Diminished ability to identify facial emotional expressions in children with disorganized attachment representations

The development of children's ability to identify facial emotional expressions has long been suggested to be experience dependent, with parental caregiving as an important influencing factor. This study attempts to further this knowledge by examining disorganization of the attachment system as a potential psychological mechanism behind aberrant caregiving experiences and deviations in the ability to identify facial emotional expressions. Typically developing children (N = 105, 49.5% boys) aged 6–7 years (M = 6 years 8 months, SD = 1.8 months) completed an attachment representation task and an emotion identification task, and parents rated children's negative emotionality. The results showed a generally diminished ability in disorganized children to identify facial emotional expressions, but no response biases. Disorganized attachment was also related to higher levels of negative emotionality, but discrimination of emotional expressions did not moderate or mediate this relation. Our novel findings relate disorganized attachment to deviations in emotion identification, and therefore suggest that disorganization of the attachment system may constitute a psychological mechanism linking aberrant caregiving experiences to deviations in children's ability to identify facial emotional expressions. Our findings further suggest that deviations in emotion identification in disorganized children, in the absence of maltreatment, may manifest in a generally diminished ability to identify emotional expressions, rather than in specific response biases

Atypical development of attentional control associates with later adaptive functioning, autism and ADHD traits

Autism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals' mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7-9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years

Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study.

To estimate specific proximal and distal effects of COVID-19-related restrictions on families on children's adjustment problems, we conducted a six-site international study. In total, 2516 parents from Australia, China, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America living with a young child (Mage = 5.77, SD = 1.10, range = 3 to 8 years, 47.9% female) completed an online survey between April and July 2020. The survey included the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and family risk factors (parent distress, parent-child conflict, couple conflict, and household chaos) as well as a scale to index COVID-19-related family disruption. Our analyses also included public data on the stringency of national restrictions. Across the six sites, parental responses indicated elevated levels of hyperactivity, conduct, and emotion problems in children from families characterized by heightened levels of parent distress, parent-child conflict, and household chaos. In contrast, increased peer problems were more strongly related to COVID-19-related social disruption and stringency measures. Mediation models demonstrated that associations between COVID-19 social disruption and child difficulties could be explained by parental distress. Taken together, these results suggest that although the experience of the pandemic differed across countries, associations between COVID-19-related family experiences and child adjustment difficulties were similar in their nature and magnitude across six different contexts. Programs to support family resilience could help buffer the impact of the pandemic for two generations

Atypical Development of Attentional Control Associates with Later Adaptive Functioning, Autism and ADHD Traits.

Funder: H2020 European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663Funder: Research Foundation FlandersFunder: Universiteit Gent; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004385Funder: Marguerite-Marie DelacroixFunder: Autistica; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011706Funder: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004472; Grant(s): NHS14-1802:1Funder: K.F. Hein FondsFunder: Scott Family Junior Research FellowshipAutism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals' mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7-9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years

Atypical Development of Attentional Control Associates with Later Adaptive Functioning, Autism and ADHD Traits.

Funder: H2020 European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663Funder: Research Foundation FlandersFunder: Universiteit Gent; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004385Funder: Marguerite-Marie DelacroixFunder: Autistica; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011706Funder: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004472; Grant(s): NHS14-1802:1Funder: K.F. Hein FondsFunder: Scott Family Junior Research FellowshipAutism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals' mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7-9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years

Atypical Development of Attentional Control Associates with Later Adaptive Functioning, Autism and ADHD Traits

Funder: H2020 European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663Funder: Research Foundation FlandersFunder: Universiteit Gent; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004385Funder: Marguerite-Marie DelacroixFunder: Autistica; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011706Funder: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004472; Grant(s): NHS14-1802:1Funder: K.F. Hein FondsFunder: Scott Family Junior Research FellowshipAbstract: Autism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals’ mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7–9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years

A multi-factorial perspective on ADHD and ODD in school-aged children : What is the role of cognitive regulation, temperament, and parental support?

Introduction: It is well established that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder of self-regulation. As such, ADHD is associated with disturbed cognitive regulation, extreme temperament traits, and deficient extrinsic regulation such as parenting. Despite these associations, cognitive regulation, temperament, and parenting have not previously been examined simultaneously in relation to ADHD symptoms in school-aged children. To bridge this gap of knowledge, we examined effects of these important aspects of self-regulation on symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and comorbid symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in children with and without a diagnosis of ADHD. Method: The sample consisted of 77 children aged 8 to 12 years (~40% had a diagnosis of ADHD). We assessed cognitive regulation (i.e., complex inhibition and working memory) during a lab visit and parents rated child temperament (negative affect, surgency, and effortful control) and parental support. Parents and teachers rated ADHD and ODD symptoms in the child. We performed continuous analyses, informed by a dimensional perspective on ADHD. Results: Working memory contributed independently to inattention (β = −.19, p < .05). Effortful control contributed independently to inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity (βs = −.50 and −.49, ps < .01). Negative affect contributed to ODD symptoms as moderated by parental support (β = .58, p < .01). Specifically, for children who received lower levels of parental support there was a significant positive association between negative affect and ODD symptoms. Conclusions: The results propose that both cognitive regulation and effortful control influence ADHD symptoms. Moreover, different factors seem to be involved in ADHD and ODD, with regulatory deficits specifically related to ADHD symptoms, and elevated negative affect specifically related to ODD symptoms. Interestingly, parenting moderated the relationship between negative affect and ODD symptoms, with a suggested protective effect of high parental support for children with high levels of negative affect

Cognitive and Emotional Profiles of CU Traits and Disruptive Behavior in Adolescence : a Prospective Study

In this study we followed 82–90 adolescents, 50% boys, from 15 to 16 years, investigating CU traits and disruptive behaviors as predictors of cognitive skills and arousal to emotional pictures. At age 15, CU traits were rated by adolescents and disruptive (aggregated ADHD-ODD-delinquent) behaviors were rated by parents and adolescents. At age 16, executive function, reaction time variability (RTV), IQ and arousal to negative pictures were assessed. The results showed that, with control for disruptive behaviors, CU traits predicted lower RTV, higher IQ and lower arousal to negative pictures. With control for CU traits, disruptive behaviors predicted lower spatial working memory, lower interference control and higher RTV. Our findings are of theoretical and clinical relevance as they point to highly diverging cognitive and emotional profiles of CU traits and disruptive behaviors

Disorganized attachment representations, externalizing behavior problems, and socioemotional competences in early school-age

Multifactorial research must examine if disorganized attachment is specifically associated with either ODD- or ADHD-symptoms,and the mechanisms through which disorganization may become associated with externalizing problems. The present short-term longitudinal study therefore examined attachment representations, and several competences important for socio-emotional functioning, in relation to ODD- and ADHD-symptoms at T1 (N = 105, M age = 80 months) and T2 (N = 80, M age = 104 months). There was a main effect of disorganized attachment on ODD-symptoms at both time points but not on ADHD-symptoms. Disorganized children also showed lowered attention to facial expressions, a diminished ability to discriminate facial expressions, and elevated emotional reactivity. Emotional reactivity mediated the link between disorganization and ODD-symptoms at T1, but not at T2. The findings support disorganized attachment as a risk-factor for ODD-symptoms rather than ADHD-symptoms, and suggest that disorganization may become associated with ODD-symptoms through broad effects on multiple competences