Erika S. Lunkenheimer

Individual differences in the development of early peer aggression: Integrating contributions of self-regulation, theory of mind, and parenting

This prospective longitudinal study focused on self-regulatory, social-cognitive, and parenting precursors of individual differences in childrens peer-directed aggression at early school age. Participants were 199 3-year-old boys and girls who were reassessed following the transition to kindergarten (5.5-6 years). Peer aggression was assessed in preschool and school settings using naturalistic observations and teacher reports. Childrens self-regulation abilities and theory of mind understanding were assessed during a laboratory visit, and parenting risk (corporal punishment and low warmth/responsiveness) was assessed using interview-based and questionnaire measures. Individual differences in childrens peer aggression were moderately stable across the preschool to school transition. Preschool-age children who manifested high levels of aggressive peer interactions also showed lower levels of self-regulation and theory of mind understanding, and experienced higher levels of adverse parenting than others. Our main finding was that early corporal punishment was associated with increased levels of peer aggression across the transition from preschool to school, as was the interaction between low maternal emotional support and childrens early delays in theory of mind understanding. These data highlight the need for family-directed preventive efforts during the early preschool years.

Dyadic flexibility and positive affect in parent-child coregulation and the development of child behavior problems.

Parent-child dyadic rigidity and negative affect contribute to childrens higher levels of externalizing problems. The present longitudinal study examined whether the opposite constructs of dyadic flexibility and positive affect predicted lower levels of externalizing behavior problems across the early childhood period. Mother-child (N = 163) and father-child (n = 94) dyads engaged in a challenging block design task at home when children were 3 years old. Dynamic systems methods were used to derive dyadic positive affect and three indicators of dyadic flexibility (range, dispersion, and transitions) from observational coding. We hypothesized that the interaction between dyadic flexibility and positive affect would predict lower levels of externalizing problems at age 5.5 years as rated by mothers and teachers, controlling for stability in externalizing problems, task time, child gender, and the childs effortful control. The hypothesis was supported in predicting teacher ratings of child externalizing from both mother-child and father-child interactions. There were also differential main effects for mothers and fathers: mother-child flexibility was detrimental and father-child flexibility was beneficial for child outcomes. Results support the inclusion of adaptive and dynamic parent-child coregulation processes in the study of childrens early disruptive behavior.

Chapter Two - Emerging Behavioral Phenotypes and Dynamic Systems Theory

Abstract This article examines development in children with neurogenetic disorders in the context of dynamic systems theory. Use of the dynamic systems framework enables researchers to view development in neurogenetic disorders as an ongoing process of self-organization in a complex system with many interacting components. We present a review of three principles of self-organization from a dynamic systems framework—attractor states, developmental cascades, and phase transitions—and explore how these principles may inform the study of phenotypic development in children with neurogenetic disorders. Implications for future work on development and behavioral phenotypes in this population are discussed.

Coregulation of respiratory sinus arrhythmia between parents and preschoolers: differences by children's externalizing problems

The coordination of physiological processes between parents and infants is thought to support behaviors critical for infant adaptation, but we know little about parent-child physiological coregulation during the preschool years. The present study examined whether time-varying changes in parent and child respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) exhibited coregulation (across-person dynamics) accounting for individual differences in parent and child RSA, and whether there were differences in these parasympathetic processes by childrens externalizing problems. Mother-child dyads (N = 47; Child age M = 3½ years) engaged in three laboratory tasks (free play, clean up, puzzle task) for 18 min, during which RSA data were collected. Multilevel coupled autoregressive models revealed that mothers and preschoolers showed positive coregulation of RSA such that changes in mother RSA predicted changes in the same direction in child RSA and vice versa, controlling for the stability of within-person RSA over time and individual differences in overall mean RSA. However, when childrens externalizing behaviors were higher, coregulation was negative such that changes in real-time mother and child RSA showed divergence rather than positive concordance. Results suggest that mothers and preschoolers do coregulate RSA during real-time interactions, but that childrens higher externalizing behavior problems are related to disruptions in these processes.

Families as Coordinated Symbiotic Systems: Making use of Nonlinear Dynamic Models

Family and dynamic systems theories have emerged from basic principles of general systems theory (von Bertalanffy General systems theory. George Braziller. New York, 1968). In this chapter, we illustrate how one of the modeling frameworks being used in ecology (nonlinear dynamic models) can be used to study family systems. First, we review some of the theoretical principles at the core of dynamic systems theory that can be applied to the study of families. Second, we briefly summarize how the taxonomies used in biological ecology to describe interspecies interactions (e.g., symbiosis) have been articulated using the general mathematical framework for nonlinear dynamic models. Third, we consider how this ecological framework is being applied in the study of family systems. Fourth, we introduce an example with data collected from a married couple around the birth of their first child using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) multiple-burst design. Finally, we indicate what we anticipate will be fruitful pursuits for future thinking and research.

Associations Between Marital Conflict and Adolescent Conflict Appraisals, Stress Physiology, and Mental Health

The goal of the current study was to examine conflict appraisals and diurnal cortisol production as mediators of the robust association between marital conflict and adolescent adjustment problems. Parents reported their marital conflict and were observed engaging in a marital conflict discussion; they also reported adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Adolescents (n = 105, 52% female, 10–17 years of age) appraised their parents’ marital conflict and reported their internalizing and externalizing behaviors. After the laboratory visit, adolescents provided four saliva samples on each of 2 consecutive days to assess diurnal cortisol production. More-negative marital conflict predicted more self-blame for parental conflict, which in turn predicted less robust decreases in cortisol across the day. Further, this flattened cortisol production pattern mediated the relationship between greater self-blame for parental conflict and adolescents’ elevated internalizing behaviors. Feeling responsible for parental conflict appears to be particularly damaging in terms of physiological regulation and adjustment, and may therefore be a particularly useful intervention target.

The Long-Term Economic Benefits of Natural Mentoring Relationships for Youth

Natural mentors have been shown to help improve psychological and educational outcomes of youth, and may serve an important role for youth experiencing risk in the home. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we investigated the associations between natural mentors during youth and income during early adulthood, including how these relations were moderated by the absence of a father figure and race. We also estimated the lifetime economic benefits to having a natural mentor. The presence of a natural mentor alone did not have a significant impact on annual earnings during adulthood. However, youth without a father but who had a male mentor earned significantly more, on average, than those without a male mentor. These effects were more pronounced in a subsample of African American youth. The net present value of total lifetime benefits to having a male natural mentor was approximately

Assessing Biobehavioural Self‐Regulation and Coregulation in Early Childhood: The Parent‐Child Challenge Task

190,000 for all fatherless youth and

Harsh parenting, child behavior problems, and the dynamic coupling of parents’ and children’s positive behaviors.

458,000 for African American fatherless youth. These results suggest that natural mentors play a crucial role in economic outcomes for youth, which may vary by sociodemographic factors.

Breaking down the coercive cycle: How parent and child risk factors influence real-time variability in parental responses to child misbehavior

Researchers have argued for more dynamic and contextually relevant measures of regulatory processes in interpersonal interactions. In response, we introduce and examine the effectiveness of a new task, the Parent-Child Challenge Task, designed to assess the self-regulation and coregulation of affect, goal-directed behavior, and physiology in parents and their preschoolers in response to an experimental perturbation. Concurrent and predictive validity was examined via relations with childrens externalizing behaviors. Mothers used only their words to guide their 3-year-old children to complete increasingly difficult puzzles in order to win a prize (N = 96). A challenge condition was initiated mid-way through the task with a newly introduced time limit. The challenge produced decreases in parental teaching and dyadic behavioral variability and increases in child negative affect and dyadic affective variability, measured by dynamic systems-based methods. Children rated lower on externalizing showed respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression in response to challenge, whereas those rated higher on externalizing showed RSA augmentation. Additionally, select task changes in affect, behavior, and physiology predicted teacher-rated externalizing behaviors four months later. Findings indicate the Parent-Child Challenge Task was effective in producing regulatory changes and suggest its utility in assessing biobehavioral self-regulation and coregulation in parents and their preschoolers.