Toddler's self‐regulation strategies in a challenge context are nap‐dependent

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111763/1/jsr12260.pd

Biobehavioral Indices of Emotion Regulation Relate to School Attitudes, Motivation, and Behavior Problems in a Low-Income Preschool Sample

Effective emotion regulation may promote resilience and preschool classroom adjustment by supporting adaptive peer interactions and engagement in learning activities. We investigated how hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) regulation, cardiac reactivity, and classroom emotion displays related to adjustment among low-income preschoolers attending Head Start. A total of 62 four-year-olds completed a laboratory session including a baseline soothing video; emotion-eliciting slides/video clips, and recovery. Salivary cortisol, heart rate, and vagal tone were measured throughout. Independent coders used handheld computers to observe classroom emotion expression/regulation. Teachers rated child motivation, persistence/attention, learning attitudes, and internalizing/externalizing symptoms. Results reveal associations between biobehavioral markers of regulatory capacity and early school adjustment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73847/1/annals.1376.043.pd

Emotion Knowledge, Loneliness, Negative Social Experiences, and Internalizing Symptoms Among Low‐income Preschoolers

Children with poor emotion knowledge (EK) skills are at risk for externalizing problems; less is known about early internalizing behavior. We examined multiple facets of EK and social‐emotional experiences relevant for internalizing difficulties, including loneliness, victimization, and peer rejection, in Head Start preschoolers (N = 134; M = 60 months). Results based on multiple informants suggest that facets of EK are differentially related to negative social‐emotional experiences and internalizing behavior and that sex plays a moderating role. Behavioral EK was associated with self‐reported loneliness, victimization/rejection, and parent‐reported internalizing symptoms. Emotion recognition and expressive EK were related to self‐reported loneliness, and emotion situation knowledge was related to parent‐reported internalizing symptoms and negative peer nominations. Sex moderated many of these associations, suggesting that EK may operate differently for girls vs. boys in the preschool social context. Results are discussed with regard to the role of EK for social development and intervention implications.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110878/1/sode12083.pd

Acute sleep restriction effects on emotion responses in 30‐ to 36‐month‐old children

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92066/1/j.1365-2869.2011.00962.x.pd

Withdrawn Behavior in Preschool: Implications for Emotion Knowledge and Broader Emotional Competence

The present study investigated the respective roles of withdrawal, language, and context-inappropriate (CI) anger in the development of emotion knowledge (EK) among a subsample of 4 and 5 year-old preschoolers (n = 74). Measures included parent-reported withdrawn behavior, externalizing behavior, and CI anger, as well as child assessments of receptive language and EK. Ultimately, findings demonstrated that receptive language mediated the relationship between withdrawn behavior and situational EK. However, CI anger significantly interacted with receptive language, and, when incorporated into a second-stage moderated mediation analysis, moderate levels of CI anger rendered the indirect effect of withdrawn behavior on situational EK via receptive language insignificant. Cumulatively, these findings demonstrate a mechanism by which withdrawal may impact EK. They also indicate that such an effect may be attenuated in children with moderate levels of CI anger. Implications of these findings are discussed

The impact of sleep and psychiatric symptoms on alcohol consequences among young adults

OBJECTIVE: Independent lines of research have documented links between psychiatric symptoms and poor sleep quality, psychiatric symptoms and alcohol use, and alcohol use and poor sleep quality. The current study examined the synergistic effect of poor sleep quality and psychiatric symptoms on alcohol-related consequences in heavy-drinking young adults. METHOD: Matriculating college students reporting at least one heavy drinking episode over the first nine weeks of the semester (N = 385, 52% female) were categorized as experiencing ‘good’ (n = 280) versus ‘poor’ sleep quality (n = 105) and screening ‘positive’ (n = 203) or ‘negative’ (n = 182) for a psychiatric disorder. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; psychiatric diagnosis was assessed using the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire; and alcohol-related consequences were assessed using the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire. General linear models were used to examine the main effects and interaction between sleep quality and psychiatric symptoms on alcohol-related consequences. RESULTS: Sleep quality moderated the association between psychiatric screen and alcohol-related consequences among heavy-drinking college students, such that psychiatric symptoms were associated with more alcohol-related consequences in the context of poor sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of poor sleep quality and psychiatric symptoms is associated with increased alcohol-related consequences among heavy-drinking college students. Given the significant interaction between these symptoms, healthcare providers are encouraged to screen for the presence of sleep and psychiatric disorders among heavy-drinking young adults and to provide empirically-supported treatments as appropriate

Correspondence between actigraphy and PSG measures of sleep onset latency in young children

INTRODUCTION: Actigraphy is a non-invasive tool providing objective measurement of sleep onset, offset, and efficiency for extended periods of time based upon wrist-activity levels. Whether actigraphy may also provide an adequately-valid estimate of sleep-onset latency (SOL) in young children is not well-established. This study examined concordance between the gold standard of SOL, polysomnography (PSG), and actigraphy in a cohort of 2-5 year-olds studied at five different levels of prior wakefulness. METHODS: Participants were 8 healthy children (3 males) studied at three longitudinal time points (2.5-3.0y, 3.5-4.0y, 5.5-6.0y). Children followed a strict sleep schedule for at least 5 days before each of five home-based, PSG recordings in which they also wore an actigraph (AW64). Sleep assessments occurred after 4h, 7h, 10h, 13h, and 16h of prior wakefulness, reflecting different levels of sleep pressure. Visual stage scoring used 30-sec epochs from C3/A2. Lights-out time was simultaneously marked on PSG and actigraphy with event markers. Sleep-onset was the first epoch of stage 2 sleep (PSG) and the first of three consecutive epochs of scored sleep after lights-out (actigraphy). RESULTS: Analysis included 9-14 sleep assessments per child of SOL (concurrent PSG and ACT). Averaged SOL varied across sleep assessments and age (PSG range: 4.9+3.1 to 26.9+13.7; ACT range 4.2+3.1 to 19.3+15.9). We performed a nested correlation between PSG- and actigraphy-derived measures of SOL, covarying sleep pressure and age of assessment, nested within subject. The median partial correlation was r=.874 (p<.001), with a range of r=.243 to r=.969. Two children had very-low, non-significant correlations resulting from an outlier in which actigraphy underestimated SOL. CONCLUSION: Overall, these findings suggest actigraphy has adequate validity for estimating SOL in young children when using tightly-controlled data collection and analysis procedures. Future analyses should address methods for establishing the minimum number of nights for a reliable estimate of SOL.NIH K01-MH074643; NIH R01-MH08656

Maternal Interaction Patterns and Preschool Competence in High-Risk Children

Background: The influence of specific maternal interaction patterns as compensatory mechanisms in promoting development of medically high-risk children has been understudied. Objectives: To investigate the association of three maternal interaction patterns, maternal responsivity, involvement, and control style, with preschool competency in a medically heterogeneous sample. Method: Children (N= 184) and their mothers participating in a prospective longitudinal study were assessed in a laboratory protocol and home visit. The methods of measurement were maternal self-report, global rating scales, interview, and nationally standardized instruments. Results: Evidence of a maternal compensatory mechanism was exhibited in mothers\u27 higher involvement with their children who were born at high medical risk (F(1,183) = 6.26, p= .01). Mothers of the most competent children demonstrated higher maternal responsivity, involvement, and more appropriate control than mothers of children who were not as competent. In hierarchical regression models, the three maternal interaction patterns were significant predictors after perinatal risk and maternal education were controlled explaining 29-37% of the variance in child competence scores. Conclusion: These findings imply that differential child outcomes are associated with specific maternal interaction patterns. It suggests that a combination of diverse information revealed in specific maternal interaction pattern is needed to predict cognitive, linguistic, and problem-solving competencies. Future research should consider individual differences in mother-child interaction patterns in order to isolate their significance for optimal child development

BRIEF REPORT: Attachment Security in Infants At-Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

Little is known about attachment security and disorganization in children who are at genetic risk for an ASD prior to a possible diagnosis. The present study examined distributions of attachment security and disorganization at 15-months of age in a sample of younger siblings of older children with (ASD-sibs; n = 50) or without (COMP-sibs; n = 31) an ASD. ASD-sibs were not more or less likely to evince attachment insecurity or disorganization than COMP-sibs. ASD-sibs, however, were over-represented in the B1-B2 secure attachment subgroup whereas COMP-sibs were over-represented in the B3-B4 secure attachment subgroup. Results suggest that ASD-sibs are able to form secure affectional bonds with their caregivers, but may differ from COMP-sibs in their expression of that security