Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T22:21:08.236Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early adolescents' temperament, emotion regulation during mother–child interactions, and depressive symptomatology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2011

Marie B. H. Yap ,
Nicholas B. Allen ,
Melissa O'Shea ,
Patricia di Parsia ,
Julian G. Simmons  and
Lisa Sheeber
Marie B. H. Yap
Affiliation:
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre University of Melbourne
Nicholas B. Allen*
Affiliation:
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre University of Melbourne
Melissa O'Shea
Affiliation:
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre
Patricia di Parsia
Affiliation:
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre
Julian G. Simmons
Affiliation:
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre University of Melbourne
Lisa Sheeber
Affiliation:
Oregon Research Institute
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nicholas B. Allen, Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, University of Melbourne, Locked Bag 10, Parkville 3052, Victoria, Australia; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the relations among temperament, emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms in early adolescents. Early adolescents provided self-reports of temperament on two occasions, as well as reports on emotion regulation and depressive symptomatology. Furthermore, 163 of these adolescents participated in event-planning and problem-solving interactions with their mothers. Adolescents with temperaments that were high in negative emotionality or low in effortful control displayed more emotionally dysregulated behaviors during the interaction tasks, reported having maladaptive responses to negative affect more often and adaptive responses less often, and had more depressive symptoms. In particular, adolescents with the high negative emotionality and low effortful control temperament combination reported the highest levels of depressive symptomatology. Sequential analyses of family interactions indicated that adolescents with more depressive symptoms were more likely to reciprocate their mothers' negative affective behaviors. Adolescents' adaptive and maladaptive responses to negative affect mediated the associations between their temperament and concurrent depressive symptoms.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2011 , pp. 267 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Allison, P. D., & Liker, J. K. (1982). Analyzing sequential categorical data on dyadic interaction. Psychological Bulletin, 91, 393–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anthony, J. L., Lonigan, C. J., Hooe, E. S., & Phillips, B. M. (2002). An affect-based, hierarchical model of temperament and its relations with internalizing symptomatology. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 480–490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ben-Zur, H., & Zeidner, M. (1988). Sex differences in anxiety, curiosity, and anger: A cross-cultural study. Sex Roles, 19, 335–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, J. H., Gjerde, P. F., & Block, J. H. (1991). Personality antecedents of depressive tendencies in 18-year-olds: A prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 726–738.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burke, J., Loeber, R., Lahey, B. B., & Rathouz, P. J. (2005). Developmental transitions among affective and behavioral disorders in adolescent boys. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 1200–1210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, S. D., & Fox, N. A. (2002). Self-regulatory processes in early personality development: A multilevel approach to the study of childhood social withdrawal and aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 477–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capaldi, D. M., & Rothbart, M. K. (1992). Development and validation of an early adolescent temperament measure. Journal of Early Adolescence, 12, 153–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., Henry, B., McGee, R. O., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1995). Temperamental origins of child and adolescent behavior problems: From age three to fifteen. Child Development, 66, 55–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chorpita, B. F., Plummer, C. M., & Moffitt, C. E. (2000). Relations of tripartite dimensions of emotion to childhood anxiety and mood disorders. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 28, 299–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., Ackerman, B. P., & Izard, C. E. (1995). Emotions and emotion regulation in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 53, 221–241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, L. A., Watson, D., & Mineka, S. (1994). Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 103–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, P. M., & Kaslow, N. J. (1988). Interactional and cognitive strategies for affect regulation: Developmental perspective on childhood depression. In Alloy, L. B. (Ed.), Cognitive processes in depression (pp. 310–343). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cole, P. M., Martin, S. E., & Dennis, T. A. (2004). Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Development, 75, 317–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, P. M., Michel, M. K., & Teti, L. O. D. (1994). The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation: A clinical perspective. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 73–100, 250–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, W. A. (1990). Parent–child relationships in the transition to adolescence: Continuity and change in interaction, affect, and cognition. In Montemayor, R. & Adams, G. R. (Eds.), Advances in adolescent development: Vol. 2. From childhood to adolescence: A transitional period? (pp. 85–106). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J., & Jaser, S. S. (2004). Temperament, stress reactivity, and coping: Implications for depression in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 21–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davidson, R. J. (2001). Toward a biology of personality and emotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 935, 191–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., & Garber, J. (1991). Domains of emotion regulation. In Garber, J. & Dodge, K. A. (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation (pp. 3–11). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Reiser, M., et al. (2001). The relations of regulation and emotionality to children's externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. Child Development, 72, 1112–1134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Guthrie, I. K., & Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 136–157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Guthrie, I. K., Fabes, R. A., Reiser, M., Murphy, B. C., & Holgren, R. (1997). The relations of regulation and emotionality to resiliency and competent social functioning in elementary school children. Child Development, 68, 296–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, L. K., & Rothbart, M. K. (2001). Revision of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.Google Scholar
Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., Jones, S., Smith, M. A., Guthrie, I. K., Poulin, R., et al. (1999). Regulation, emotionality, and preschoolers' socially competent peer interactions. Child Development, 70, 218–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, N. A., & Calkins, S. D. (2003). The development of self-control of emotion: Intrinsic and extrinsic influences. Motivation & Emotion, 27, 7–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujita, F., Diener, E., & Sandvik, E. (1991). Gender differences in negative affect and well-being: The case for emotional intensity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 427–434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garber, J., Braafladt, N., & Weiss, B. (1995). Affect regulation in depressed and nondepressed children and young adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 93–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garber, J., Braafladt, N., & Zeman, J. (1991). The regulation of sad affect: An information-processing perspective. In Garber, J. & Dodge, K. A. (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation. Cambridge studies in social and emotional development (pp. 208–240). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garber, J., & Flynn, C. (2001). Vulnerability to depression in childhood and adolescence. In Ingram, R. E. & Price, J. M. (Eds.), Vulnerability to psychopathology: Risk across the lifespan (pp. 175–225). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Gilboa, E. (1994). Personality and the structure of affective responses. In van Goozen, S. H. M., Van de Poll, N. E., & Sergeant, J. A. (Eds.), Emotions: Essays on emotion theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gjone, H., & Stevenson, J. (1997). The association between internalizing and externalizing behavior in childhood and early adolescence: Genetic or environmental common influences? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 25, 277–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldsmith, H. H. (1993). Temperament: Variability in developing emotion systems. In Lewis, M. & Haviland, J. M. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 353–364). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Goodyer, I., Herbert, J., Tamplin, A., & Altham, P. (2000). First episodes of depression in adolescents: Affective, cognitive and endocrine characteristics of risk status and predictors of onset. British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 142–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39, 281–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 348–362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gross, J. J., & Levenson, R. W. (1997). Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 95–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gross, J. J., & Munoz, R. F. (1995). Emotion regulation and mental health. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 2, 151–164.Google Scholar
Gross, J. J., Sutton, S. K., & Ketelaar, T. (1998). Relations between affect and personality: Support for the affect-level and affective-reactivity views. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 279–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., McGee, R., & Angell, K. E. (1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: Emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 128–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henriques, J. B., Glowacki, J. M., & Davidson, R. J. (1994). Reward fails to alter response bias in depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 460–466.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hops, H., Davis, B., & Longoria, N. (1995). Methodological issues in direct observation—Illustrations with the Living in Familial Environments (LIFE) coding system. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 24, 193–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joiner, T. E., Catanzaro, S. J., & Laurent, J. (1996). Tripartite structure of positive and negative affect, depression, and anxiety in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 401–409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaufman, J., Birmaher, B., Brent, D., Rao, U., Flynn, C., Moreci, P., et al. (1997). Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children: Present and Lifetime version (K-SADS-PL): Initial reliability and validity data. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 980–988.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Gardner, C. O., & Prescott, C. A. (2002). Toward a comprehensive developmental model for major depression in women. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Gardner, C. O., & Prescott, C. A. (2006). Toward a comprehensive developmental model for major depression in men. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 115–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Avenevoli, S., & Merikangas, K. R. (2001). Mood disorders in children and adolescents: An epidemiologic perspective. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 1002–1014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, D. N., Dougherty, L. R., Laptook, R. S., & Olino, T. M. (2008). Temperament and risk for mood disorders in adolescents. In Allen, N. B. & Sheeber, L. B. (Eds.), Adolescent emotional development and the emergence of depressive disorders (pp. 238–261). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, D. N., Durbin, C. E., Shankman, S. A., & Santiago, N. J. (2002). Depression and personality. In Gotlib, I. H. & Hammen, C. L. (Eds.), Handbook of depression (pp. 115–140). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kochanska, G., Murray, K., & Harlan, E. T. (2000). Effortful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development. Developmental Psychology, 36, 220–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krueger, R. F. (1999). Personality traits in late adolescence predict mental disorders in early adulthood: A prospective-epidemiological study. Journal of Personality, 67, 39–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larsen, R. J. (2000). Toward a science of mood regulation. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 129–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lengua, L. J., & Long, A. C. (2002). The role of emotionality and self-regulation in the appraisal-coping process: Tests of direct and moderating effects. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 23, 471–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lengua, L. J., Sandler, I. N., West, S. G., Wolchik, S. A., & Curran, P. J. (1999). Emotionality and self-regulation, threat appraisal, and coping in children of divorce. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 15–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewinsohn, P. M., Hops, H., Roberts, R. E., Seeley, J. R., & Andrews, J. A. (1993). Adolescent psychopathology 1: Prevalence and incidence of depression and other DSM-III-R disorders in high-school students. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 133–144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewinsohn, P. M., Solomon, A., Seeley, J. R., & Zeiss, A. (2000). Clinical implications of “subthreshold” depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 345–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindahl, K. M., & Markman, H. J. (1990). Communication and negative affect regulation in the family. In Blechman, E. A. (Ed.), Emotions and the family: For better or for worse (pp. 99–115). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Lonigan, C. J., & Phillips, B. M. (2001). Temperamental influences on the development of anxiety disorders. In Vasey, M. W. & Dadds, M. R. (Eds.), The developmental psychopathology of anxiety (pp. 60–91). New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonigan, C. J., Phillips, B. M., & Hooe, E. S. (2003). Relations of positive and negative affectivity to anxiety and depression in children: Evidence from a latent variable longitudinal study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 465–481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lonigan, C. J., Vasey, M. W., Phillips, B. M., & Hazen, R. A. (2004). Temperament, anxiety, and the processing of threat-relevant stimuli. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 8–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., West, S. G., & Sheets, V. (2002). A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods, 7, 83–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacKinnon, D. P., & Warsi, G. (1995). A simulation study of mediated effect measures. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 30, 41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, A. K., & Salaminiou, E. (2001). Reduced positive future-thinking in depression: Cognitive and affective factors. Cognition & Emotion, 15, 99–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacPhillamy, D. J., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (1976). Manual for the Pleasant Events Schedule. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon.Google Scholar
Meesters, C., Muris, P., & van Rooijen, B. (2007). Relations of neuroticism and attentional control with symptoms of anxiety and aggression in non-clinical children. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 29, 149–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muris, P., Meesters, C., & Blijlevens, P. (2007). Self-reported reactive and regulative temperament in early adolescence: Relations to internalizing and externalizing problem behavior and “Big Three” personality factors. Journal of Adolescence, 30, 1035–1049.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muris, P., & Ollendick, T. H. (2005). The role of temperament in the etiology of child psychopathology. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 8, 271–289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ochsner, K. N., & Gross, J. (2005). The cognitive control of emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 242–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oldehinkel, A. J., Hartman, C. A., de Winter, A. F., Veenstra, R., & Ormel, J. (2004). Temperament profiles associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in preadolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 421–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pine, D. S., Cohen, E., Cohen, P., & Brook, J. S. (1999). Adolescent depressive symptoms as predictors of adult depression: Moodiness or mood disorder? American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 133–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plomin, R., & Stocker, C. (1989). Behavioral genetics and emotionality. In Reznick, J. S. (Ed.), Perspectives on behavioral inhibition (pp. 219–240). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (2000). Developing mechanisms of self-regulation. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 427–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preacher, K. J., & Leonardelli, G. J. (2001). Calculation for the Sobel Test: An interactive calculation tool for mediation tests [Computer software]. Retrieved from http://quantrm2.psy.ohio-state.edu/kris/sobel/sobel.htmGoogle Scholar
Prinz, R. J., Foster, S. L., Kent, R. N., & O'Leary, K. D. (1979). Multivariate assessment of conflict in distressed and nondistressed mother–adolescent dyads. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 691–700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Putnam, S. K., Ellis, L. K., & Rothbart, M. K. (2001). The structure of temperament from infancy through adolescence. In Eliasz, A. & Angleitner, A. (Eds.), Advances/proceedings in research on temperament (pp. 165–182). Miami: Pabst Scientist Publisher.Google Scholar
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radloff, L. S. (1991). The use of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale in adolescents and young adults. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 149–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, R. E., Lewinsohn, P. M., & Seeley, J. R. (1991). Screening for adolescent depression: A comparison of depression scales. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 58–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., & Evans, D. E. (2000). Temperament and personality: Origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothbart, M. K., Ellis, L. K., Rueda, M. R., & Posner, M. I. (2003). Developing mechanisms of temperamental effortful control. Journal of Personality, 71, 1113–1143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothbart, M. K., & Posner, M. I. (2006). Temperament, attention, and developmental psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 2. Developmental neuroscience (2nd ed., pp. 465–501). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Shankman, S. A., & Klein, D. N. (2003). The relation between depression and anxiety: An evaluation of the tripartite, approach-withdrawal and valence-arousal models. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 605–637.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheeber, L., Allen, N., Davis, B., & Sorensen, E. (2000). Regulation of negative affect during mother–child problem-solving interactions: Adolescent depressive status and family processes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 28, 467–479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silk, J. S., Steinberg, L., & Morris, A. S. (2003). Adolescents' emotion regulation in daily life: Links to depressive symptoms and problem behavior. Child Development, 74, 1869–1880.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thayer, J. F., & Johnsen, B. H. (2000). Sex differences in judgement of facial affect: A multivariate analysis of recognition errors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 41, 243–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thayer, J. F., Rossy, L. A., Ruiz-Padial, E., & Johnsen, B. H. (2003). Gender differences in the relationship between emotional regulation and depressive symptoms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 349–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomsen, A. H., Compas, B. E., Colletti, R. B., Stanger, C., & Boyer, M. (2003). Individual differences in coping and temperament in children with recurrent abdominal pain. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Underwood, M. K. (1997). Top ten pressing questions about the development of emotion regulation. Motivation & Emotion, 21, 127–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vinson, T. (2004). Community adversity and resilience: The distribution of social disadvantage in Victoria and NSW and the mediating role of social cohesion. Unpublished manuscript, Jesuit Social Services.Google Scholar
Yap, M. B. H., Allen, N. B., & Sheeber, L. (2007). Using an emotion regulation framework to understand the role of temperament and family processes in risk for adolescent depressive disorders. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 10, 180–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeman, J., Shipman, K., & Penza-Clyve, S. (2001). Development and initial validation of the Children's Sadness Management Scale. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25, 187–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar