, but studies have yet to examine negative emotionality of parents and children as predictors of children's problem behaviors and negative emotion word use in everyday life. This study used a novel naturalistic recording device called the Electronically Activated Recorder to investigate the separate and interactive influences of parent and child negative emotionality on daily child behaviors in a sample of 35 preschool-aged children over two time points separated by 1 year. Fathers' negative emotionality predicted children's whining at Time 1; mothers' negative emotionality predicted children's negative emotion word use at Time 1 and increases in children's arguing/fighting from Time 1 to Time 2. Parents' ratings of child negative emotionality also were associated with increases in children's arguing/fighting from Time 1 to Time 2, and child negative emotionality moderated the association between mothers' negative emotionality and children's arguing/fighting. Further, children with mothers high in negative emotionality displayed higher levels of problem behaviors when their mothers self-reported low levels of positive emotional expressiveness and/or high levels of negative emotional expressiveness. These findings offer preliminary evidence linking parent and child negative emotionality to everyday child behaviors and suggest that emotional expressiveness may play a key role in moderating the links between maternal negative emotionality and child behavioral problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Family process: Early child emotionality,parenting stress,and couple relationship quality

Guided by family systems theory, we used couple data (N = 1,778) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the link between perceived infant negative emotionality, parenting stress, and couple relationship quality when the child was 1, 3, and 5 years. Using a latent actor–partner interdependence model, we tested dyadic direct and indirect effects for married and cohabiting couples. Parents who reported higher levels of perceived infant negative emotionality at age 1 had higher parenting stress at age 3. Mothers' and fathers' parenting stress at age 3 predicted lower levels of their own couple relationship quality and their partner's relationship quality at age 5. Parenting stress mediated the relation between perceived infant emotionality and couple relationship quality.     

The Relations of Temperament and Emotion Self-regulation with Suicidal Behaviors in a Clinical Sample of Depressed Children in Hungary

Although major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with suicidal behaviors, some depressed individuals are not suicidal and others evidence various forms of suicidality. We thus investigated whether aspects of temperament and self-regulation of dysphoria represent risk factors for DSM-IV suicidality (recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation, suicidal plan, and suicide attempt) in depressed youths. Using a sample of children with MDD (N = 407; ages 7-14 years), recruited from clinical sites across Hungary, we tested the hypotheses that: (a) suicidality is related to higher levels of trait negative emotionality as well as more maladaptive and fewer adaptive regulatory responses to dysphoria and (b) as the severity of suicidal behavior increases, levels of trait negative emotionality and dysfunctional emotion regulation also increase. We also explored if other aspects of temperament relate to suicidality. Children's DSM-IV diagnoses were based on semi-structured interviews and best-estimate psychiatric consensus. Parents independently provided ratings of their children's temperament, and children separately completed an inventory of emotion regulation (ER). Using multivariate models, we failed to confirm the hypothesized relations of negative trait emotionality and suicidality, but confirmed that high maladaptive and low adaptive ER response tendencies increase the odds of suicidal behaviors, above and beyond the risk posed by depressive illness severity. Unplanned interaction terms between temperament dimensions (other than negative emotionality) and ER suggested that at some high-extremes of temperament, ER has no impact on suicidality but in their absence, adaptive ER lowers the risk of suicidality. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.