Do episodic self- and partner-uncertainty mediate the association between attachment orientations and emotional responses to relationship-threatening events in dating couples?

This study examined relational-uncertainty perceptions (a form of cognitive appraisal) to investigate how partners in 272 heterosexual couples responded emotionally to a relationship-challenging event. Participants rated themselves on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Then, after listing a challenging event, they rated how uncertain it made them about their own and their partner's continued involvement in the relationship. Participants also rated how angry and fearful the event made them. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model yielded three sets of results. First, actor effects from insecure attachment orientations to episodic relational uncertainty emerged. Second, proposed mediation between attachment orientations and emotional reactions by uncertainty was partially supported (perceived partner-uncertainty partially mediated the positive association of anxious attachment and fear, and self-uncertainty partially mediated the positive relation between avoidant attachment and anger). Finally, a partner effect was found between one couple member's avoidant attachment and the other's perceived partner uncertainty. Men and women exhibited similar findings.     

Parental expectations and school relationships as contributors to adolescents’ positive outcomes

Researchers examined associations of parental expectations and parental school relationships with school outcomes among U.S. middle and high school students. Nationally representative data involving families from the National Household Education Surveys were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Measures included interview responses about parent expectations for their children’s long term educational attainment (ranging from dropping out of high school to obtaining a JD/PhD/MD) and how much parents feel welcomed at school, trust and have positive interactions with educators. The latter three variables formed a latent variable called parent school relationship. Analyses controlled for SES (parents’ educational attainment and household income), family structure, gender, and ethnicity. The school outcomes variable was derived from parental report of students’ grades, retention in any grade and behavior problems at school. Parental expectations were positively related (standardized path coefficient = .44, $p<.01$ ) to positive school outcomes and had a stronger effect than SES (standardized path coefficient = .24). Parent school relationships were also positively related to school outcomes. These findings suggest that psychologists and educators should be aware of the potential for parents to play a significant role (e.g., via expectations and developing supportive relationships with educators) in children’s education, even in middle and high school.     

Adolescents’ neural response to social reward and real-world emotional closeness and positive affect

Feeling emotionally close to others during social interactions is a ubiquitous and meaningful experience that can elicit positive affect. The present study integrates functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to investigate whether neural response to social reward (1) is related to the experience of emotional closeness and (2) moderates the association between emotional closeness and positive affect during and following social interactions. In this study, 34 typically developing adolescents (ages 14–18 years) completed a social-reward fMRI task, a monetary-reward fMRI task, and a 2-week EMA protocol regarding their social and affective experiences. Adolescents with greater right posterior superior temporal sulcus/temporoparietal junction (pSTS/TPJ) response to social reward reported greater mean momentary emotional closeness. Neural response to social reward in the right pSTS/TPJ moderated how strongly momentary emotional closeness was associated with both concurrent positive affect and future peak happiness, but in different ways. Although emotional closeness had a significant positive association with concurrent positive affect among adolescents at both high and low right pSTS/TPJ response based on a follow-up simple slopes test, this association was stronger for adolescents with low right pSTS/TPJ response. In contrast, emotional closeness had a significant positive association with future peak happiness among adolescents with high right pSTS/TPJ response, but not among those with low right pSTS/TPJ response. These findings demonstrate the importance of neural response to social reward in key social processing regions for everyday experiences of emotional closeness and positive affect in the context of social interactions.     

How borderline personality characteristics affect adolescents’ life satisfaction: The role of rejection sensitivity and social relations

The present study investigated the association between Borderline Personality characteristics (BP characteristics) and life satisfaction in a sample of 111 girls and 144 boys between the ages of 15 and 19 years. Mediation and moderation effects of rejection sensitivity and adolescents’ social relations with their parents and friends on this association were analyzed. Analyses revealed that more BP characteristics in both boys and girls, and more conflict with parents for girls predicted lower satisfaction with life. Furthermore, conflict with parents mediated and rejection sensitivity moderated the association between BP characteristics and life satisfaction, but again only for girls. Implications of these findings suggest the importance of family conflict management and a gender-specific approach in adolescents with BP characteristics.     

Memory for positive,negative and neutral events in younger and older adults: Does emotion influence binding in event memory?

When remembering an event, it is important to remember both the features of the event (e.g., a person and an action) and the connections among features (e.g., who performed which action). Emotion often enhances memory for stimulus features, but the relationship between emotion and the binding of features in memory is unclear. Younger and older adults attempted to remember events in which a person performed a negative, positive or neutral action. Memory for the action was enhanced by emotion, but emotion did not enhance the ability of participants to remember which person performed which action. Older adults were more likely than younger adults to make binding errors in which they incorrectly remembered a familiar actor performing a familiar action that had actually been performed by someone else, and this age-related associative deficit was found for both neutral and emotional actions. Emotion not only increased correct recognition of old events for older and younger adults but also increased false recognition of events in which a familiar actor performed a familiar action that had been performed by someone else. Thus, although emotion may enhance memory for the features of an event, it does not increase the accuracy of remembering who performed which action.     

Parents’ observed responses to children’s emotional distress: Relations with social competence in preschool

Although affective interactions in the family are important for development, home observational data are sparse. We replicated and extended one such study, Roberts & Strayer (1987, Developmental Psychology, 23, 415). Interactions in 33 two-parent families (mean child age = 4.8 years; 48% girls) were observed for four evenings, from suppertime until the child settled for the night. Parents completed the Child Rearing Practices Q-sort. Peer interactions and friendship networks in preschool were observed over four days. Teachers and observers completed the Preschool Behavior Q-Sort. Based on Q-rated peer competence and aggression, three expected groups of children were identified, one of them high on both aggression and peer competence. Although socially active and accepted by peers, they were, compared with other children, less cooperative with adults, less prosocial with peers, more impulsive, less achievement oriented, less purposive, and less happy (mean η² = .52). Parenting, especially observed impatience, threats, and use of force when children were emotionally distressed, showed important differences across groups.     

The My Emotions Questionnaire: A self-report of mothers’ emotional responses to infant crying

The purpose of this article was to examine the psychometrics of the My Emotions Questionnaire, a self-report designed to assess mothers’ emotional reactions when their infants cry. Participants were 240 first-time mothers. When infants were 6 months and 1 year old, mothers completed the new questionnaire and measures assessing beliefs and behavioral responses to infant crying, and interview-based measures of mothers’ emotional reactions and causal attributions about crying were administered. Maternal sensitivity and negative behaviors were observed when infants were 6 months and 1 and 2 years old. Mothers reported on their discipline practices when children were 2 years old. Five emotion factors emerged based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the 6-month data: Amusement, Anxiety, Frustration, Sympathy, and Protective. The five-factor structure was supported via a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the 1-year data. All scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency reliability and significant stability from 6 months to 1 year. Amusement, Frustration, and Protectiveness demonstrated the best convergent validity with cry cognitions and predictive validity to parenting measures, followed by Anxiety, although effects tended to be small to moderate. Evidence for the validity of Sympathy was less compelling. The potential utility of the questionnaire for basic and applied research is discussed.     

Young adult couples’ behavioral and physiological responses to the infant simulator: A preliminary illustration of coparenting

This exploratory application of the infant simulator with two couples is designed to illustrate individual reactivity and coparenting behaviors in young couples in serious relationships who do not yet have children. A 35-min protocol with standardized onsets and offsets of inconsolable baby cries was used to capture partner’s individual behavioral and physiological responses as well as the couple’s joint efforts to soothe the crying baby. Task feasibility was demonstrated by couples’ persistent and wide-ranging efforts to calm the baby including rocking, feeding, changing, talking to the baby, and singing. Within-person fluctuations in ongoing heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) through the protocol suggested evidence of heightened physiological reactivity during baby crying compared to silence. During bouts of crying, higher HR also was evidenced when participants took the lead in caregiving as contrasted with assisting or busying themselves in another task. Behavioral observations indicated that this task elicited examples of coparenting behaviors including cooperation, support, undermining, and negotiating the division of labor. These preliminary pilot data demonstrate the potential of infant simulator paradigms with couples who are not yet pregnant but envision being future parents, and set the stage for future research to identify how individual and couple characteristics might impact reactions to shared baby caregiving.     

The contribution of temperament,popularity, and physical appearance to children’s happiness

The relation between the happiness of 9–12 year old children and their temperament, popularity, and physical appearance was examined. Participants included 432 children and their parents and teachers. Happiness in children was assessed using a self-rating scale, parents’ ratings, teachers’ ratings, and the Happiness and Satisfaction Subscale of the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale 2 (Piers-Harris 2) [Piers, E. V., & Herzberg, D. S. (2002). Manual for the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services]. Estimates of children’s temperament, popularity, and physical appearance included parents’ ratings, individual items on the Piers-Harris 2, and three domain scales from the Piers-Harris 2: the Freedom From Anxiety Subscale, Popularity Subscale, and Physical Appearance and Attributes Subscale. Children’s happiness was correlated with and predicted by ratings of their temperament, popularity, and appearance. Demographic variables did not account for appreciable variance in children’s happiness. The results parallel the common finding that internal factors (e.g., personality), but not external factors (e.g., demographics), predict adults’ happiness.     

Forecasting the influence of customer-related micro-events on employees’ emotional,attitudinal and physiological responses

The affective events theory proposes that daily events elicit affective reactions on workers that, over time, influence affective and judgement-driven behaviours. It also suggests that this relation is moderated by dispositions and appraisals. On the other hand, the social interaction model argues that the impact of emotions is moderated by how individuals regulate them. This study aimed to: (1) investigate what customer-related events elicit affect; (2) test the moderating role of workers’ susceptibility for emotional contagion on the relation events-affect; and (3) explore whether affective states influence cardiovascular efficiency and turnover intentions. We conducted a longitudinal study in an inbound call centre by following 48 workers during 10 working days, gathering 267 events and 1,232 affective reactions. We combined diaries, questionnaires and physiological data. Data was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. We extracted 13 event categories and, using artificial neural networks (ANN), found support for the moderating role of emotional contagion. At daily level, fear was the stronger predictor of cardiovascular efficiency, whereas anger was the stronger predictor of turnover. ANN models showed satisfactory predictive values (R²_Turnover = .51, p < .01; R²_{Cardiovascular efficiency} = .32, p < .01). The importance of results for theory and practice is discussed.     

Perceptual asymmetry and youths’ responses to stress: Understanding vulnerability to depression

This research examined the hypothesis that reduced posterior right hemisphere activity interferes with the regulation of emotions and behaviour in response to stress, creating vulnerability to depression. Consistent with a diathesis–stress model, we predicted that youths with a reduced posterior right hemisphere bias in emotional processing would engage in less adaptive responses to stress, which would be associated with depressive symptoms in those who reported the recent experience of high, but not low, levels of stress. Participants were 510 4th through 8th graders who completed the Chimeric Faces Task and measures of responses to stress and depressive symptoms. Results supported the idea that responses to stress account for the association between reduced posterior right hemisphere activity and depressive symptoms in youths who report high, but not low, levels of stress. This study provides insight into one process through which reduced posterior right hemisphere activity may confer vulnerability to depressive symptoms, and implicates responses to stress as a target for intervention.     

The “EA brief”: A single session of parent feedback and coaching to improve emotional attachment and emotional availability (EA)

The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which a brief parenting intervention provided the context for helping families to support positive mother–child interactions as well as more optimal mother and child outcomes. Participants in this study were middle income mothers and their children were between 0–3 years of age (N = 25 dyads). Participants were filmed via Skype during a 20-minute mother–child free play and completed questionnaires (Time 1) before attending the brief intervention (involving: a single session of one-on-one parent feedback and coaching, and information via group meeting, texts, and reading) followed by a repeat of the 20-minute Skype interaction and the completion of the same questionnaires (Time 2). Paired samples t-tests were performed, revealing that mothers reported improvements in their personal well-being (using the Flourishing Scale), reports about the mother-child relationship (using the Emotional Availability Self Report), and observed interactions, particularly the child's side of the relationship (using the Emotional Availability System), from pretest to posttest. Results are discussed in terms of a single session of parent feedback and coaching (in conjunction with an informational group session and texts) potentially having a role in “planting a seed” for observed and self-reported parenting enhancement and child development.     

Adolescents’ Attachment to Parents and Peers: Links to Young Adulthood Friendship Quality

Few studies have been carried out on emerging adults’ friendships and on their developmental roots. Research suggests that in adolescence, both attachment to parents and attachment to peers play a role in future socio-emotional development. The aim of the present study was to compare attachment in these two types of relationships in adolescence according to gender and test whether they respectively predicted the perception of best friendship in early adulthood. A sample of 83 participants (49 girls) was seen in early adolescence (M?=?13.66 years, SD?=?0.64) and 7 years later (mean age?=?21.15 years, SD?=?0.83). At T1, participants completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, which measures attachment using three subscales (communication, alienation and trust) and one global security score. At T2, they completed the McGill Friendship Questionnaire. Results show that in adolescence, boys report higher security with parents compared to peers (mainly due to better communication), unlike girls who obtain higher scores with peers. Longitudinal findings reveal that alienation in the relation with parents is what best predicts friendship quality in early adulthood. These findings underline the specific internal working models at play in socio-emotional development and the way gender differences evolve from adolescence to early adulthood.

     

Parental employment status and adolescents’ health: The role of financial situation,parent-adolescent relationship and adolescents’ resilience

The paper deals with parental employment status and its relationship to adolescents’ self-reported health. It studies the role of the financial situation, parent–adolescent relationship and adolescent resilience in the relationship between parental employment status and adolescents’ self-rated health, vitality and mental health. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyse questionnaire data obtained from 2799 adolescents (mean age 14.3) in 2006. The results show a negative association of the father’s, but not mother’s unemployment or non-employment with adolescents’ health. Regression analyses showed that neither financial strain nor a poor parent–adolescent relationship or a low score in resilience accounted for the relationship between the father’s unemployment or non-employment and poorer adolescent health. Furthermore, resilience did not work as a buffer against the negative impact of fathers’ unemployment on adolescents’ health.     

It’s a matter of time (perspectives): shifting valence responses to emotional ambiguity

Our stage in life has profound influences on our emotions. A well-established age-related positivity effect is putatively related to time perspectives—older adults have a limited time perspective and a greater motivation to experience positivity than young adults. Ambiguous emotions (e.g., surprised expressions) have both a positive and negative meaning, offering a highly relevant model for examining this developmental trend. Indeed, there are stable, trait-like individual differences in valence bias, or the tendency to interpret surprise as positive or negative, with a developmental trend toward positivity (older adults are more positive than young adults, who are more positive than children). However, little research has determined the extent to which the bias can be shifted. In three experiments, we found that ambiguity ratings were sensitive to time perspectives, even within a population of college students, and that this effect is relatively long-lasting. Results extend socioemotional selectivity theory and demonstrate that our life stage may have profound effects on otherwise stable emotional responses.