Maternal Expressive Style and Children's Emotional Development

Maternal Trauma and Psychopathology Symptoms Affect Refugee Children's Mental Health But Not Their Emotion Processing

Refugee children's development may be affected by their parents' war-related trauma exposure and psychopathology symptoms across a range of cognitive and affective domains, but the processes involved in this transmission are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and mental health on their children's mental health and attention biases to emotional expressions. In our sample of 324 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads living in Jordan (children's Mage=6.32, SD = 1.18; 50% female), mothers reported on their symptoms of anxiety and depression, and on their children's internalising, externalising, and attention problems. A subset of mothers reported their trauma exposure (n = 133) and PTSD symptoms (n = 124). We examined emotion processing in the dyads using a standard dot-probe task measuring their attention allocation to facial expressions of anger and sadness. Maternal trauma and PTSD symptoms were linked to child internalising and attention problems, while maternal anxiety and depression symptoms were associated with child internalising, externalising, and attention problems. Mothers and children were hypervigilant towards expressions of anger, but surprisingly, mother and child biases were not correlated with each other. The attentional biases to emotional faces were also not linked to psychopathology risk in the dyads. Our findings highlight the importance of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and psychopathology on their children's wellbeing. The results also suggest a dissociation between the mechanisms underlying mental health and those involved in attention to emotional faces, and that intergenerational transmission of mental health problems might involve mechanisms other than attentional processes relating to emotional expressions.

Mothers' emotional expressivity in urban and rural societies: Salience and links with young adolescents' emotional wellbeing and expressivity

This research aims to investigate the salience of mothers' emotional expressivity and its links with adolescents' emotional wellbeing and expressivity in an urban society endorsing more individualism and a rural society ascribing to more collectivism. By comparing Chinese urban (N = 283, M age = 14.13) and rural (N = 247, M age = 14.09) adolescents, this research found that urban mothers' expression of positive-dominant and positive-submissive emotions (PD and PS) were more common while expression of negative-dominant (ND) emotions was less common than rural mothers'. PD and PS had significant links with urban and rural adolescents' increased emotional expressivity and self-esteem, however, only significantly related to urban adolescents' decreased depression but not with rural adolescents'. ND had significant links with both urban and rural adolescents' expression of negative emotions, however, only significantly correlated with urban adolescents' less level of self-esteem and rural adolescents' more expression of positive emotions. No significant difference was found in the salience of urban and rural mothers' expression of negative-submissive (NS) emotions, which positively related to both urban and rural adolescents' depression and emotional expressivity. Moreover, we found that adolescents' emotional wellbeing (i.e., self-esteem and depression) mediated the relationship between mothers' emotional expressivity and adolescents' expressivity in both societies. Overall, the study findings document that the salience of mothers' emotional expressivity and its relations with adolescents' emotional adjustment differ between urban and rural societies.

Longitudinal bidirectional relations between children’s negative affectivity and maternal emotion expressivity

Although children’s negative affectivity is a temperamental characteristic that is biologically based, it is framed within and shaped by their emotional environments which are partly created by maternal emotion expressivity in the family. Children, in turn, play a role in shaping their family emotional context, which could lead to changes in mothers’ emotion expressivity in the family. However, these theorized longitudinal bidirectional relations between child negative affectivity and maternal positive and negative expressivity have not been studied from toddlerhood to early school-age. The current study utilized a cross-lagged panel model to examine the reciprocal relations between children’s negative affectivity and maternal expressivity within the family over the course of early childhood. Participants were 140 mother–child dyads (72 boys, mean age = 2.67 years, primarily White). Mothers reported the positive and negative expressivity in the family and children’s negative affectivity in toddlerhood (T1), preschool (T2), and school-age (T3). Maternal negative expressivity and child negative affectivity at T1 were significantly correlated. Maternal negative expressivity at T1 significantly predicted child negative affectivity at T3. Children’s negative affectivity at T2 significantly predicted mothers’ negative expressivity at T3. Mothers’ positive expressivity was not related to children’s negative affectivity at any of the three time points. The findings demonstrate the reciprocal relations between children’s negative affectivity and maternal negative expressivity in the family, suggesting the importance of the interplay between child temperament and maternal expressivity within the family emotional context.

Proximal and distal predictors of self-regulatory change in children aged 4 to 7 years

Background

Growth in early self-regulation skills has been linked to positive health, wellbeing, and achievement trajectories across the lifespan. While individual studies have documented specific influences on self-regulation competencies in early childhood, few have modelled a comprehensive range of predictors of self-regulation change across health, development, and environment simultaneously. This study aimed to examine the concurrent associations among a range of proximal and distal influences on change in children’s self-regulation skills over 2 years from age 4–5 years.

Methods

Data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 4983) were used in a structural equation model, predicting a multi-source composite measure of self-regulation at each of 4–5 years and 6–7 years. By controlling for earlier self-regulation and covariates, the model examined the relative contributions of a comprehensive range of variables to self-regulation change including health, development, educational, home environment, time-use, and neighbourhood characteristics.

Results

The significant predictors of children’s self-regulation growth across 4 to 7 years were fewer behavioural sleep problems, higher gross motor and pre-academic skills, lower levels of maternal and paternal angry parenting, and lower levels of financial hardship. There were also marginal effects for high-quality home learning environments and child-educator relationships.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that if we are to successfully foster children’s self-regulation skills, interventionists would do well to operate not only on children’s current capacities but also key aspects of their surrounding context.

Maternal childhood emotional abuse predicts Chinese infant behavior problems: Examining mediating and moderating processes

The current study examined the mediating effect of maternal negative expressiveness as well as the moderating effects of infant inhibitory control (IC) in the association between maternal childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and infant behavior problems. Drawing from 207 families from mainland China, 2-wave data were reported in this study when the infants were 6 months (T1) and 14 (T2) months. Mothers (Mean age = 32.85 years, SD = 4.04) reported their CEA on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) at T1, and their negative expressiveness on the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire (SEFQ) at T2. The Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) and a reverse categorization task were used to measure infant behavior problems and IC at T2, respectively. The results showed that T1 maternal CEA, rather than physical and sexual abuse, uniquely predicted T2 negative expressiveness. Maternal negative expressiveness significantly mediated the positive relations of maternal CEA and infant externalizing, internalizing and dysregulation problems. In addition, the moderated mediation model showed that the association between maternal negative expressiveness and infant dysregulation problems was moderated by infant IC. Specifically, the mediating pathway from maternal CEA to dysregulation problems through maternal negative expressiveness was significant, only for infants with poor IC. The results were robust even after controlling for family socio-economic status (SES), maternal childhood physical and sexual abuse. The importance of mediating and moderating processes in understanding the effect of maternal emotional abuse during childhood on infant behavior problems is discussed.

DYSFUNCTIONS IN THE SOCIO EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS AND ITS RELATED FACTORS: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

ABSTRACT Objective: to synthesize factors related to dysfunctions in the socioemotional development of infants. Method: integrative review carried out between April and August 2016 with defined criteria for inclusion and exclusion of studies, search strategies, extraction and synthesis of data. The exposure factors underwent categorical thematic analysis and systematization according to the levels of the context (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem and Macrosystem) of the Bioecological Model of Human Development. Results: in the context of the Microsystem and Mesosystem, the factors found were: limitations in care; adversities in family relationships and in the social support and illness situation of the caregivers that influence the proximal processes. In the Exosystem and the Macrosystem, they were: social vulnerabilities of caregivers and fragilities of public policies that determine the material and social conditions of the family. Conclusion: the synthesis of evidence on exposure factors favors the construction of measurement scales of the contextual elements related to the social emotional development of young children. Beyond the milestones, present or not, in the evaluation of a child, these technologies can be predictive, with great potential of anticipation of the factors of exposure and prevention of developmental dysfunctions.

Longitudinal associations between physically abusive parents' emotional expressiveness and children's self-regulation

The present study took a developmental psychopathology approach to examine the longitudinal association between parents' emotional expressiveness and children's self-regulation. Data collection spanned from 2004 to 2008. Ninety-two physically abusive parents completed yearly assessments of their emotional expressiveness, as well as their children's self-regulation abilities. Observational and behavioral measures were also obtained yearly to capture both parents' emotional expressiveness and children's self-regulation. Specifically, parents participated in a parent-child interaction task, which provided insight into their levels of flat affect. A puzzle box task was completed by each child to assess self-regulation. Results indicated, first, that greater parental expression of negative emotions predicted poorer self-regulation in children, both concurrently and across time. Second, parental expressions of positive emotions and parents' flat affect were unrelated to children's self-regulation. Findings inform our understanding of parental socialization of self-regulation and provide insight into the roles of distinct components of emotional expressiveness. Moreover, findings have crucial implications for understanding emotional expressiveness in high-risk samples and increase our understanding of within-group functioning among maltreating families that may serve as a means to direct intervention efforts.

Relations of Parent-Child Interaction to Chinese Young Children's Emotion Understanding

The present study examined the relationship between parent-child interaction and children's emotion understanding ability. The participants were 56 three-year-old children and their mothers from Beijing, China. Mothers and children took part in three dyadic interaction tasks and were video recorded for coding of both mothers’ and children's behaviours. Each child completed three individually administered tests of emotion understanding, including the facial expression recognition task, emotion perspective-taking task, and emotion reason understanding task. Results demonstrated that both mothers’ and children's interaction behaviours were related to children's emotion understanding. Gender differences were found in the relationships between interaction behaviours and children's emotion understanding. Girls’ emotion understanding was associated with children's positive behaviours. In contrast, boys’ emotion understanding was not associated with children's positive behaviours, but related to mothers’ negative behaviours.

The sociocultural context of emotion socialization in African American families

The current paper systematically reviews empirical research on parental emotion socialization in African American families, addressing gaps in a literature that has historically focused on White middle class samples. Of the 1210 studies screened, 329 were inspected, 280 were excluded, and 49 were included. Studies addressed emotion-related beliefs and attitudes, emotion expressiveness, discussion of emotion, and responses to children's emotion. Mixed findings are interpreted in light of sociocultural factors. An emerging body of research suggests that the celebration and restriction of children's emotions coexist closely in African American families, perhaps reflecting the joint influence of traditional Afro-cultural values and the historical context of slavery and discrimination. Methodological issues are identified and future directions for research and practice are discussed.

Elterliche Emotionsdysregulation als Risikofaktor für die kindliche Entwicklung

Zusammenfassung. Emotionsregulation ist eines der zentralen Themen der Entwicklungspsychopathologie. Der überwiegende Anteil an Forschungsarbeiten widmet sich der Frage zur Entwicklung von Emotionsregulation, welche als zentrale Entwicklungsaufgabe im Kindesalter erachtet wird. Die Herausbildung einer altersangemessenen Emotionsregulation besitzt eine entscheidende Bedeutung für die psychische Gesundheit und dem späteren Schulerfolg eines Kindes. Obwohl die elterliche Emotionsregulation als ein zentraler Aspekt des Erziehungsverhaltens verstanden wird, ist noch immer nicht hinreichend geklärt, wie Eltern ihre eigenen Gefühle im Erziehungskontext regulieren. Dieser Beitrag bietet einen Überblick zum aktuellen Forschungsstand zu den Auswirkungen einer elterlichen Emotions(dys)regulation auf familiäre Prozesse der kindlichen Emotionsregulation und den Entwicklungsergebnissen des Kindes. Empfehlungen für die klinische Praxis werden diskutiert.

What enhances the development of emotion understanding in young children? A longitudinal study of interpersonal predictors

We studied potential determinants of the development of children's emotion understanding (EU) from age 4 to 6 in a Norwegian community sample (N = 974) using the Test of Emotion Comprehension. Interpersonal predictors included the accuracy of parental mentalization, parental emotional availability, and teacher-reported child social skills. Intrapersonal child factors were child gender and verbal skills. Overall, children's EU increased significantly over time. After adjusting for child gender, age-4 EU, and parental socio-economic status, greater child verbal and social skills and greater parental mentalization each uniquely predicted growth in EU. Results are discussed in terms of theory and research on children's EU and parents' emotion socialization.

Verständnis von Emotionsregulationsstrategien im Vorschulalter

Ein differenziertes Verständnis von Emotionsregulationsstrategien stellt eine bedeutsame Ressource dar, die die Emotionsregulationsfähigkeit steigert. In der Studie wurde untersucht, ob Drei- bis Fünfjährige (N = 208) unterschiedliche Emotionsregulationsstrategien in ihrer Wirksamkeit einschätzen können. Den Kindern wurden sechs Bildergeschichten mit den Emotionen Ärger, Trauer und Angst präsentiert. Zu jeder Geschichte wurden vier Strategien vorgegeben, die die Kinder auf ihre Wirksamkeit hin einschätzen sollten. Das Ergebnis der Varianzanalyse zeigte einen signifikanten Interaktionseffekt des Alters und der Effektivität der Strategien. Dabei nehmen die korrekten Nennungen der effektiven Strategien über das Vorschulalter nicht zu, während die Fähigkeit, ineffektive Strategien auszuschließen, über die Altersstufen ansteigt. Darüber hinaus konnte eine Regressionsanalyse einen Effekt des kognitiven und keinen Effekt des sprachlichen Entwicklungsstandes auf das Verständnis von Emotionsregulationsstrategien belegen. Die Methode zur Erfassung des Verständnisses von Emotionsregulationsstrategien wurde diskutiert.