Francine C. Jellesma

Cognitive coping and childhood anxiety disorders

To investigate differences in cognitive coping strategies between anxiety-disordered and non-anxious 9–11-year-old children. Additionally, differences in cognitive coping between specific anxiety disorders were examined. A clinical sample of 131 anxiety-disordered children and a general population sample of 452 non-anxious children were gathered. All children filled out the child version of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-k). Structured clinical interviews were used to assess childhood anxiety disorders. Results showed that anxiety-disordered children experience significantly more ‘lifetime’ negative life events than non-anxious children. Adjusted for the ‘lifetime’ experience of negative life events, anxiety-disordered children scored significantly higher on the strategies catastrophizing and rumination, and significantly lower on the strategies positive reappraisal and refocus on planning than non-anxious children. No significant differences in cognitive coping were found between children with specific anxiety disorders. Anxiety-disordered children employ significantly more maladaptive and less adaptive cognitive coping strategies in response to negative life events than non-anxious children. The results suggest that cognitive coping is a valuable target for prevention and treatment of childhood anxiety problems.

Do I feel sadness, fear or both? Comparing self-reported alexithymia and emotional task-performance in children with many or few somatic complaints

Children with many somatic complaints seem to report problems with emotion identification and communication (‘alexithymia’). The aim of this study was to verify whether children with somatic complaints do indeed show signs of alexithymia. We compared 35 children (M age = 10.99, SD = 13 months) with many somatic complaints with 34 children (M age = 11.03, SD = 12 months) reporting few complaints on the basis of a self-report alexithymia scale and tasks that require the skill to identify and communicate emotions: an emotional attention task, a structured interview about own emotions, and a mixed-emotion task. Children were also asked about the intensity of the reported emotions. Compared to children with few complaints, children with many complaints seemed to have higher self-reports of alexithymia. However, these results were explained by difficulty in communicating negative internal states and experiencing indefinable internal states, rather than difficulty in identifying emotions. In addition, children with many complaints reported higher intensities of fear and sadness. The children did not differ in their attention to emotions or causes of emotions. Children with many somatic complaints more often described previous emotional experiences and showed better abilities in identifying multiple emotions. Children with many somatic complaints thus show more negative emotional processing, but the alexithymia-hypothesis was unsupported.

Postponing worrisome thoughts in children: The effects of a postponement intervention on perseverative thoughts, emotions and somatic complaints

In this study we examined the prospective relationships between perseverative thoughts, internalizing negative emotions, and somatic complaints in children aged 9-13, and evaluated whether a perseverative thoughts intervention had a beneficial effect on these experiences. Children (N=227) from 7 primary schools in Leiden, the Netherlands, recorded their perseverative thoughts during one week, 138 of whom were instructed to postpone these thoughts to a special 30min period in the early evening. Children who had received the postponement instructions showed a reduction in the frequency of perseverative thoughts, and girls also in the duration of them. Girls perseverative thoughts were positively associated with the number of somatic complaints and with negative emotions. The postponement intervention also seemed to reduce somatic complaints in the seventh grade children. These findings confirm the previously found prospective relationship between perseverative thoughts and childrens well-being and provide initial validation for the use of the postponement intervention to reduce perseverative thoughts in this age group, particularly for girls.

Do parents reinforce somatic complaints in their children

OBJECTIVE To examine the influence of parental solicitousness on self-reported somatic complaints in school-age children. DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participants were 564 children (mean age 10 years) and their parents. Children completed self-report measures of somatic complaints, parental solicitousness, depressiveness, fear, and sense of coherence. Somatic complaints were assessed again 6 months later. Parents also completed a questionnaire about solicitousness. RESULTS Parental solicitousness as reported by children or parents was unrelated to the frequency of self-reported somatic complaints. Symptoms of depression, fear, and lower sense of coherence were associated with more somatic complaints, but did not interact with parental solicitousness. CONCLUSION Parental solicitousness seems unrelated to more frequent somatic complaints in schoolchildren.

Interaction between emotions and somatic complaints in children who did or did not seek medical care

This study aimed to investigate how emotional functioning can be linked to health problems in children. Three groups were compared: (1) a clinical group, consisting of children with abdominal pain, attending an out-patient clinic; (2) a group from the general population who had high scores on a self-report somatic complaint list; and (3) a group from the general population who reported no or few somatic complaints. It was shown that groups 1 and 2 experienced negative moods and negative emotions with a higher frequency and/or intensity, and had a lower feeling of competence than group 3. They were also more likely to act upon physical complaints in emotionally stressful situations than group 3, although all groups made use of emotion-focused strategies. It is suggested that it is not an impaired capacity to identify emotions (an important feature of alexithymia), but an inability to differentiate between, and cope with, negative emotions that might be an important factor in childrens health problems. Suggestions for future research are made.

Emotional Competence and Health in Children

The prevalence of pain complaints in children is a serious problem. Between 8 and 14 years of age, approximately one-third of children report pain at least once a week (Petersen, Bergstrom, & Brulin, 2003; Roth-Isigkeit, Thyen, Raspe, Stoven, & Schmucker, 2004). Pain complaints that involve the gastrointestinal system are highly prevalent in children (Perquin, Hazebroek-Kampschreur, Hunfeld, Van Suijlekom-Smit, Passchier, & Van der Wouden, 2000; Roth-Isigkeit et al., 2004). Many of these children have to undergo invasive medical testing, whereby they are missing out on school and outside-school activities. Consequently, their social, emotional, and cognitive development is at risk, which can cause even greater problems for their future (Roth-Isigkeit, Thyen, Stoven, Schwarzenberger, & Schmucker, 2005). Moreover, a clear medical cause can only be found in less than 10% of the children who attend the medical circuit (Edwards, Mullins, Johnson, & Bernardy, 1994;Walker et al., 2004). This raises the question whether factors other than those that are purely medical are involved.

De vragenlijst Non-Productieve Denkprocessen voor Kinderen (NPDK): Piekeren en rumineren

SamenvattingIn dit artikel wordt verslag gedaan van de ontwikkeling van de vragenlijst Non-Productieve Denkprocessen voor Kinderen (npdk). Met behulp van de npdk kunnen de circulaire denkprocessen piekeren en rumineren bij kinderen worden gemeten. De vragenlijst bestaat uit tien items die werden vastgesteld op basis van bestaande vragenlijsten naar piekeren en rumineren bij volwassenen. De interne betrouwbaarheid van de vragenlijst is goed. De validiteit van de vragenlijst vindt eveneens sterke ondersteuning in dit onderzoek. Ten eerste is er een positieve relatie tussen de npdk en cognitieve copingstrategieën waaraan eveneens circulaire denkprocessen ten grondslag liggen. Daarnaast hangt de lijst samen met negatief affect en het ervaren van weinig greep op situaties. Ten slotte blijkt er een relatie te zijn met emotionele problematiek zoals door ouders gerapporteerd.

Children's sense of coherence and trait emotional intelligence: A longitudinal study exploring the development of somatic complaints

The objective of this study was to investigate the prospective relationships between sense of coherence, trait emotional intelligence and childrens somatic complaints. The study included four waves of data collection with six months in between each wave. Participants were 324 girls and 393 boys (mean age = 10 years and 3 months, SD = 8.5 months) at the first time of data collection. The children filled out self-report questionnaires concerning their somatic complaints, sense of coherence and trait emotional intelligence. Multilevel model analyses were carried out that included cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of sense of coherence and trait emotional intelligence on childrens somatic complaints. The results showed that higher levels of trait emotional intelligence and a stronger sense of coherence were associated with fewer somatic complaints in children. These relationships seemed to be bidirectional.

Mind Magic: A Pilot Study of Preventive Mind-Body-Based Stress Reduction in Behaviorally Inhibited and Activated Children

Purpose of study: The aim of this pilot study was to examine a mind-body-based preventive intervention program and to determine relationships between children’s behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral activation system, stress, and stress reduction after the program. Design of study: Children participated in the program (n = 30) or in a control condition (n = 24). They filled out questionnaires before and after the program and reported their levels of stress before and after each of the five sessions. Method: The program consisted of weekly sessions. Each session incorporated yoga postures, visualization, and social exercises. Breathing techniques were integrated. Findings: Stress reductions were only seen in the intervention group and mainly in children with high BIS—irrespective of their behavioral activation system. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that children with high BIS may benefit from a mind-body-based stress reduction program.

De Nederlandstalige Sense of Coherence vragenlijst voor Kinderen

The Dutch Sense of Coherence Questionnaire for Ch\ildrenSence of coherence refers to the feeling that situations are comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. It is thought that sense of coherence protects people from aversive consequences of stressors. In the present study it was determined whether the Sense of Coherence Questionnaire for Children (SOC-K) is a valuable measurement for sense of coherence in children. The results of the study, which was conducted in 717 children, aged 8-12, show that the questionnaire has good psychometric properties. The validity of the questionnaire was supported by a negative relationship with somatic complaints, social anxiety, and depressiveness. Moreover, it was demonstrated that there was a strong relationship between the score on the questionnaire at the first measurement and that of 6 months later. This indicates that sense of coherence could be an important variable in the prevention and/or treatment of somatic complaints and negative moods in children.