Examining Links between Social Anxiety and Relational Aggression in Adolescence: The Influence of Rumination and Anger

Social anxiety is linked to more covert forms of aggressive behavior, particularly reactive and relational aggression in early adolescent and young adult samples. Adolescents with social anxiety and those who engage in reactive relational aggression are also more likely to have difficulties regulating emotions (e.g., anger) and show maladaptive cognitive coping styles (e.g., rumination). The goal of the present study was to assess the relationship between social anxiety and reactive relational aggression in adolescents (14-17 years), combining the form and function of aggression, and to examine trait anger and anger rumination as underlying factors that may explain the relationship between social anxiety and reactive relational aggression. The current study hypothesized that adolescents with social anxiety would engage in reactive relational aggression through the use of anger rumination, and this relationship would only be present in adolescents with higher levels of trait anger. High school adolescents in grades 9 to 12 (N=105; Mage = 15.43; 61% female) were recruited through their local school and community to complete a 30-minute, battery of questionnaires examining social anxiety, trait anger, anger rumination, and reactive relational aggression. Adolescents completed questionnaires anonymously via an online survey platform, Qualtrics, and were subsequently compensated for their time. Results supported study hypotheses. Simple regression analyses found that social anxiety was positively related to trait anger, anger rumination and reactive relational aggression. Trait anger and anger rumination were also positively correlated with reactive relational aggression. A conditional process analysis was conducted to test the major study hypothesis. Adolescents with social anxiety were more likely to engage in reactive relational aggression if they ruminated about experiences that created anger, and this relationship was present in adolescents with higher levels of trait anger. Gender differences were also explored. Higher rates of social anxiety and anger rumination were found in females. No other gender differences were found. Overall, socially anxious adolescents showed a greater tendency to engage in reactive relational aggression adding to the current literature. Difficulties regulating negative emotions, like anger, and ineffective cognitive coping strategies, such as anger rumination, were precipitating factors that likely maintained socially anxious and aggressive behaviors

Relationships among internalizing and externalizing problems, attachment and alexithymia in high-risk and community adolescents: a multi-method comparative study.

Late-adopted (i.e. adopted after 12months) and residential-care adolescents, due to higher rates of adverse childhood experiences, show high rates of internalizing-externalizing problems and they are at high-risk to show attachment insecurity and alexithymia, which are risk-factors that may increase psychopathological vulnerability during adolescence. However, no studies before compare in the same occasion these two high-risk groups of adolescents with community peers in internalizing-externalizing problems, attachment and alexithymia, which were never assessed simultaneously in these groups. This mixed-method comparative research involved 174 non-clinical adolescents aged 10-19 years (M = 15.55, SD = 2.02, 53% boys) matched for age and gender in 3 groups: two "high-risk groups" of 33 late-adoptees (LA, i.e. adopted after 12 months) and 50 in residential-care (RC), and 91 community teens as low-risk control group (C), with two main aims: 1) to compare groups in internalizing-externalizing problems, attachment and alexithymia with a mixed-method, multi-informant approach, in order to check the assumed vulnerability of high-risk adolescents in these variables. 2) to explore relationships between internalizing-externalizing problems, attachment and alexithymia through groups, exploring the cumulative and interactive effects of attachment and alexithymia as possible risk factors for more internalizing-externalizing problems during adolescence. After the approval of the University's Research Ethic Commitee, formal agreements with the Social and Health Services for adoption and residential-care and high-school for the recruitment of participants,and the signature by legal care-takers of an informed consent for the voluntarly participation of the adolescent in the research, each participant was assessed in two meetings in home visiting. Measures were: The Child Behavior Check List 6-18 years (CBCL, filled by a biological or adoptive parent and by the educator in the RC group) and the Youth Self Report 11-18 years (YSR) to assess internalizing-externalizing problems; the Friends and Family Interview (FFI) and the Inventory for Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) to assess attachment representations and relationships; the Toronto Alexithymia Scale 20 item (TAS-20) and the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA) to assess alexithymia; the verbal comprehension index of the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children 4th edition (ICV-WISC-IV) to control the confounding effect of participant's verbal skills in the interview, plus a socio-demographic data form to collect demographic and anamnestic data (e.g. age and lenght of adoption or institituionalization, reasons). Main results were: 1) Residential-care adolescents were confirmed the group more vulnerable to internalizing-externalizing problems, attachment insecurity and higher alexithymia, while late-adopted and community adolescents did not show differences each other. 2) Attachment insecurity and higher alexithymia were related to total and internalizing problems in all groups, while no relations with externalizing problems were found. 3) Alexithymia was a common risk-factors for more total and internalizing problems through groups, while attachment patterns had different group-specific roles. Overall, models of prediction inclusive of attachment and alexithymia allowed the prediction of 4%-39% of total problems and 20%-66% of internalizing problems through groups, with higher vulnerability for girls and a certain variability related to the problem's informant (care-giver or adolescent). In the discussion, shared and specific vulnerabilities of each group from a clinical point of view were discussed, commenting on the practical implications and suggesting ways of using these risk prediction models in clinical practice. In the conclusion, the utility of a mixed-method multi-informant approach was highlighted

Adolescent Emotion Expression, Emotion Regulation, and Decision-Making in Social Context

Adolescents engage in risk behaviors at an alarming rate, and particularly when they are with peers. Despite efforts to develop prevention and intervention programs, rates of risk-taking among adolescents is still relatively high. Adolescents continue to engage in physical fights and aggressive behavior, use substances such as alcohol and illicit drugs, and make decisions that impact driving and motor vehicle incidents. The regulation of emotions plays a significant role in adolescents’ decisions to engage in such risk behaviors.Examining adolescents’ emotion expression and regulation is therefore critical to identifying ways to support positive development. This dissertation project explored important regulatory mechanisms that underlie adolescents’ behavior in 108 adolescents, by examining synchrony between emotion expression and physiological arousal (change from baseline heart rate to tasking heart rate)during a risk-taking task. The study also assessed the extent to which the social context of peers shifts emotion expression and physiological arousal, and whether this is associated with adolescents’ behavioral and social outcomes, and if these associations vary by gender. Study results suggest that the presence of a peer influences adolescents’ emotion expression. Specifically, adolescents showed greater expression of emotion when completing a risk-taking task in the presence of a peer, than when they completed the task alone. Additionally, adolescent girls are generally more expressive than their male counterparts and equally expressive alone and with a peer, but adolescent boys express more when they are with a peer than when they are alone. Synchrony between emotion expression and physiological arousal was not evident, however results of supplemental analyses suggest that physiological arousal (change from baseline heart rate to heart rate during the task)plays a moderating role in the association between emotion expression and social competence. Findings from the proposed study may inform intervention and policy efforts to understand and promote positive development among adolescents. In particular, results may shift how adults understand and respond to adolescent behavior in social contexts such as classrooms

Brain activity underlying negative self- and other-perception in adolescents: The role of attachment-derived self-representations

One of teenagers' key developmental tasks is to engage in new and meaningful relationships with peers and adults outside the family context. Attachment-derived expectations about the self and others in terms of internal attachment working models have the potential to shape such social reorientation processes critically and thereby influence adolescents' social-emotional development and social integration. Because the neural underpinnings of this developmental task remain largely unknown, we sought to investigate them by functional magnetic resonance imaging. We asked n = 44 adolescents (ages 12.01-18.84 years) to evaluate positive and negative adjectives regarding either themselves or a close other during an adapted version of the well-established self-other trait-evaluation task. As measures of attachment, we obtained scores reflecting participants' positive versus negative attachment-derived self- and other-models by means of the Relationship Questionnaire. We controlled for possible confounding factors by also obtaining scores reflecting internalizing/externalizing problems, schizotypy, and borderline symptomatology. Our results revealed that participants with a more negative attachment-derived self-model showed increased brain activity during positive and negative adjective evaluation regarding the self, but decreased brain activity during negative adjective evaluation regarding a close other, in bilateral amygdala/parahippocampus, bilateral anterior temporal pole/anterior superior temporal gyrus, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that a low positivity of the self-concept characteristic for the attachment anxiety dimension may influence neural information processing, but in opposite directions when it comes to self- versus (close) other-representations. We discuss our results in the framework of attachment theory and regarding their implications especially for adolescent social-emotional development and social integration

Emotion Regulation: The Role of Trauma, Emotion-Related Parenting, and Resilience

There is robust evidence that some people achieve resilience despite adverse experiences (Cicchetti, 2013). The purpose of the present study was to examine if resilience as a trait predicted emotion regulation abilities, and if it moderated the relations between risk and parenting history and emotion regulation abilities. Another aim of the present study was to explore the concept of resilience as an outcome and process through narratives of redemption sequence. Participants consisted of 234 undergraduate students (age ranged from 17-30 years, M = 20.12, SD = 2.17, 79.1% women, 71.37% White) who have experienced a major stressful or traumatic event. Participants completed an online survey, including self-report measures and qualitative items requiring written responses. Results indicated that trait resilience significantly predicted cognitive reappraisal. In addition, more than half of participants reported a redemption sequence despite negative experiences. Additional findings and study implications are discussed

Parent and Child Vagal Tone: Examining Parenting Behaviors as Moderators of the Association

Research indicates that learning how to regulate one’s emotions is critical to successful child development and is associated with adaptive social functioning and psychological adjustment (Dunn & Brown, 1994; Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser, 2000; Eisenberg, Fabes, & Murphy, 1996). Children’s emotion regulation abilities are thought to be influenced by both child (e.g., age, temperament) and parent characteristics (e.g., parenting behaviors, parental regulation; Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998). Resting heart rate variability (HRV) has emerged as a potentially important biomarker associated with emotion regulation (Porges, 2007; Thayer & Lane, 2000); however, there are still significant gaps in research. In particular, research indicates genetic correlates associated with HRV as well as an important role of parents in children’s emotion socialization, but research has yet to establish a strong link between parent and child HRV. Theoretically, parent and child HRV may be linked but only in specific contexts. For example, parent and child resting HRV may become more or less strongly related in the context of specific parenting behaviors, but research has yet to test this hypothesis. The present study examined the association between parenting behaviors and child resting HF-HRV (i.e., high frequency HRV), the links between parent and child resting HF-HRV, and potential moderating effects of parenting behaviors on the association in youth. Additional analyses examined associations between parent and child vagal regulation. Ninety-seven youth (11-17 years) and their caregivers (n = 81) participated in a physiological assessment and completed questionnaires assessing parenting behaviors. Results indicated that parent’s inconsistent discipline and corporal punishment were negatively associated with their child’s resting HF-HRV while positive parenting and parental involvement were positively associated. Furthermore, parent’s inconsistent discipline and parent’s involvement moderated the relationship between parent and child resting HF-HRV, such that in the context of high inconsistent discipline and high parental involvement, high parent resting HF-HRV was associated with low child resting HF-HRV. Findings add to the literature by providing evidence for the role of parenting behaviors in shaping the development of children’s HF-HRV and indicating that inconsistent discipline and parental involvement may affect the entrainment of HF-HRV in parents and their adolescent children

THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG MASTER’S LEVEL COUNSELING TRAINEES’ TRAINING LEVEL, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF EMOTION REGULATION DURING A SIMULATED COUNSELING INTERACTION

This study explored the relationships among master’s level counseling trainees’ level of training, ability emotional intelligence (EI), and psychophysiological correlates of emotion regulation recorded during a video-simulated client interaction. Agreement exists among counselor educators, researchers, and theorists that counselors’ emotion regulation is foundational to the competent delivery of counseling treatment. The literature further suggests that counselors and trainees experience frequent emotional challenges that overwhelm emotion regulation skills, interfere with competent delivery of service, and affect client outcomes. However, little research in counseling training and supervision has investigated trainees’ emotion regulation or factors that support adaptive emotion regulation while trainees interact with clients who are experiencing emotional distress. Participants were 66 master’s level counseling trainees from counseling programs accredited by the Counsel for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. Participants’ EI was operationalized as scores on the Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, & Sitarenios, 2003). Emotion regulation was operationalized as electrodermal activity (EDA), high-frequency heart rate variability, and the standard deviation of normal heartbeat intervals (HRV-SDNN). Correlation and regression analyses indicated that psychophysiological correlates of trainees’ emotion regulation were not significantly correlated with training. However, HRV-SDNN significantly correlated with total EI, and the EI subscale Perceiving Emotions, while EDA significantly correlated with the Managing Emotions subscale