Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:10:36.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effortful control as modifier of the association between negative emotionality and adolescents' mental health problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2007

ALBERTINE J. OLDEHINKEL
Affiliation:
University Medical Center, Groningen Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam
CATHARINA A. HARTMAN
Affiliation:
University Medical Center, Groningen
ROBERT F. FERDINAND
Affiliation:
Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam
FRANK C. VERHULST
Affiliation:
Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam
JOHAN ORMEL
Affiliation:
University Medical Center, Groningen

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which effortful control moderated the risk of internalizing or externalizing problems associated with high negative emotionality in a Dutch population sample of pre- and early adolescents (N = 1,922). Internalizing and externalizing problems were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist, Youth Self-Report, and Teacher Checklist of Psychopathology. Temperament (effortful control, fearfulness, frustration) was assessed with the parent version of the Revised Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. The effects of fearfulness and frustration appeared to be attenuated by high levels of effortful control. The associations differed between the two domains of mental health investigated: effortful control reduced the effect of fearfulness on internalizing problems and the effect of frustration on externalizing problems. The effects were stronger for externalizing problems and similar for preadolescent (age 11) and adolescent (age 13/14) outcomes.This research is part of the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Participating centers of TRAILS include various Departments of the University of Groningen, Erasmus Medical Center of Rotterdam, University of Nijmegen, Trimbos Institute, and University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. TRAILS is financially supported by grants from The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (GB-MW 940-38-011, GB-MAG 480-01-006, ZonMw 100.001.001, and NWO 175.010.2003.005) and the Department of Justice (WODC), and by the participating centers.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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

REFERENCES

Achenbach, T. M. (1991a). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.
Achenbach, T. M. (1991b). Manual for the Youth Self-Report and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.
Ahadi, S. A., Rothbart, M. K., & Ye, R. (1993). Children's temperament in the U.S. and China: Similarities and differences. European Journal of Personality, 7, 359378.Google Scholar
Akiskal, H. S. (1996). The temperamental foundations of affective disorders. In C. Mundt & M. J. Goldstein (Eds.), Interpersonal factors in the origin and course of affective disorders. London: Gaskell/Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Angold, A., & Costello, E.J. (1996). The relative diagnostic utility of child and parent reports of oppositional defiant behaviors. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 6, 253259.Google Scholar
Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Worthman, C. M. (1998). Puberty and depression: The roles of age, pubertal status and pubertal timing. Psychological Medicine, 28, 5161.Google Scholar
Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Ridge, B. (1998). Interaction of temperamental resistance to control and restrictive parenting in the development of externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 34, 982995.Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Friedman, L., & Hsieh, K.-H. (2001). Testing a core emotion-regulation prediction: Does early attentional persistence moderate the effect of infant negative emotionality on later development? Child Development, 72, 123133.Google Scholar
Blair, R. J. R., & Cipolotti, L. (2000). Impaired social response reversal. Brain, 123, 11221141.Google Scholar
Casey, B. J., Geidd, J. N., & Thomas, K. M. (2000). Structural and functional brain development and its relation to cognitive development. Biological Psychiatry, 54, 241247.Google Scholar
Caspi, A., Henry, B., McGee, R. D., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1995). Temperament origins of child and adolescent behavior problem: From age three to age fifteen. Child Development, 66, 5568.Google Scholar
Cohen, P., Cohen, J., Kasen, S., Velez, C. N., Hartmark, C., Johnson, J., et al. (1993). An epidemiological study of disorders in late childhood and adolescence. I: Age- and gender-specific prevalence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 851867.Google Scholar
Colder, C. R., & Stice, E. (1998). A longitudinal study of the interactive effects of impulsivity and anger on adolescent problem behavior. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27, 255274.Google Scholar
Cole, P. M., Michel, M. K., & Teti, L. O. (1994). The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation: A clinical perspective. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(2–3, Serial No. 240).Google Scholar
Compton, S. N., March, J. S., Brent, D., Albano, A. M., Weersing, V. R., & Curry, J. (2004). Cognitive–behavioral psychotherapy for anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents: An evidence-based review. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 930959.Google Scholar
Derryberry, D., & Rothbart, M.K. (1988). Arousal, affect, and attention as components of temperament. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 958966.Google Scholar
De Sonneville, L. M. J. (1999). Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks: A computer-aided assessment program. In B. P. L. M. den Brinker, P. J. Beek, A. N. Brand, F. J. Maarse, & L. J. M. Mulder (Eds.), Cognitive ergonomics, clinical assessment, and computer-assisted learning: Computers in Psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 187203). Lisse, Switzerland: Swets & Zeitlinger.
De Winter, A. F., Oldehinkel, A. J., Veenstra, R., Brunnekreef, J. A., Verhulst, F. C., & Ormel, J. (2005). Nonresponse bias in mental health determinants and outcomes in a large sample of preadolescents. European Journal of Epidemiology, 20, 173181.Google 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, 11121134.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Guthrie, I. K., Murphy, B. C., Maszk, P., Holmgren, R., et al. (1996). The relations of regulation and emotionality to problem behavior in elementary school children. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 141162.Google Scholar
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, 136157.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Sadovsky, A., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R., Losoya, S. H., Valiente, C., et al. (2005). The relations of problem behavior status in children's negative emotionality, effortful control, and impulsivity: Concurrent relations and prediction of change. Developmental Psychology, 41, 193211.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Reiser, M., Cumberland, A., Shepard, S. A., et al. (2004). The relations of effortful control and impulsivity to children's resiliency and adjustment. Child Development, 75, 2546.Google Scholar
Ferdinand, R. F., & Verhulst, F. C. (1995). Psychopathology from adolescence into young adulthood: An 8-year follow-up study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 15861594.Google Scholar
Fergusson, D. M., Lynskey, M. T., & Horwood, L. J. (1996). Factors associated with continuity and changes in disruptive behavior patterns between childhood and adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 24, 533553.Google Scholar
Gogtay, N., Giedd, J. N., Lusk, L., Hayashi, K. M., Greenstein, D., Vaituzis, A. C., et al. (2004). Dynamic mapping of human cortisol development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 81748179.Google 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, 128140.Google Scholar
Hartman, C. A. (2000). Nederlandse vertaling van de Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire [Dutch translation of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire] (Internal Report). Groningen, The Netherlands: University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry.
Kagan, J. (1997). Temperament and reactions to unfamiliarity. Child Development, 68, 139143.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Foster, C. L., Saunders, W. B., & Stang, P. E. (1995). Social consequences of psychiatric disorders. I: Education attainment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 10261032.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, 220232.Google Scholar
Krueger, R. F., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., White, J., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1996). Delay of gratification, psychopathology, and personality: Is low self-control specific to externalizing problems? Journal of Personality, 64, 107129.Google Scholar
Lemery, K. S., Essex, M. J., & Smider, N. A. (2002). Revealing the relation between temperament and behavior problem symptoms by eliminating measurement confounding: Expert ratings and factor analyses. Child Development, 73, 876882.Google Scholar
Lengua, L. J. (2002). The contribution of emotionality and self-regulation to the understanding of children's response to multiple risk. Child Development, 73, 144161.Google Scholar
Lengua, L. J., West, S. G., & Sandler, I. N. (1998). Temperament as a predictor of symptomatology in children: Assessing contamination of measures. Child Development, 69, 164181.Google Scholar
Lewinsohn, P. M., Gotlib, I. H., & Seeley, J. R. (1995). Adolescent psychopathology. IV: Specificity of psychosocial risk factors of depression and substance abuse in older adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 12211229.Google Scholar
Logan, G. D., Cowan, W. B., & Davis, K. A. (1984). On the ability to inhibit thought and action: A model and method. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 10, 276291.Google Scholar
Maziade, M., Caperaa, P., Laplante, B, Boudreault, M., Thiverge, J., Cote, R., et al. (1985). Value of difficult temperament among seven-year-olds in the general population for predicting psychiatric diagnosis at age 12. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 943946.Google Scholar
Muris, P., & Ollendick, T. H. (2005). The role of temperament in the etiology of child psychopathology. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 8, 271289.Google Scholar
Murphy, B. C., Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A, Shepard, S., & Guthrie, I. K. (1999). Consistency and change in children's emotionality and regulation: A longitudinal study. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 45, 413444.Google Scholar
Nelson, E. E., Leibenluft, E., McClure, E. B., & Pine, D. S. (2005). The social re-orientation of adolescence: A neuroscience perspective on the process and its relation to psychopathology. Psychological Medicine, 35, 163174.Google Scholar
Norman, D. A., & Shallice, T. (1986). Attention to action: Willed and automatic control of behavior. In R. J. Davidson, C. E. Schwartz, & D. Shapiro (Eds.), Consciousness and self-regulation (pp. 118). New York: Plenum Press.
O'Brien, B. S., & Frick, P. J. (1996). Reward dominance: Associations with anxiety, conduct problems, and psychopathy in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 24, 223240.Google Scholar
Oldehinkel, A. J., & Hartman, C. A. (2003). Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire—Parent version. Constructs and scales. Unpublished manuscript, University of Groningen.
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, 421440.Google Scholar
Oldehinkel, A. J., Wittchen, H.-U., & Schuster, P. (1999). Prevalence, 20-month incidence and outcome of unipolar depressive disorders in a community sample of adolescents. Psychological Medicine, 29, 655668.Google Scholar
Olson, S. L., Schilling, E. M., & Bates, J. E. (1999). Measurement of impulsivity: Construct coherence, longitudinal stability, and relationship with externalizing problems in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 151165.Google Scholar
Oosterlaan, J., & Sergeant, J. A. (1996). Inhibition in ADHD, aggressive, and anxious children: A biologically based model of child psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 24, 1936.Google Scholar
Ormel, J., Oldehinkel, A. J., Ferdinand, R. F., Hartman, C. A., De Winter, A. F., Veenstra, R., et al. (2005). Internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence: General and dimension-specific effects of familial loadings and preadolescent temperament traits. Psychological Medicine, 35, 18251835.Google Scholar
Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (1998). Attention, self-regulation and consciousness. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 353, 19151927.Google Scholar
Putnam, S. P., Ellis, L. K., & Rothbart, M. K. (2001). The structure of temperament from infancy through adolescence. In A. Eliasz & A. Angleitner (Eds.), Advances/proceedings in research on temperament (pp. 165182). Berlin: Pabst Scientist Publisher.
Rappaport, N., & Thomas, C. (2004). Recent research findings on aggressive and violent behavior in youth: Implications for clinical assessment and intervention. Journal of Adolescent Health, 35, 260277.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., & Evans, D. E. (2000). Temperament and personality: Origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122135.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., Hershey, K. L., & Fisher, P. (2001). Investigations of temperament from three to seven years: The Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Child Development, 72, 13941408.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., & Bates, J. E. (1998). Temperament. In W. Damon (Ser. Ed.) & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 105176). New York: Wiley.
Rothbart, M. K., Ellis, L. K., & Posner, M. I. (2004). Temperament and self-regulation. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 357370). New York: Guilford Press.
Rothbart, M. K., Ellis, L. K., Rueda, M. R., & Posner, M. I. (2003). Developing mechanisms of temperamental effortful control. Journal of Personality, 71, 11131143.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., & Putnam, S. P. (2002). Temperament and socialization. In L. Pulkkinen & A. Caspi (Eds.), Paths to successful development (pp. 1945). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rothbart, M. K., & Rueda, M. R. (2005). The development of effortful control. In U. Mayr, E. Awh, & S. Keele (Eds.), Developing individuality in the human brain: A tribute to Michael I. Posner (pp. 167188). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R. J., Fox, N. A., & Calkins, S. D. (1995). Emotionality, emotion regulation and preschoolers' social adaptation. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 4962.Google Scholar
Rueda, M. R., Rothbart, M. K., McCandliss, B. D., Saccomanno, L., & Posner, M. I. (2005). Training, maturation, and genetic influences on the development of executive attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 102, 1493114936.Google Scholar
Rumbaugh, D. M., & Washburn, D. A. (1995). Attention and memory in relation to learning: A comparative adaptation perspective. In G. R. Lyon & N. A. Krasengor (Eds.), Attention, memory and executive function (pp. 199219). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
Rutter, M., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2003). Using sex differences in psychopathology to study causal mechanisms: Unifying issues and research strategies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 10921115.Google Scholar
Rydell, A. M., Berlin, L., & Bohlin, G. (2003). Emotionality, emotion regulation, and adaptation among 5- to 8-year-old children. Emotion, 3, 3047.Google Scholar
Shiner, R., & Caspi, A. (2003). Personality differences in childhood and adolescence: Measurement, development, and consequences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 232.Google Scholar
Shoda, Y., Mischel, W., & Peake, P. K. (1990). Predicting adolescent cognitive and self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification: Identifying diagnostic conditions. Developmental Psychology, 26, 978986.Google Scholar
Sourander, A., Helstelä, L., & Helenius, H. (1999). Parent–adolescent agreement on emotional and behavioral problems. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 34, 657663.Google Scholar
Valiente, C., Eisenberg, N., Smith, C. L., Reiser, M., Fabes, R. A., Losoya, S., et al. (2003). The relations of effortful control and reactive control to children's externalizing problems: A longitudinal assessment. Journal of Personality, 71, 11711196.Google Scholar
Van Goozen, S. H. M., Matthys, W., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Gispen-de Wied, C., Wiegant, V. M., & Van Engeland, H. (1998). Salivary cortisol and cardiovascular activity during stress in oppositional-defiant disorder boys and normal controls. Biological Psychiatry, 43, 531539.Google Scholar
Vasey, M. W., El-Hag, N., & Daleiden, E. L. (1996). Anxiety and the processing of emotionally threatening stimuli: Distinctive patterns of selective attention among high- and low-test-anxious children. Child Development, 67, 11731185.Google Scholar
Verhulst, F. C., & Achenbach, T. M. (1995). Empirically based assessment and taxonomy of psychopathology: Cross-cultural applications. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 4, 6176.Google Scholar
Vickers, A. J., & Altman, D. G. (2001). Analysing controlled trials with baseline and follow up measurements. British Medical Journal, 323, 11231124.Google Scholar
Wachs, T. D., & Bates, J. E. (2001). Temperament. In G. Bremmer & A. Foge (Eds.)., Blackwell handbook of infant development (pp. 465502). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Wolfson, J., Fields, J. H., & Rose, S. A. (1987). Symptoms, temperament, resiliency, and control in anxiety-disordered preschool children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 1622.Google Scholar