Narrative representations of moral-affiliative and conflictual themes and behavioral problems in maltreated preschoolers

Emotionsregulation und Gedankenunterdrückung: Aspekte der Entwicklung von Depressionen und deren Implikationen

Zusammenfassung. Prominentes Merkmal von Depressionen ist die Störung der Regulation von Stimmungen und Emotionen. Emotionsregulatorische Aspekte werden allerdings häufig vernachlässigt bei der konzeptionellen Fassung und der Behandlung von Depressionen. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird die Rolle dieser Aspekte bei der Entstehung von Depressionen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Gedankenunterdrückung als eines Versuches von Emotionsregulation dargestellt. Der willentliche Versuch an etwas, das die Stimmung negativ beeinflussen könnte, nicht zu denken, hat nicht nur langfristig den paradoxen Effekt, dass dieser Gedanke infolge besonders häufig auftritt und die gedankliche Kontrolle verloren geht, sondern zeigt auch eine Reihe weiterer kognitiver wie emotionaler Folgen, die bei der Entstehung von Depressionen eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Die Implikationen dieser Befunde werden diskutiert und expressives Schreiben nach Pennebaker im Rahmen des Präventionsprogramms “JES!“ (Jugendpräventionsprogramm mit Expressivem Schreiben) als eine Möglichkeit emotionsregulationsfördernder Maßnahmen vorgestellt.

Assessment of anxiety in young children

Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and disabling conditions that can be identified in young children. Observations of infant temperament and attachment relationships have shown that certain early infant behaviors can be linked to later anxiety disorders. Research involving play narrative stories, pictures, cartoons, and puppets has demonstrated preliminary validity for new assessment methods of young children. Preliminary studies also have been conducted with new questionnaires and diagnostic interviews. Additional research is needed to refine these methods and to develop new comprehensive measures that focus specifically on different aspects of anxiety in young children.

Narrative representations of caregivers and emotion dysregulation as predictors of maltreated children's rejection by peers

This study examined whether maltreated children were more likely than nonmaltreated children to develop poor-quality representations of caregivers and whether these representations predicted children's rejection by peers. A narrative task assessing representations of mothers and fathers was administered to 76 maltreated and 45 nonmaltreated boys and girls (8-12 years old). Maltreated children's representations were more negative/constricted and less positive/coherent than those of nonmaltreated children. Maladaptive representations were associated with emotion dysregulation, aggression, and peer rejection, whereas positive/coherent representations were related to prosocial behavior and peer preference. Representations mediated maltreatment's effects on peer rejection in part by undermining emotion regulation. Findings suggest that representations of caregivers serve an important regulatory function in the peer relationships of at-risk children.

Narrative representations of caregivers and self in maltreated pre-schoolers

This study examined narrative representations of parents and of self, as well as child behavior during the assessment, in maltreated (N = 56) and demographically comparable non-maltreated (N = 37) pre-school-aged children in a one-year longitudinal study. Maltreated children evidenced more negative representations of parents and of self at Time 2, including the juxta-position of both a negative and a grandiose self. Over time there was a marginal interaction such that maltreated children portrayed fewer disciplining parent representations and nonmaltreated children portrayed more. Also over time, maltreated children portrayed marginally more grandiose self-representations and nonmaltreated children fewer. Furthermore, maltreated children demonstrated less responsivity to the examiner over time and nonmaltreated children demonstrated more. The deleterious effects of maltreatment on representations of self and of others, especially as development proceeds, are discussed, and the importance of providing attachment-informed intervention prior to the consolidation of these negative representations is highlighted.