The Role of Repetitive Negative Thoughts in the Vulnerability for Emotional Problems in Non-Clinical Children

The current study examined the role of repetitive negative thoughts in the vulnerability for emotional problems in non-clinical children aged 8–13 years (N = 158). Children completed self-report questionnaires for assessing (1) neuroticism and behavioral inhibition as indicators of general vulnerability (2) worry and rumination which are two important manifestations of repetitive negative thoughts, and (3) emotional problems (i.e., anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties). Results demonstrated that there were positive correlations between measures of general vulnerability, repetitive negative thoughts, and emotional problems. Further, support was found for a model in which worry and rumination acted as partial mediators in the relation between neuroticism and symptoms of anxiety and depression. In the case of sleep difficulties, no evidence was obtained for such a mediation model. In fact, data suggested that sleeping difficulties are better conceived as an epiphenomenon of high symptom levels of anxiety and depression or as a risk factor for the development of other types of psychopathology. Finally, besides neuroticism, the temperamental trait of behavioral inhibition appeared to play a unique direct role in the model predicting anxiety symptoms but not in the models predicting depressive symptoms or sleep difficulties. To conclude, the current findings seem to indicate that worry and rumination contribute to children’s vulnerability for anxiety and depression

A kid-friendly tool to assess rumination in children and early adolescents: relationships with mother psychopathology and family functioning

The early identification of ruminative processes in children and early adolescents is particularly important to prevent the development of a stable ruminative style in later stages of development. The present study first aimed at validating a child-friendly tool, Kid Rumination Interview (KRI), to be used in a sample aged 7–12 years (n = 100; 50% females). Second, we hypothesized that maternal depression, family functioning and participants’ emotion regulation skills would be associated with children’ levels of rumination. Factor analysis on KRI scores yielded two main factors: personal life-related rumination and school-related rumination. Older and female participants showed higher tendencies to ruminate about school issues compared to their younger and male counterparts. A low-to-moderate correlation emerged between school-related rumination and child/early adolescent’s emotion regulation capacities. Mothers’ depressive rumination and mothers’ depressive symptoms were positively associated with children/early adolescents’ rumination about personal life and rumination about school issues. Conversely, an adequate and positive family functioning was negatively correlated with both school-related rumination and rumination about personal life. Hierarchical regression analyses pointed to a crucial role of maternal rumination and familiar rigidity in both types of rumination. Personal life-related rumination was also specifically predicted by maternal depression and family enmeshment, whereas school-related rumination was significantly associated with children/early adolescents’ emotional control and gender. Overall, the KRI appears as a promising tool to assess rumination in children/early adolescents. Results suggests partially different pathways to specific forms of ruminative thoughts

Visually detected NREM stage 2 sleep spindles in kindergarten children are associated with stress challenge and coping strategies

Sleep EEG spindles are linked to efficient cortical-subcortical connectivity and intellectual abilities. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of spindle activity to psychosocial stress response and coping strategies in healthy kindergarten children.; In a cross-sectional study of 41 5-year old kindergarten children we examined stress-induced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system activity by saliva cortisol measurements and sleep regulation by sleep EEG-monitoring. Stress response was measured during the application of a standardized psychological challenge appropriate at this age. NREM S2 sleep EEG spindles were visually scored and put into relation to coping and HPA activity parameters.; An increased total number of NREM S2 sleep spindles correlated positively with increased high ego-involvement strategies such as "positive emotions". By contrast, total number of NREM S2 sleep spindles correlated negatively with low ego-involvement strategies such as "denial" and "avoidance". Stress induced HPA-activity correlated positively with coping strategies with high ego-involvement; while there was no correlation with low ego-involvement strategies.; Total number of visually detected NREM S2 sleep spindles is elevated in children with coping involving positive, high ego-involvement; in contrast, low ego-involvement during stress is associated with reduced total number of NREM S2 sleep spindles