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- All Subjects: Developmental Psychology
Description
Accumulating evidence implicates exposure to adverse childhood experiences in the development of hypocortisolism in the long-term, and researchers are increasingly examining individual-level mechanisms that may underlie, exacerbate or attenuate this relation among at-risk populations. The current study takes a developmentally and theoretically informed approach to examining episodic childhood stressors, inherent and voluntary self-regulation, and physiological reactivity among a longitudinal sample of youth who experienced parental divorce. Participants were drawn from a larger randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention for children of divorce between the ages of 9 and 12. The current sample included 159 young adults (mean age = 25.5 years; 53% male; 94% Caucasian) who participated in six waves of data collection, including a 15-year follow-up study. Participants reported on exposure to negative life events (four times over a 9-month period) during childhood, and mothers rated child temperament. Six years later, youth reported on the use of active and avoidant coping strategies, and 15 years later, they participated in a standardized psychosocial stress task and provided salivary cortisol samples prior to and following the task. Path analyses within a structural equation framework revealed that a multiple mediation model best fit the data. It was found that children with better mother-rated self-regulation (i.e. low impulsivity, low negative emotionality, and high attentional focus) exhibited lower total cortisol output 15 years later. In addition, greater self-regulation in childhood predicted greater use of active coping in adolescence, whereas a greater number of negative life events predicted increased use of avoidant coping in adolescence. Finally, a greater number of negative events in childhood predicted marginally lower total cortisol output, and higher levels of active coping in adolescence were associated with greater total cortisol output in young adulthood. Findings suggest that children of divorce who exhibit better self-regulation evidence lower cortisol output during a standardized psychosocial stress task relative to those who have higher impulsivity, lower attentional focus, and/or higher negative emotionality. The conceptual significance of the current findings, including the lack of evidence for hypothesized relations, methodological issues that arose, and issues in need of future research are discussed.
ContributorsHagan, Melissa (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis advisor) / MacKinnon, David (Committee member) / Wolchik, Sharlene (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The main objective of this study was to use a genetically-informative design to examine the putative influences of maternal perceived prenatal stress, obstetrical complications, and gestational age on infant dysregulation, competence, and developmental maturity. Specifically, whether or not prenatal and obstetrical environmental conditions modified the heritability of infant outcomes was examined. A total of 291 mothers were interviewed when their twin infants were 12 months of age. Pregnancy and twin birth medical records were obtained to code obstetrical data. Utilizing behavioral genetic models, results indicated maternal perceived prenatal stress moderated genetic and environmental influences on developmental maturity whereas obstetrical complications moderated shared environmental influences on infant competence and nonshared environmental influences on developmental maturity. Gestational age moderated the heritability and nonshared environment of infant dysregulation, shared and nonshared environmental influences on competence, and nonshared environmental influences on developmental maturity. Taken together, prenatal and obstetric conditions were important nonlinear influences on infant outcomes. An evolutionary perspective may provide a framework for these findings, such that the prenatal environment programs the fetus to be adaptive to current environmental contexts. Specifically, prenatal stress governs gene expression through epigenetic processes. Findings highlight the utility of a genetically informative design for elucidating the role of prenatal and obstetric conditions in the etiology of infant developmental outcomes.
ContributorsMcDonald, Kristy (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn S (Thesis advisor) / Fabricius, William (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
The Wham-Womb Sound Symbolic Effect: English-Speaking Children and Adults Link Phonemes with Arousal
Description
Sound symbolism—the association between word sounds and meaning—has been shown to be an effective communication tool that promotes language comprehension and word learning. Much of the literature is constrained to investigating sound as it relates to physical characteristics (e.g. size or shape), and research has predominantly studied the phenomenon in adults. The current study examined the sound symbolic wham-womb effect, which postulates that words with the /æ/ phoneme are associated with increased arousal while words with the /u/ phoneme are associated with little to no arousal. The effect was tested in both adults and children aged 5-7 years old using a word-to-scene matching task. Participants were presented with two pseudowords (differing only by their vowel phoneme: /æ/ or /u/; e.g. smad and smood) and two scenes depicting an animal in either a more arousing or less arousing situation. Participants were then asked to match which of the scenes fit one of the pseudowords. Results showed that the trial-by-trial performance for adults and children were significantly greater than chance, indicating that the wham-womb effect is exhibited in both adults and children. There was also a significant difference in performance between adults and children, with adults showing a more robust effect. This study provides the first empirical evidence that both children and adults link phonemes to arousal and that this effect may change across development.
ContributorsKuo, Jillian Elaine (Author) / Benitez, Viridiana (Thesis advisor) / McBeath, Michael (Committee member) / Scherer, Nancy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
The growing acceptance of divorce has sparked a discussion regarding the distribution of children’s parenting time with each parent. As a result, researchers are evaluating how divorce impacts children and what can be done to improve their wellbeing. This study sought to examine how a child’s age at their parent’s divorce predicts later parent-child relationships and romantic attachment style. Furthermore, it evaluates parenting time as a potential mediator to this relationship. In order to test this mediational model, we distributed a survey to nearly 1,000 college students with divorced parents. This questionnaire was composed of several batteries that assessed the following: their age at their parent’s divorce, the amount of parenting time awarded to each parent after the divorce, their relationship with each parent, and their romantic attachment style, in addition to many other variables that were used as covariates. Given the complexities of divorce, we controlled for potential third variable explanations that were found to be associated with parenting time, parent-child relationships, and romantic attachment style. We hypothesized that younger ages of divorce lead to less parenting time which in turn worsens the father-child relationship and their romantic attachment style. The data supports the mediational model in regard to the father-child relationship with no correlation found between our predictors and attachment style. This highlights the importance of equal parenting time becoming the new standard.
ContributorsSalem, Salma (Author) / Fabricius, William (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
The construct of adult emotional intelligence has gained increasing attention over the last 15 years given its significant socioemotional implications for the ability to label, understand, and regulate emotions. There is a gap, however, in understanding how emotional intelligence develops in children. Parenting is one of the most salient predictors of children’s behavior and the current study investigated its prospective link to children’s emotional intelligence. More preceisely, this study took a differentiated approach to parenting by examining the distinct contributions of maternal sensitivity and emotion socialization to children’s emotional intelligence. In addition, executive function, considered a “conductor” of higher-order skills and a neurocognitive correlate of emotional intelligence, was examined as a possible mechanism by which parenting influences emotional intelligence. Data were collected from 269 Mexican-American mother-child dyads during 2-year (parenting), 4.5-year (executive function), and 6-year (emotional intelligence) laboratory visits. Both parenting variables were assessed by objective observer ratings. Exeutive function and emotional intelligence were examined as latent constructs comprised of relevant parent-reported and objective measures. Due to a lack of adequate fit, the emotional intelligence variable was separated into two distinct latent constructs, emotion knowledge/understanding and emotion dysregulation. Results indicated that neither dimension of parenting was predictive of dimensions of emotional intelligence. On the other hand, children’s executive function was positively related to emotion knowledge. Finally, executive function did not emerge as a mediator of the relation between parenting and dimensions of emotional intelligence. Taken together, these findings highlight the need for a nuanced developmental and bioecological framework in the study of childen’s executive function and emotional intelligence.
ContributorsRoss, Emily (Author) / Crnic, Keith (Thesis advisor) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Bradley, Robert (Committee member) / Grimm, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Students at High Achieving Schools (HASs) have recently been identified as an at-risk population, and excessive pressure to excel is considered the cause of this maladjustment. However, the specific aspects of pressure that lead to these outcomes have yet to be comprehensively explored. In two schools, one public and one independent, this study examined multiple constructs potentially implicated: feelings of pressure to succeed from different sources (parents, teachers, coaches, the self, and friends) and total felt pressure. Also considered are dimensions of being overextended across commitments, including hours of sleep, homework, and levels of associated strain and enjoyment. These indices were all examined in relation to adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as feelings of disengagement with school, after controlling for attachment to both parents. Results showed that total felt pressure, and pressure felt from the self, were most notably related to internalizing symptoms and disengagement with school. Additionally, strain from commitments showed unique links with depression, anxiety, and negative feelings about school. Finally, enjoyment from different commitments showed robust links with feelings about school. Overall, the different pressure predictors showed sporadic links with externalizing behaviors and substance use. Findings are discussed in terms of directions for interventions as well as future research with HAS populations.
ContributorsBenoit, Renee, L (Author) / Luthar, Suniya (Thesis advisor) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Examining processes that characterize the ebb and flow of emotions offers insight into how infants modulate their own emotional experience as well as how both mothers and infants jointly regulate their emotional states. Drawing from polyvagal theory, which posits that vagal tone supports the capacity to quickly, flexibly, and adaptively respond to contextual demands (Porges, 2003, 2007), I hypothesized that infants with greater vagal tone (indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) would show stronger evidence of emotion regulation and coregulation processes during free play and a frustrating task at 24 weeks child age. To evaluate these hypotheses, I used dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM; Asparouhov, Hamaker, & Muthén, 2018) to examine biologically-based differences in second-by-second infant emotion regulation (equilibria, volatility, carryover, and feedback loops in positive and negative affect engagement) and mother- and infant-driven coregulation processes, among a sample of 210 low-income, Mexican-origin mother-infant dyads. Results offered evidence of both mother-driven and infant-driven emotion coregulatory processes during free play, which did not differ based on infant RSA. Results offered limited support for RSA-based differences in infant self-regulation processes during the teaching task, such that infants with below average RSA tended to respond to increased negative affect with subsequent increases in positive affect engagement. Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms also accounted for greater infant emotional volatility and weaker mother-driven emotion coregulation. Results highlight the unique roles mothers and infants play in achieving emotion regulation, as well as between-dyad differences in these processes, suggesting multiple pathways towards resilience among low-income, Mexican-origin families.
ContributorsSomers, Jennifer (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis advisor) / McNeish, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021