Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T08:18:48.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Child language and parenting antecedents and externalizing outcomes of emotion regulation pathways across early childhood: A person-centered approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2017

Jason José Bendezú ,
Pamela M. Cole ,
Patricia Z. Tan ,
Laura Marie Armstrong ,
Elizabeth B. Reitz  and
Rachel M. Wolf
Jason José Bendezú*
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Pamela M. Cole
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Patricia Z. Tan
Affiliation:
University of California Los Angeles
Laura Marie Armstrong
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Elizabeth B. Reitz
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Rachel M. Wolf
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jason J. Bendezú, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, 208 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Decreases in children's anger reactivity because of the onset of their autonomous use of strategies characterizes the prevailing model of the development of emotion regulation in early childhood (Kopp, 1989). There is, however, limited evidence of the varied pathways that mark this development and their proposed antecedents and consequences. This study used a person-centered approach to identify such pathways, antecedents, and outcomes. A sample of 120 children from economically strained rural and semirural households were observed while waiting to open a gift at ages 24, 36, and 48 months. Multitrajectory modeling of children's anger expressions and strategy use yielded three subgroups. As they aged, typically developing children's strategy use (calm bids and focused distraction) increased while anger expressions decreased. Later developing children, though initially elevated in anger expression and low in strategy use, demonstrated marked growth across indicators and did not differ from typically developing children at 48 months. At-risk children, despite developing calm bidding skills, did not display longitudinal self-distraction increases or anger expression declines. Some predicted antecedents (12–24 month child language skills and language-capitalizing parenting practices) and outcomes (age 5 years externalizing behavior) differentiated pathways. Findings illustrate how indicator-specific departures from typical pathways signal risk for behavior problems and point to pathway-specific intervention opportunities.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , October 2018 , pp. 1253 - 1268
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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.)

Footnotes

This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R01-061388 (to P.M.C.) We thank the many graduate and undergraduate students who contributed to the data collection and reduction, as well as the commitment and contributions of the families who participated.

References

Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families.Google Scholar
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Andruff, H., Carraro, N., Thompson, A., Gaudreau, P., & Louvet, B. (2009). Latent class growth modelling: A tutorial. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 5, 11–24.10.20982/tqmp.05.1.p011Google Scholar
Ayoub, C., Vallotton, C., & Matergeorge, A. (2011). Developmental pathways to integrated social skills: The roles of parenting and early intervention. Child Development, 82, 583–600.Google Scholar
Barrett, K. C., & Campos, J. J. (1987). Perspectives on emotional development: II. A functionalist approach to emotions. In Osofsky, J. D. (Ed.), Handbook of infant development (2nd ed., pp. 555–578). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Crnic, K., & Woodworth, S. (1995). Personality and parenting: Exploring the mediating role of transient mood and daily hassles. Journal of Personality, 63, 905–929.Google Scholar
Bergman, L. R., & Magnusson, D. (1997). A person-oriented approach in research on developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 291–319.Google Scholar
Blair, C., & Raver, C. C. (2015). School readiness and self-regulation: A developmental psychobiological approach. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 711–731.10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015221Google Scholar
Block, J. (1971). Lives through time. Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., & Bradley, R. H. (2003). Socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., Hahn, C.-S., & Haynes, O. M. (2004). Specific and general language performance across early childhood: Stability and gender considerations. First Language, 24, 267–304.10.1177/0142723704045681Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., Haynes, O. M., Painter, K. M., & Genevro, J. L. (2000). Child language with mother and with stranger at home and in the laboratory: A methodological study. Journal of Child Language, 27, 407–427.10.1017/S0305000900004165Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.10.4159/harvard.9780674732469Google Scholar
Brownell, C. A., Svetlova, M., Anderson, R., Nichols, S. R., & Drummond, J. (2013). Socialization of early prosocial behavior: Parents’ talk about emotions is associated with sharing and helping in toddlers. Infancy, 18, 91–119.Google Scholar
Calkins, S. D., Gill, K. L., Johnson, M. C., & Smith, C. L. (1999). Emotional reactivity and emotional regulation strategies as predictors of social behavior with peers during toddlerhood. Social Development, 8, 310–334.10.1111/1467-9507.00098Google Scholar
Calkins, S. D., & Hill, A. (2007). The emergence of emotion regulation: Biological and behavioral transactions in early development. In Gross, J. J. (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 229–248). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Calkins, S. D., & Johnson, M. C. (1998). Toddler regulation of distress to frustrating events: Temperamental and maternal correlates. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 379–395.Google Scholar
Calkins, S. D., & Keane, S. P. (2009). Developmental origins of early antisocial behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 1095–1109.Google Scholar
Campbell, S. B., Shaw, D. S., & Gilliom, M. (2000). Early externalizing behavior problems: Toddlers and preschoolers at risk for later maladjustment. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 467–488.10.1017/S0954579400003114Google Scholar
Cervantes, C. A., & Callanan, M. A. (1998). Labels and explanations in mother–child emotion talk: Age and gender differentiation. Developmental Psychology, 34, 88–98.Google Scholar
Chang, H., & Olson, S. L. (2016). Examining early behavioral persistence as a dynamic process: Correlates and consequences spanning ages 3–10 years. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44, 799–810.Google Scholar
Chaplin, T. M., & Aldao, A. (2013). Gender differences in emotion expression in children: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 735–765.10.1037/a0030737Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 597–600.Google Scholar
Cole, P. M., Armstrong, L. M., & Pemberton, C. (2010). The role of language in the development of emotion regulation. In Calkins, S. & Bell, M. A. (Eds.), Child development at the intersection of emotion and cognition (pp. 59–76). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Cole, P. M., Hall, S. E., & Hajal, N. J. (2008). Emotion dysregulation as a risk factor for psychopathology. Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 2, 341–373.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, 317–333.10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00673.xGoogle Scholar
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, 73–102.10.1111/j.1540-5834.1994.tb01278.xGoogle Scholar
Cole, P. M., Tan, P. Z., Hall, S. E., Zhang, Y., Crnic, K. A., Blair, C. B., & Li, R. (2011). Developmental changes in anger expression and attention focus: Learning to wait. Developmental Psychology, 47, 1078–1089.10.1037/a0023813Google Scholar
Cole, P. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Smith, K. D. (1994). Expressive control during a disappointment: Variations related to preschoolers’ behavior problems. Developmental Psychology, 30, 835–846.10.1037/0012-1649.30.6.835Google Scholar
Degnan, K. A., Calkins, S. D., Keane, S. P., & Hill-Soderlund, A. L. (2008). Profiles of disruptive behavior across early childhood: Contributions of frustration, physiological regulation, and maternal behavior. Child Development, 79, 1357–1376.10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01193.xGoogle Scholar
Denham, S. A. (2006). Social-emotional competence as support for school readiness: What is it and how do we assess it? Early Education and Development, 17, 57–89.Google Scholar
Denham, S. A., Cook, M., & Zoller, D. (1992). “Baby looks very sad”: Implications of conversations about emotions between mother and preschooler. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 10, 301–315.Google Scholar
Dennis, T. (2006). Emotional self-regulation in preschoolers: The interplay of child approach reactivity, parenting, and control capacities. Developmental Psychology, 42, 84–97.Google Scholar
Dennis, T. A., Cole, P. M., Wiggins, C. N., Cohen, L. H., & Zalewski, M. (2009). The functional organization of preschool-age children's emotion expressions and actions in challenging situations. Emotion, 9, 520–530.10.1037/a0016514Google Scholar
Duncan, G. J., Smeeding, T. M., & Rodgers, W. (1993). W (h) ither the middle class? A dynamic view. In Papadimitriou, D. P. & Wolfe, W. D. (Eds.), Poverty and prosperity in the USA in the late twentieth century (pp. 240–274). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Dunn, J., & Hughes, C. B. (2005). Inner state coding manual. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Reiser, M., … Guthrie, I. K. (2001). The relations of regulation and emotionality to children's externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. Child Development, 72, 1112–1134.10.1111/1467-8624.00337Google Scholar
Evans, G. W., & Marcynyszyn, L. A. (2004). Environmental justice, cumulative environmental risk, and health among low- and middle-income children in upstate New York. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 1942–1944.Google Scholar
Fagot, B. L., & Gauvain, M. (1997). Mother–child problem solving: Continuity through the early childhood years. Developmental Psychology, 33, 480–488.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Thal, D., Bates, E., Hartung, J. P., … Reilly, J. S. (1993). The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and technical manual. San Diego, CA: Singular.Google Scholar
Fields-Olivieri, M. A., Cole, P. M., & Maggi, M. C. (2017). Toddler emotional states, temperament traits, and their interaction: Associations with mothers’ and fathers’ parenting. Journal of Research in Personality, 67, 106–119.10.1016/j.jrp.2016.05.007Google Scholar
Fox, N. A., & Calkins, S. D. (2003). The development of self-control of emotion: Intrinsic and extrinsic influences. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 7–26.10.1023/A:1023622324898Google Scholar
Gilliom, M., Shaw, D. S., Beck, J. E., Schonberg, M. A., & Lukon, J. L. (2002). Anger regulation in disadvantaged preschool boys: Strategies, antecedents, and the development of self-control. Developmental Psychology, 38, 222–235.Google Scholar
Girard, L., Pingault, J., Falissard, B., Boivin, M., Dionne, G., & Tremblay, R. (2014). Physical aggression and language ability from 17 to 72 months: Cross lagged effects in a population sample. PLOS ONE, 9, e112185.Google Scholar
Graziano, P. A., & Garcia, A. (2016). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and children's emotion dysregulation: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 46, 106–123. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2016.04.011.Google Scholar
Grolnick, W. S., Kurowski, C. O., McMenamy, J. M., Rivkin, I., & Bridges, L. J. (1998). Mothers’ strategies for regulating their toddlers’ distress. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 437–450.Google Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Hawa, V. V., & Spanoudis, G. (2014). Toddlers with delayed expressive language: An overview of the characteristics, risk factors and language outcomes. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35, 400–407.10.1016/j.ridd.2013.10.027Google Scholar
Hill, A. L., Degnan, K. A., Calkins, S. D., & Keane, S. P. (2006). Profiles of externalizing behavior problems for boys and girls across preschool: The roles of emotion regulation and inattention. Developmental Psychology, 42, 913.Google Scholar
Hoffman, C., Crnic, K. A., & Baker, J. K. (2006). Maternal depression and parenting: Implications for children's emergent emotion regulation and behavioral functioning. Parenting, 6, 271–295.Google Scholar
Horwitz, S. H., Irwin, J. R., Briggs-Gowan, M. J., Heenan, J. M. B., Mendoza, J., & Carter, A. S. (2003). Language delay in a community cohort of young children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 932–940.Google Scholar
Jones, B. L., Nagin, D., & Roeder, K. (2001). A SAS procedure based on mixture models for estimating developmental trajectories. Sociological Methods and Research, 29, 374–393.10.1177/0049124101029003005Google Scholar
Jones, L. B., Rothbart, M. K., & Posner, M. I. (2003). Development of executive attention in preschool children. Developmental Science, 6, 498–504.10.1111/1467-7687.00307Google Scholar
Keenan, K. (2000). Emotion dysregulation as a risk factor for child psychopathology. Clinical Psychology, 7, 418–434.Google Scholar
Kochanska, G., Coy, K. C., & Murray, K. T. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 1091–1111.10.1111/1467-8624.00336Google Scholar
Kochanska, G., Murray, K. T., & Harlan, E. T. (2000). Effortful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development. Developmental Psychology, 36, 220–232.10.1037/0012-1649.36.2.220Google Scholar
Kopp, C. B. (1989). Regulation of distress and negative emotions: A developmental view. Developmental Psychology, 25, 343–354.10.1037/0012-1649.25.3.343Google Scholar
Kubicek, L. F., & Emde, R. N. (2012). Emotional expression and language: A longitudinal study of typical developing earlier and later talkers from 15 to 30 months. Infant Mental Health, 33, 553–584.10.1002/imhj.21364Google Scholar
Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E., Swank, P. R., & Miller-Loncar, C. L. (2000). Early maternal and child influences on children's later independent cognitive and social functioning. Child Development, 71, 358–375.Google Scholar
Leaper, C., & Smith, T. E. (2004). A meta-analytic review of gender variations in children's language use: Talkativeness, affiliative speech, and assertive speech. Developmental Psychology, 40, 993–1027.Google Scholar
Louvet, B., Gaudreau, P., Menaut, A., Genty, J., & Deneuve, P. (2009). Revisiting the changing and stable properties of coping utilization using latent class growth analysis: A longitudinal investigation with soccer referees. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 10, 124–135.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, S. C., Shapiro, J. R., & Marzolf, D. (1995). Developmental and temperamental differences in emotional regulation in infancy. Child Development, 66, 1817–1828.Google Scholar
Mayer, M., & Mayer, M. (1975). One frog too many. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.Google Scholar
Montroy, J. J., Bowles, R. P., Skibbe, L. E., McClelland, M. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2016). The development of self-regulation across early childhood. Developmental Psychology, 52, 1744.Google Scholar
Morris, A. S., Silk, J. S., Steinberg, L., Terranova, A. M., & Kithakye, M. (2010). Concurrent and longitudinal links between children's externalizing behavior in school and observed anger regulation in the mother–child dyad. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 48–56.Google Scholar
Nagin, D. S. (2005). Group-based modeling of development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nagin, D. S., Jones, B. L., Lima Passos, V., & Tremblay, R. E. (2016). Group-based multi-trajectory modeling. Statistical Methods in Medical Research. Advance online publication.Google Scholar
Nozadi, S. S., Spinrad, T. L., Eisenberg, N., Bolnick, R., Eggum-Wilkens, N. D., Smith, C. L., … Sallquist, J. (2013). Prediction of toddlers’ expressive language from maternal sensitivity and toddlers’ anger expressions: A developmental perspective. Infant Behavior and Development, 36, 650–661.Google Scholar
Peake, P. K., Hebl, M., & Mischel, W. (2002). Strategic attention deployment for delay of gratification in working and waiting situations. Developmental Psychology, 38, 313–326.10.1037/0012-1649.38.2.313Google Scholar
Roben, C. K., Cole, P. M., & Armstrong, L. M. (2013). Longitudinal relations among language skills, anger expression, and regulatory strategies in early childhood. Child Development, 84, 891–905.Google Scholar
Salley, B. J., & Dixon, W. E. Jr. (2007). Temperament and joint attentional predictors of language development. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 53, 131–154.Google Scholar
Sarsour, K., Sheridan, M., Jutte, D., Nuru-Jeter, A., Hinshaw, S., & Boyce, W. T. (2011). Family socioeconomic status and child executive functions: The roles of language, home environment, and single parenthood. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17, 120–132.10.1017/S1355617710001335Google Scholar
Shaw, D. S., Bell, R. Q., & Gilliom, M. (2000). A truly early starter model of antisocial behavior revisited. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 3, 155–172.Google Scholar
Silk, J. S., Shaw, D. S., Forbes, E. E., Lane, T. L., & Kovacs, M. (2006). Maternal depression and child internalizing: The moderating role of child emotion regulation. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 116–126.Google Scholar
Silk, J. S., Shaw, D. S., Skuban, E. M., Oland, A. A., & Kovacs, M. (2006). Emotion regulation strategies in offspring of childhood-onset depressed mothers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 69–78.10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01440.xGoogle Scholar
Smith, C. L., Calkins, S. D., Keane, S. P., Anastopoulos, A. D., & Shelton, T. L. (2004). Predicting stability and change in toddler behavior problems: Contributions of maternal behavior and child gender. Developmental Psychology, 40, 29–42.Google Scholar
Stansbury, K., & Sigman, M. (2000). Responses of preschoolers in two frustrating episodes: Emergence of complex strategies for emotion regulation. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 161, 182–202.10.1080/00221320009596705Google Scholar
Supplee, L. H., Skuban, E. M., Trentacosta, C. J., Shaw, D. S., & Stoltz, E. (2011). Preschool boys’ development of emotional self-regulation strategies in a sample at-risk for behavior problems. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 172, 95–120.Google Scholar
Tervo, R. C. (2007). Language proficiency, development, and behavioral difficulties in toddlers. Clinical Pediatrics, 46, 530–539.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. A. (1990). Emotion and self-regulation. In Thompson, R. A. (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation, 1988: Socioemotional development (pp. 367–467). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 25–52, 250–283.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. A., & Meyer, S. (2007). Socialization of emotion regulation in the family. In Gross, J. J. (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 249–268). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Trentacosta, C. J., & Shaw, D. S. (2009). Emotional self-regulation, peer rejection, and antisocial behavior: Developmental associations from early childhood to early adolescence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 356–365.Google Scholar
von Eye, A., & Bogat, K. (2006). Person-oriented and variable-oriented research: Concepts, results, and development. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 390–420.Google Scholar
Wanless, S. B., Kim, K. H., Zhang, C., Degol, J. L., Chen, J. L., & Chen, F. M. (2016). Trajectories of behavioral regulation for Taiwanese children from 3.5 to 6 years and relations to math and vocabulary outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 34, 104–114.10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.10.001Google Scholar
Wertsch, J. V. (1979). From social interaction to higher psychological processes: A clarification and application of Vygotsky theory. Human Development, 22, 1–22.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, A. J. O., Robinson, M., & Zubrick, S. R. (2011). Late talking and the risk for psychosocial problems during childhood and adolescence. Pediatrics, 128, 324–332.Google Scholar