More Like this

1. Parent–child neural synchrony: a novel approach to elucidating dyadic correlates of preschool irritability

   https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13165  

   Quiñones‐Camacho, Laura E. ; Fishburn, Frank A. ; Camacho, M. Catalina ; Hlutkowsky, Christina O. ; Huppert, Theodore J. ; Wakschlag, Lauren S. ; Perlman, Susan B. ( November 2019 , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry)

   Research to date has largely conceptualized irritability in terms of intraindividual differences. However, the role of interpersonal dyadic processes has received little consideration. Nevertheless, difficulties in how parent–child dyads synchronize during interactions may be an important correlate of irritably in early childhood. Innovations in developmentally sensitive neuroimaging methods now enable the use of measures of neural synchrony to quantify synchronous responses in parent–child dyads and can help clarify the neural underpinnings of these difficulties. We introduce the Disruptive Behavior Diagnostic Observation Schedule: Biological Synchrony (DB‐DOS:BioSync) as a paradigm for exploring parent–child neural synchrony as a potential biological mechanism for interpersonal difficulties in preschool psychopathology.

   Using functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds (N = 116) and their mothers completed the DB‐DOS:BioSync while assessing neural synchrony during mild frustration and recovery. Child irritability was measured using a latent irritability factor that was calculated from four developmentally sensitive indicators.

   Both the mild frustration and the recovery contexts resulted in neural synchrony. However, less neural synchrony during the recovery context only was associated with more child irritability.

   Our results suggest that recovering after a frustrating period might be particularly challenging for children high in irritability and offer support for the use of the DB‐DOS:BioSync task to elucidate interpersonal neural mechanisms of developmental psychopathology.

    

   more » « less
2. Maternal expressions of positive emotion for children predicts children’s respiratory sinus arrhythmia surrounding stress

   https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22082  

   Delgadillo, Desiree ; Boparai, Sameen ; Pressman, Sarah D. ; Goldstein, Alison ; Bureau, Jean‐François ; Schmiedel, Sabrina ; Backer, Mumtaz ; Broekman, Birit ; Hian Tan, Kok ; Chong, Yap‐Seng ; et al ( January 2021 , Developmental Psychobiology)

   The aim of this study is to assess whether positive emotional exchanges (i.e., emotion coregulation) within the mother–child dyad play a protective role in children's physiological response to a distressing task. Specifically, we test whether positive emotion coregulation among mothers and their preschool‐aged children is associated with children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at baseline, during, and following a frustration task. One hundred Singaporean mother–child dyads (M_childage = 3.5 years) participated in a standardized “Laughing Task” in which positive emotional constructs were measured. Children also participated in a frustration task while RSA was continuously monitored. Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that greater maternal positive emotional responses to children were associated with child RSA at baseline and in recovery from frustration, but not during frustration. These findings have implications for the important role that positive emotion responsivity from mothers may play in children's developing autonomic response systems, and underscore the need for longitudinal work on this topic.

    

   more » « less
3. Digital Behavioral Phenotyping Detects Atypical Pattern of Facial Expression in Toddlers with Autism

   https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2391  

   Carpenter, Kimberly L. H. ; Hahemi, Jordan ; Campbell, Kathleen ; Lippmann, Steven J. ; Baker, Jeffrey P. ; Egger, Helen L. ; Espinosa, Steven ; Vermeer, Saritha ; Sapiro, Guillermo ; Dawson, Geraldine ( September 2020 , Autism Research)

   Commonly used screening tools for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) generally rely on subjective caregiver questionnaires. While behavioral observation is more objective, it is also expensive, time‐consuming, and requires significant expertise to perform. As such, there remains a critical need to develop feasible, scalable, and reliable tools that can characterize ASD risk behaviors. This study assessed the utility of a tablet‐based behavioral assessment for eliciting and detecting one type of risk behavior, namely, patterns of facial expression, in 104 toddlers (ASDN= 22) and evaluated whether such patterns differentiated toddlers with and without ASD. The assessment consisted of the child sitting on his/her caregiver's lap and watching brief movies shown on a smart tablet while the embedded camera recorded the child's facial expressions. Computer vision analysis (CVA) automatically detected and tracked facial landmarks, which were used to estimate head position and facial expressions (Positive, Neutral, All Other). Using CVA, specific points throughout the movies were identified that reliably differentiate between children with and without ASD based on their patterns of facial movement and expressions (area under the curves for individual movies ranging from 0.62 to 0.73). During these instances, children with ASD more frequently displayed Neutral expressions compared to children without ASD, who had more All Other expressions. The frequency of All Other expressions was driven by non‐ASD children more often displaying raised eyebrows and an open mouth, characteristic of engagement/interest. Preliminary results suggest computational coding of facial movements and expressions via a tablet‐based assessment can detect differences in affective expression, one of the early, core features of ASD.

   This study tested the use of a tablet in the behavioral assessment of young children with autism. Children watched a series of developmentally appropriate movies and their facial expressions were recorded using the camera embedded in the tablet. Results suggest that computational assessments of facial expressions may be useful in early detection of symptoms of autism.

    

   more » « less
4. Socialization of children's experience and expression of pride

   https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2230  

   Hagan, Courtney A. ; Halberstadt, Amy G. ; Leary, Kevin A. ( April 2021 , Infant and Child Development)

   To understand socialization pathways in the development of specific, self‐relevant emotions, we examined the socialization of third‐grade children's experience and expression of pride in a sample of 196 mother–child dyads, including children's gender and race as instantiations of cultural contexts. Mothers' self‐reported beliefs about the value of positive emotions, beliefs about the value of negative emotions, and positive expressivity within the family were examined in relation to Black and White boys' and girls' own reported feelings and expressions of pride in response to five vignettes. Results revealed that mothers' beliefs and expressive behaviour were associated with their children's feelings of pride, but were not significantly associated with children's expressing pride in the vignettes. Socialization processes seemed similar across child gender and race, with the one exception of maternal value of positivity being differently associated with children's pride expression by race. Results exploring gender and race as cultural contexts indicated that mothers' beliefs and expressivity varied little by child gender, but did by race; Black mothers reported valuing positive emotions more so than White mothers. Children reported pride differences in the vignettes by both gender and race, with female and Black children reporting feeling and expressing pride more so than male and White children. These findings suggest parental and cultural roles in the socialization of how children feel and express pride.

    

   more » « less
5. At-Home use of App-Based Mindfulness for Children: A Randomized Active-Controlled Trial

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02231-3  

   Treves, Isaac N. ; Olson, Halie A. ; Ozernov-Palchik, Ola ; Li, Cindy E. ; Wang, Kimberly L. ; Arechiga, Xochitl M. ; Goldberg, Simon B. ; Gabrieli, John D. E. ( October 2023 , Mindfulness)

   School-based mindfulness interventions in children have shown benefits to child well-being. Here, we investigated the effectiveness of a remote, app-based mindfulness intervention for promoting well-being in children.

   We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with two control groups to examine the effects of an 8-week mindfulness intervention in U.S. children ages 8–10. We compared pre-post effects between a mindfulness intervention using theInner Explorerapp, and two audiobook control interventions. The 279 children who participated in the interventions were assessed on self-report measures of anxiety and depression symptoms, perceived stress and trait mindfulness and we also collected parental reports.

   Over 80% of children completed the intervention in each condition. There was evidence for reduced self-perceived stress in children and reduced negative affect in children by parental reports using the mindfulness app, but no significant reduction for anxiety or depression symptoms. In general, between-group effect sizes were small (d < 0.45). Regular use, defined as at least 30 days of mindfulness practice within the study period, was associated with reduced child negative affect by parental reports, as well as reduced parental stress and child self-perceived stress.

   These findings suggest that home use of a mindfulness app in young children can have a positive impact on children’s emotional well-being if the app is used regularly, specifically for at least 30 days in the 8-week study period. Strategies aimed at promoting regular use of the mindfulness app at home could lead to even better outcomes for children.

   Preregistered on OSF athttps://osf.io/23vax

    

   more » « less