Emotion Management in Children with Anxiety Disorders: A Focus on the Role of Emotion-related Socialization Processes

This study examined emotion management skills in anxious children and their mothers and investigated factors within the child and the parent, and the child-parent relationship that may relate to the development of adaptive emotion management. Three methods of emotion socialization were examined: parental reactions to children\u27s emotions, discussion of emotion, and family expressivity. Children ages 8-1 1 years old were first screened for anxious syrnptomatology in their classrooms within the public school system. Children who scored in the clinical range on the self-report measure were then administered a semi-structured diagnostic interview. Those who met criteria for an anxiety disorder were included in the study. A total of 12 anxious boys and 13 anxious girls and their mothers, and a control group matched for sex and age, participated in the study. Children were administered a variety of questionnaires that assessed their emotion management abilities, goals for emotion management, and perceptions of the family emotional and social climate. Mothers completed questionnaires that assessed their own emotional expressivity, view of their child\u27s emotion regulatory abilities, and perceptions of the family emotional and social climate. Children and their mothers also participated in an emotion-discussion task, in which they discussed a time the child felt negative emotions. Data were analyzed using simple correlational, regression, and Multivariate (MANOVA) techniques. Overall, results indicated that anxious children have difficulty managing emotionally evocative experiences and that their difficulties in modulating the intensity of emotional experience and a lack of self-efficacy should be considered as factors that may produce, maintain, andlor exacerbate anxiety. Mothers of anxious children did not indicate more maladaptive emotion management than mothers of control children and there were no significant correlations between children\u27s and mothers\u27 patterns of emotion management. This study revealed a theme of control in families with an anxious child with respect to truncated emotional expression, mothers\u27 reports of controlling behaviors, and observation of mothers\u27 behavior during an emotion discussion task. The implications of these results to the treatment of childhood anxiety are discussed

Developmentally Sensitive Implementation of Core Elements of Evidence-Based Treatments: Practical Strategies for Youth With Internalizing Disorders

MANY TREATMENT APPROACHES for psychological disorders among children and adolescents are downward extensions of adult treatment models. According to Barrett (2000), when treatments for childhood disorders are based on cognitive behavioral models of adult disorders, clinicians may make inaccurate assumptions, such as viewing children as “little adults,” thereby failing to adjust treatment terminology for children and ignoring contextual factors such as families and peers. Subscribing to adult models may also result in a lack of awareness of research findings in the field of developmental psychology (e.g., cognitive abilities, social skills, emotion regulation) and, consequently, implementation of treatment strategies in a similar manner across levels of development (e.g., assuming all children possess the same level of meta-cognitive skills). As Kingery and colleagues (2006) emphasize, simply utilizing a treatment that has been developed for youth is not sufficient. Particularly when implementing manual-based CBT for youth with internalizing disorders, clinicians must be knowledgeable, creative, and flexible, taking each child’s individual cognitive, social, and emotional skills into consideration to provide the most developmentally appropriate intervention

A FOCUS ON THE ROLE OF EMOTION-RELATED

This study examined emotion management skills in anxious children and their mothers and investigated factors within the child and the parent, and the child-parent relationship that may relate to the development of adaptive emotion management. Three methods of emotion socialization were examined: parental reactions to children's emotions, discussion of emotion, and family expressivity. Children ages 8-1 1 years old were first screened for anxious syrnptomatology in their classrooms within the public school system. Children who scored in the clinical range on the self-report measure were then administered a semi-structured diagnostic interview. Those who met criteria for an anxiety disorder were included in the study. A total of 12 anxious boys and 13 anxious girls and their mothers, and a control group matched for sex and age, participated in the study. Children were administered a variety of questionnaires that assessed their emotion management abilities, goals for emotion management, and perceptions of the familyemotional and social climate. Mothers completed questionnaires that assessed their own emotional expressivity, view of their child's emotion regulatory abilities, and perceptions of the family emotional and social climate. Children and their mothers also participate

The emotion dysregulation model of anxiety: A preliminary path analytic examination

a b s t r a c t Both temperamental (e.g., behavioral inhibition) and environmental (e.g., family emotional environment) factors are associated with etiology and maintenance of anxiety; however, few studies have explored mechanisms through which these risk factors operate. The present study investigation of a developmental model of anxiety (i.e., the Emotion Dysregulation Model of Anxiety; EDMA) that hypothesizes that emotion dysregulation is the mechanism through which temperamental and emotion parenting variables relate to anxiety. Emerging adults (N = 676, M age = 19.5) retrospectively reported on behavioral inhibition and emotion parenting factors in childhood, and current emotion regulation skills and symptoms of anxiety. Results of path analyses provide initial support for the EDMA. Emotion dysregulation fully mediated the relationship between behavioral inhibition and anxiety and partially mediated the relationship between family emotional environment and anxiety

A Model‐Based Cluster Analysis of Maternal Emotion Regulation and Relations to Parenting Behavior

In a diverse community sample of mothers (N = 108) and their preschool‐aged children (Mage = 3.50 years), this study conducted person‐oriented analyses of maternal emotion regulation (ER) based on a multimethod assessment incorporating physiological, observational, and self‐report indicators. A model‐based cluster analysis was applied to five indicators of maternal ER: maternal self‐report, observed negative affect in a parent–child interaction, baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and RSA suppression across two laboratory tasks. Model‐based cluster analyses revealed four maternal ER profiles, including a group of mothers with average ER functioning, characterized by socioeconomic advantage and more positive parenting behavior. A dysregulated cluster demonstrated the greatest challenges with parenting and dyadic interactions. Two clusters of intermediate dysregulation were also identified. Implications for assessment and applications to parenting interventions are discussed

Developmentally Sensitive Implementation of Core Elements of Evidence-Based Treatments: Practical Strategies for Youth With Internalizing Disorders

MANY TREATMENT APPROACHES for psychological disorders among children and adolescents are downward extensions of adult treatment models. According to Barrett (2000), when treatments for childhood disorders are based on cognitive behavioral models of adult disorders, clinicians may make inaccurate assumptions, such as viewing children as “little adults,” thereby failing to adjust treatment terminology for children and ignoring contextual factors such as families and peers. Subscribing to adult models may also result in a lack of awareness of research findings in the field of developmental psychology (e.g., cognitive abilities, social skills, emotion regulation) and, consequently, implementation of treatment strategies in a similar manner across levels of development (e.g., assuming all children possess the same level of meta-cognitive skills). As Kingery and colleagues (2006) emphasize, simply utilizing a treatment that has been developed for youth is not sufficient. Particularly when implementing manual-based CBT for youth with internalizing disorders, clinicians must be knowledgeable, creative, and flexible, taking each child’s individual cognitive, social, and emotional skills into consideration to provide the most developmentally appropriate intervention

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disordered Youth: A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating Child and Family Modalities

This randomized clinical trial compared the relative efficacy of individual (child) cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT), family cognitive-behavioral therapy (FCBT), and a family-based education/support/attention (FESA) active control for treating anxiety disordered youth ages 7-14 years (M = 10.27). Youth (N = 161; 44% female; 85% Caucasian, 9% African American, 3% Hispanic, 3% other/mixed) with a principal diagnosis of separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, or generalized anxiety disorder and their parents participated. Outcome analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear models on the intent-to-treat sample at posttreatment and 1-year follow-up using diagnostic severity, child self-reports, parent reports, and teacher reports. Chi-square analyses were also conducted on diagnostic status at post and 1-year follow-up. Children evidenced treatment gains in all conditions, although FCBT and ICBT were superior to FESA in reducing the presence and principality of the principal anxiety disorder, and ICBT outperformed FCBT and FESA on teacher reports of child anxiety. Treatment gains, when found, were maintained at 1-year follow-up. FCBT outperformed ICBT when both parents had an anxiety disorder. Implications for treatment and suggestions for research are discussed. © 2008 American Psychological Association

Treating Internalizing Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Core Techniques and Strategies

Identifying 13 core techniques and strategies that cut across all available evidence-based treatments for child and adolescent mood and anxiety disorders, this book provides theoretical rationales, step-by-step implementation guidelines, and rich clinical examples. Therapists can flexibly draw from these elements to tailor interventions to specific clients, or can use the book as an instructive companion to any treatment manual. Coverage includes exposure tasks, cognitive strategies, problem solving, modeling, relaxation, psychoeducation, social skills training, praise and rewards, activity scheduling, self-monitoring, goal setting, homework, and maintenance and relapse prevention.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/fac_monographs/1288/thumbnail.jp