Anne Conway

Happiness unpacked: positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience.

Happiness-a composite of life satisfaction, coping resources, and positive emotions-predicts desirable life outcomes in many domains. The broaden-and-build theory suggests that this is because positive emotions help people build lasting resources. To test this hypothesis, the authors measured emotions daily for 1 month in a sample of students (N = 86) and assessed life satisfaction and trait resilience at the beginning and end of the month. Positive emotions predicted increases in both resilience and life satisfaction. Negative emotions had weak or null effects and did not interfere with the benefits of positive emotions. Positive emotions also mediated the relation between baseline and final resilience, but life satisfaction did not. This suggests that it is in-the-moment positive emotions, and not more general positive evaluations of ones life, that form the link between happiness and desirable life outcomes. Change in resilience mediated the relation between positive emotions and increased life satisfaction, suggesting that happy people become more satisfied not simply because they feel better but because they develop resources for living well.

Girls, Aggression, and Emotion Regulation

Many studies have demonstrated that boys are more aggressive than girls (see J. D. Coie & K. Dodge, 1997, for a review) and that emotion regulation difficulties are associated with problematic behaviors (N. Eisenberg & R. A. Fabes, 1999; M. Gilliom, D. S. Shaw, J. E. Beck, M. A. Schonberg, & J. L. Lukon, 2002). However, recent findings indicate that gender differences in aggressive behaviors disappear when assessments are broadened to include relational aggression--behaviors designed to harm the relationship goals of others by spreading rumors, gossiping, and eliciting peer rejection of others. Moreover, although difficulties regulating emotions have been reported for physically aggressive children, little research has examined these processes in relationally aggressive children. This article argues that investigation into the associations between emotion regulation and relational aggression is a critical direction for future research on the etiology and prevention of mental health problems in girls.

Emotional resilience in early childhood: developmental antecedents and relations to behavior problems.

Abstract:  To test whether the development of emotional resilience is a function of sensitive caregiving and child negative affect, we tested the joint contributions of 7‐month maternal sensitivity and infant negative affect to the prediction of 33‐month emotional resilience across the first 3 years of life. The aims of this study were to examine whether maternal sensitivity and infant negative affect predict long‐term emotional resilience and whether this was associated with preschool behavior problems. Using a sample of 181 mother–infant dyads, we found that (a) maternal sensitivity at 7 months, but not infant negative affect, longitudinally predicted emotional resilience during preschool and (b) emotional resilience was negatively associated with anxiety/depression in preschool.

Attentional Control Moderates Relations Between Negative Affect and Neural Correlates of Action Monitoring in Adolescence

This study examined the moderating role of attentional control on relations between negative affect and action monitoring event related potentials (ERPs) (error-related negativity (ERN) and N2) in a group of healthy adolescents (9 to 17 years old). These ERPs were recorded while participants completed a modified flanker task. Participants also completed the negative affect subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS–C) and the attentional control subscale of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire–Revised (EATQ–R). Regression analyses revealed negative affect by attentional control interactions, suggesting that youth high in attentional control and high in negative affect show increased N2 amplitude and a trend toward increased ERN amplitude. These findings are discussed with regard to the interface of attention and emotion processes that are implicated in action monitoring and relevance to the study of self-regulation during adolescence.

MATERNAL SENSITIVITY AND LATENCY TO POSITIVE EMOTION FOLLOWING CHALLENGE: PATHWAYS THROUGH EFFORTFUL CONTROL

The ability to self-generate positive emotions is an important component of emotion regulation. In this study, we focus on childrens latency to express positive emotions following challenging situations and assess whether this ability operates through early maternal sensitivity and childrens effortful control. Longitudinal relations between maternal sensitivity, infant negative affect, effortful control, and latency to positive emotion following challenge were examined in 156 children who were 33 months of age. Structural equation models supported the hypothesis that maternal sensitivity during infancy predicted better effortful control and, in turn, shorter latencies to positive emotions following challenge at 33 months. Directions for future research are discussed.

Latino suicidal adolescent psychosocial service utilization: The role of mood fluctuations and inattention

BACKGROUND Little is known about the specific factors related to whether or not Latino adolescents with suicide ideation (SI) will seek services. Utilizing Andersens Behavior Model of Health Services Use (2008) the goal of this study is to identify the factors related to utilization of mental health services by Latino adolescents with SI to inform and improve suicide prevention efforts. METHOD Data from Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was examined. Predispositional (gender, age), enabling/disabling (income, lack of insurance, difficulty obtaining medical care), and need (depressed mood, suicide attempt, perceived health, impulsivity, mood fluctuations, difficulties with attention, etc.) variables were examined via logistic regression as potential correlates of mental health service utilization. RESULTS Twenty-eight percent of the Latino adolescents with suicidal ideation (SI) in our sample received mental health services. Need factors such as daily mood fluctuations within the past 12 months (OR=4.78) and frequent difficulty focusing attention within the past week (OR=4.96), but not impulsivity, were associated with an increased likelihood of receiving mental health services. No additional associations were observed. LIMITATIONS The current study is based on cross-sectional data. Therefore, statements about causality cannot be made. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that emotion regulation (e.g., daily mood fluctuations) and neurocognitive factors (e.g., difficulty with focusing attention) may be important factors to consider in the clinical assessment of Latino adolescents with SI.

Testing Reciprocal Links Between Trouble Getting to Sleep and Internalizing Behavior Problems, and Bedtime Resistance and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Toddlers

Sleep problems are associated with problematic adjustment in toddlers, but less is known regarding the direction of association between specific sleep problems and adjustment. To address this gap, we used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1001) to examine reciprocal associations between sleep problems and behavior problems from 24- to 36-months. Results from cross-lagged path models suggested specificity of associations between type of sleep problem and behavior problem. Specifically, there were reciprocal associations between trouble getting to sleep and internalizing problems, and unidirectional links between externalizing problems and bedtime resistance from 24- to 36-months. Internalizing and externalizing problems at 24 months, however, predicted increases in bedtime resistance from 24- to 36-months for boys, but not girls. Findings highlight specific relations between sleep problems and internalizing and externalizing problems during toddlerhood, and the importance of examining sex differences.

Maternal Sensitivity Predicts Fewer Sleep Problems at Early Adolescence for Toddlers with Negative Emotionality: A Case of Differential Susceptibility

Theory underscores the importance of parenting in sleep development, but few studies have examined whether links vary by temperament. To address this gap, we tested whether potential links between early maternal sensitivity and early adolescent sleep problems varied by child negative emotionality and delay of gratification. Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 820), we found that high maternal sensitivity predicted fewer bedtime problems and longer sleep duration at 6th grade for toddlers with high negative emotionality, whereas low maternal sensitivity predicted the reverse. No differences were observed for low negative emotionality. Moreover, delay of gratification predicted fewer bedtime problems at 6th grade, but did not moderate associations between maternal sensitivity, negative emotionality, and sleep. Findings demonstrate that high, but not low, negative emotionality renders toddlers differentially susceptible and receptive to maternal sensitivity in relation to sleep.