Kimberly Shipman

Anger and Sadness Regulation: Predictions to Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Children

Examined the relation between childrens self-reported anger and sadness regulation and the presence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Participants were 121 boys and 106 girls in the fourth and fifth grades who completed the Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC), Emotion Expression Scale for Children (EESC), and Childrens Emotion Management Scales (CSMS, CAMS) and rated each other on aggressive behavior. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that the inability to identify emotional states, the inhibition of anger, the dysregulation of anger and sadness, and the constructive coping with anger predicted internalizing symptoms. The dysregulated expression of sadness and constructive coping with anger were inversely related to externalizing symptoms.

DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL VALIDATION OF THE CHILDREN'S SADNESS MANAGEMENT SCALE

Although sadness in children is a normal and transient experience, research has not investigated how children manage sadness. Understanding normative sadness management has important implications for helping children who exhibit maladaptive forms of emotional expression. The Childrens Sadness Management Scale (CSMS) was developed to assess childrens inhibition, dysregulated-expression, and coping with sadness experience and expression. Using multiple informants, reliability and validity were established based on a community sample of 227 fourth- and fifth-grade childrens self-report, maternal report (N = 171), and peer ratings of behavior (N = 227). A three-factor solution was supported with strong internal consistency for the Inhibition scale and moderately strong internal consistency for the Emotion Regulation Coping and Dysregulated-Expression scales. Findings indicate that the CSMS provides a reliable and valid measure of normative sadness management.

Socialization of children's emotion regulation in mother-child dyads: a developmental psychopathology perspective.

This study investigated the socialization of childrens emotion regulation in 25 physically maltreating and 25 nonmaltreating mother-child dyads. Maltreating mothers and their 6- to 12-year-old children were recruited from two parenting programs affiliated with Childrens Protective Services with a control group matched on race, SES, child gender, and child age. Children and their mothers were interviewed individually about their (a) management of emotional expression. (b) strategies for coping with emotional arousal, and (c) anticipated consequences following emotional displays. Compared to controls, maltreated children expected less maternal support in response to their emotional displays, reported being less likely to display emotions to their mothers, and generated fewer effective coping strategies for anger. Maltreating mothers indicated less understanding of childrens emotional displays and fewer effective strategies for helping children to cope with emotionally arousing situations than nonmaltreating mothers. Further, findings indicated that maternal socialization practices (e.g., providing support in response to childrens emotional display, generating effective coping strategies for their child) mediate the relation between child maltreatment and childrens regulation of emotional expression and emotional arousal. These findings suggest that childrens emotion regulation strategies are influenced by their relationship with their social environment (e.g.. physically maltreating, nonmaltreating) and that the experience of a physically maltreating relationship may interfere with childrens emotional development.

Emotion management skills in sexually maltreated and nonmaltreated girls: A developmental psychopathology perspective

Research has demonstrated that children who experience familial sexual maltreatment are at risk for developing psychological difficulties characterized by emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Surprisingly, however, little attention has been directed toward identifying processes in emotional development that differ in maltreated and nonmaltreated children. From a developmental psychopathology perspective, the present study examined emotion management skills (i.e., emotional understanding, emotion regulation) in 21 sexually maltreated girls and their nonmaltreated peers to determine how the experience of sexual maltreatment may interfere with normative emotional development. Findings indicated that sexually maltreated girls, in comparison to their nonmaltreated peers, demonstrate lower emotional understanding and decreased ability to regulate their emotions in accordance with cultural expectations. Further, maltreated girls expected less emotional support and more relational conflict from parents in response to sadness displays and from parents and peers in response to anger displays. These findings will be discussed from the functionalist approach to emotional development, emphasizing the importance of social context (e.g., maltreating, nonmaltreating) in the development of childrens emotion management skills.

Children's Expression of Negative Affect: Reasons and Methods.

This study examined the influence of socialization figures (mother, father, best friend, medium friend), emotion type (anger, sadness, physical pain ), age, and gender on 66 2nd and 71 5th-grade childrens reasons for and methods of affect expression. Children reported expressing sadness in order to receive support, expressing pain because they perceived it was uncontrollable, and regulating anger due to negative consequences. Girls reported using verbal means to communicate emotion, whereas boys cited mild aggressive methods. Younger children indicated expressing emotion to receive assistance because they lack regulation skills, and to adhere to norms. Children expressed emotion in passive ways to fathers more than peers, and mothers were deemed by younger children as most accepting of displays of anger.

Co-occurrence of spousal violence and child abuse: conceptual implications

Although research has suggested high levels of comorbidity between spouse abuse and child abuse (Carlson, 1984), there has been little attention directed toward identifying factors that may distinguish spouse-abusive and spouse- and child-abusive families. The present study examined what familial and child factors differentiate between nonabusive, spouse-abusive, and spouse- and child-abusive families. Findings indicated a constellation of factors that discriminated between groups, although the discrimination was most effective between nonviolent and violent groups. Of particular interest was the observation that spouse-abusive and spouse- and child-abusive families differed primarily in severity and not qualitative pattern (Trickett, 1998). Conceptual implications of findings will be discussed.

Children's Strategies for Displaying Anger and Sadness: What Works With Whom?

This study examined the influence of expressive strategies (i.e., verbal, facial, crying, sulking, and aggressive), emotion type (i.e., anger, sadness), social context (i.e., mother, father, best friend), age (i.e., 7, 10 years), and gender on 144 childrens expectancies regarding interpersonal responses to their emotional expression. Participants included 72 boys and 72 girls, with an average age of 8 years and 10 months. Results indicate that children expect others to respond more positively to certain expressive strategies (e.g., verbal, facial) as compared to others (e.g., aggression) and that these expectancies vary as a function of the type of emotion experienced, the social context, age, and gender. Consistent with the functionalist approach to emotion, findings suggest that, through social interaction, children learn culturally appropriate strategies for emotional expression that facilitate their ability to elicit a desired response from social partners.

Influence of Social Context on Children's Affect Regulation: A Functionalist Perspective

This study investigated the influence of social context (mothers, fathers, best friends, medium friends) and type of negative affect (anger, sadness, pain) on 66 second-grade and 71 fifth-grade childrens goals and strategies for affect regulation. Hypothetical vignette methodology was used. Results indicated that children perceived parents to be more accepting of emotional expressivity than peers. Children endorsed instrumental, prosocial, and rule-oriented goals and verbal regulation strategies more for anger and sadness than pain. Girls endorsed affective more than aggressive strategies, whereas the opposite pattern held for boys. Older children endorsed more regulation strategies than younger children.

Child Maltreatment Training in Doctoral Programs in Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychology: Where do we go from Here?:

The American Psychological Association (APA) has called for improving knowledge regarding child abuse and neglect among psychologists by increasing training. The present study examined the extent of child abuse training provided by APA-accredited doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology by surveying the training directors in 1992 and 2001. The survey assessed available coursework, practica, and research experience in the area of child maltreatment. Findings indicated that more than half of all programs cover child maltreatment in three or more courses, and most programs discuss child maltreatment in ethics/professional seminars. Most students have some exposure to clients with abuse-related problems, and some have opportunities to participate in maltreatment research. Nonetheless, training falls short of APA recommendations for minimal levels of competence in child maltreatment, with no change in training in the past decade. Recommendations for improving training include more discussion among program faculty, attention to essential competencies, and specific suggestions for developing interdisciplinary training.

Children’s Expectations Of Parent–Child Communication Following Interparental Conflict: Do Parents Talk to Children About Conflict?

The present study offered an initial investigation into parent–child communication about interparental conflict and its relation to children’s psychological functioning. Seventy-five predominantly African-American children ages 6–12 and their mothers were interviewed. Children listened to an unresolved interparental conflict and answered questions regarding the frequency and content of mother–child communication as if the conflict had occurred in their home. Descriptives of mother-and child-initiated discussions were provided in detail. Children who expected mothers to initiate discussions about interparental conflict with them were in turn more likely to initiate discussions with their mothers. Surprisingly, less than half of mothers were reported by children to communicate in a validating manner, and an equal number of children expected their mothers to communicate in an invalidating manner. Findings demonstrated significant relations between the content of mother–child communication (i.e., validation, invalidation) and children’s adjustment (e.g., externalizing problems, depression). Future directions are discussed with an emphasis on the importance of further “process-oriented” research.