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Observational measures of early irritability predict children's psychopathology risk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2021

Ola Mohamed Ali Open the ORCID record for Ola Mohamed Ali [Opens in a new window] ,
Lindsay N. Gabel Open the ORCID record for Lindsay N. Gabel [Opens in a new window] ,
Kasey Stanton ,
Erin A. Kaufman ,
Daniel N. Klein  and
Elizabeth P. Hayden Open the ORCID record for Elizabeth P. Hayden [Opens in a new window]
Ola Mohamed Ali*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
Lindsay N. Gabel
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
Kasey Stanton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Erin A. Kaufman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
Daniel N. Klein
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, The State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, USA
Elizabeth P. Hayden
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
*
Author for Correspondence: Ola Mohamed Ali; E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Irritability is a transdiagnostic feature of diverse forms of psychopathology and a rapidly growing literature implicates the construct in child maladaptation. However, most irritability measures currently used are drawn from parent-report questionnaires not designed to measure irritability per se; furthermore, parent report methods have several important limitations. We therefore examined the utility of observational ratings of children's irritability in predicting later psychopathology symptoms. Four-hundred and nine 3-year-old children (208 girls) completed observational tasks tapping temperamental emotionality and parents completed questionnaires assessing child irritability and anger. Parent-reported child psychopathology symptoms were assessed concurrently to the irritability assessment and when children were 5 and 8 years old. Children's irritability observed during tasks that did not typically elicit anger predicted their later depressive and hyperactivity symptoms, above and beyond parent-reported irritability and context-appropriate observed anger. Our findings support the use of observational indices of irritability and have implications for the development of observational paradigms designed to assess this construct in childhood.

Keywords

childrendevelopmentirritabilitymeasurementobservationalparent report
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 1531 - 1543
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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