The Relations of Regulation and Emotionality to Children's Externalizing and Internalizing Problem Behavior (original) (raw)
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Development and psychopathology, 2013
The development of emotional regulation capacities in children at high versus low risk for externalizing disorder was examined in a longitudinal study investigating: a) whether disturbances in emotion regulation precede and predict the emergence of externalizing symptoms; and b) whether sensitive maternal behavior is a significant influence on the development of child emotion regulation. Families experiencing high (n=58) and low (n=63) levels of psychosocial adversity were recruited to the study during pregnancy. Direct observational assessments of child emotion regulation capacities and maternal sensitivity were completed in early infancy, at 12 and 18-months, and at 5-years. Key findings were as follows. First, high risk children showed poorer emotion regulation capacities than their low risk counterparts at every stage of assessment. Second, from 12-months onwards, emotion regulation capacities showed a degree of stability, and were associated with behavioral problems, both concurrently and prospectively. Third, maternal sensitivity was related to child emotion regulation capacities throughout development, with poorer emotion regulation in the high risk group being associated with lower maternal sensitivity. The results are consistent with a causal role for problems in the regulation of negative emotions in the etiology of externalizing psychopathology, and highlight insensitive parenting as a potentially key developmental influence.
Developmental Psychology, 2005
The relations of children's internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors to their concurrent regulation, impulsivity (reactive undercontrol), anger, sadness, and fearfulness and these aspects of functioning 2 years prior were examined. Parents and teachers completed measures of children's (N = 185; ages 6 through 9 years) adjustment, negative emotionality, regulation, and behavior control; behavioral measures of regulation also were obtained. In general, both internalizing and externalizing problems were associated with negative emotionality. Externalizers were low in effortful regulation and high in impulsivity, whereas internalizers, compared with nondisordered children, were low in impulsivity but not effortful control. Moreover, indices of negative emotionality, regulation, and impulsivity with the level of the same variables 2 years before controlled predicted stability versus change in problem behavior status.
Child Development, 2000
The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of individual differences in negative emotionality in the relations of behavioral and attentional (emotional) regulation to externalizing problem behaviors. Teachers' and one parent's reports of children's regulation (attentional and behavioral), emotionality, and problem behavior were obtained when children were in kindergarten to grade 3 and two years later ( N ϭ 169; 146 in major analyses); children's behavioral regulation also was assessed with a measure of persistence. According to the best fitting structural equation model, at two ages behavioral dysregulation predicted externalizing behavior problems for children both high and low in negative emotionality, whereas prediction of problem behavior from attentional control was significant only for children prone to negative emotionality. There were unique, additive effects of behavioral and attentional regulation for predicting problem behavior as well as moderating effects of negative emotionality for attentional regulation.
Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2011
Childhood internalizing problems may occur as early as preschool, tend to be stable over time, and undermine social and academic functioning. Parent emotion regulatory behaviors may contribute to child internalizing problems and may be especially important during the preschool years when parents model emotion coping and regulation for their children. Parents who feel out of control of their preschoolers' behavior and emotional states may adopt avoidant emotion regulatory strategies. We proposed that parent depression, perceived locus of control, and experiential avoidance would be linked with internalizing symptoms in a high-risk sample of preschool-aged children. We also expected that locus of control would mediate the relationship between maternal depression, experiential avoidance, and child internalizing problems. Seventy-four urban, low-income, diverse mothers of Head Start preschool children completed rating scales measuring their own depression, locus of control, experiential avoidance, and their children's internalizing behaviors. Correlational analyses revealed that mothers reporting higher levels of depression were more likely to report experiential avoidance, feeling out of control in their parenting role, and internalizing symptoms in their children. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that locus of control explained additional unique variance in child internalizing problems over and above that explained by maternal depression. Locus of control mediated the relationship between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms. The importance of considering parent locus of control and its relation to children's internalizing symptoms is discussed as a potential target for early childhood prevention programs.
Developmental …, 2009
The purpose of the study was to examine the relations of effortful control (EC), impulsivity, and negative emotionality to at least borderline clinical levels of symptoms and change in maladjustment over four years. Children's (N = 214; 77% European American; M age = 73 months) externalizing and internalizing symptoms were rated by parents and teachers at 3 times, 2 years apart (T1, T2, and T3) and were related to children's adult-rated EC, impulsivity, and emotion. In addition, the authors found patterns of change in maladjustment were related to these variables at T3 while controlling for the T1 predictor. Externalizing problems (pure or co-occurring with internalizing problems) were associated with low EC, high impulsivity, and negative emotionality, especially anger, and patterns of change also related to these variables. Internalizing problems were associated with low impulsivity and sadness and somewhat with high anger. Low attentional EC was related to internalizing problems only in regard to change in maladjustment. Change in impulsivity was associated with change in internalizing primarily when controlling for change in externalizing problems.
Emotion Regulation in Children with Emotional Problems
Cognitive Therapy and Research, 2014
The emotion regulation (ER)-specificity hypothesis assumes that a specific psychological problem is characterized by a specific maladaptive ER strategy. This hypothesis will be investigated for six child-DSM symptom clusters (Study 1) and for depressive symptoms (Study 2). We also investigated whether certain emotion regulation strategies can be detected through different forms of symptom clusters. Study 1 includes 432 school aged nonreferred youngsters (60 % girls; age range between 8 and 18 years) and Study 2 includes 128 school aged nonreferred youngsters (55 % girls; age range between 10 and 14 years). A self-report questionnaire, FEEL-KJ investigates a wide range of adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies. DSM symptom clusters (affective, anxiety, somatic, conduct, oppositional and ADHD problems) were measured by parent report on the Child Behaviour Checklist; depressive symptoms were measured with the Child Depression Inventory. Youngsters with emotional problems have specifically less adaptive ER strategies. The relation with maladaptive ER strategies can only be detected with self-reported depressive symptoms. ER strategies problem-oriented action and acceptance are transdiagnostically related to both internalizing and externalizing problems. For affective, somatic, conduct and ADHD problems the ER-specificity hypothesis is confirmed. Investigating ER strategies could be of clinical relevance specifically in children with affective, somatic, conduct and ADHD problems. Next, training deficits in the ER strategies Problem-oriented action and Acceptance can be considered as important in the treatment of all children with emotional problems.
Developmental Psychology, 2006
Although externalizing behavior typically peaks in toddlerhood and decreases by school entry, some children do not show this normative decline. A sample of 383 boys and girls was assessed at ages 2, 4, and 5 for externalizing behavior and at age 2 on measures of emotion regulation and inattention. A longitudinal latent profile analysis was performed and resulted in 4 longitudinal profiles of externalizing behavior for each gender. Poor emotion regulation and inattention were important predictors of membership in the chronic-clinical profile for girls, whereas socioeconomic status and inattention were important predictors of membership in the chronicclinical profile for boys. Results are discussed with respect to the development of adaptive skills that lead to normative declines in externalizing behavior across childhood.
Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 2007
The present study examined the role of emotion and emotion control in children's externalizing problems. Third-to sixth-grade children were administered a self-report measure of positive emotion, negative emotion, and emotion control. Peer-and teacher-reported adjustment problems were assessed. Structural equations modeling revealed that negative emotion, especially anger, was important in externalizing problems. Less positive emotion was associated with more externalizing problems. However, when negative emotion was examined in a more differentiated manner (anger, sadness and fear), the effect of positive emotion was diminished. Anger consistently emerged as a significant predictor of behavior problems. No interaction between either positive emotion and emotion control or negative emotion and emotion control was significant. Results showed main effects of each emotion component, with small interaction effects. Methodological and conceptual implications of the findings from the present study are discussed.
Social Development, 2011
Parent-reported reactions to children's negative emotions and child negative emotionality were investigated as correlates of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Children (N = 107) and their parents participated in a short-term longitudinal study of social development. Mothers and fathers independently completed questionnaires assessing parental reactions to their child's negative emotions and child negative emotionality at Time 1 (33 months) and child behavior problems at Time 2 (39 months). Child negative emotionality was significantly related to greater internalizing and externalizing behavior. Maternal and paternal punitive reactions were related to greater internalizing behavior, but only for boys with high levels of negative emotionality. Results indicate that child temperament and child gender may be important moderators of the relation between parental emotion socialization and child internalizing problems during the toddler and early preschool years.