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1. Children's history of suicidal ideation and synchrony of facial displays of affect during mother–child interactions

   https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13231  

   James, Kiera M. ; Kudinova, Anastacia Y. ; Woody, Mary L. ; Feurer, Cope ; Foster, Claire E. ; Gibb, Brandon E. ( March 2020 , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry)

   Suicidal thoughts and behavior can begin early in childhood and are a leading cause of death in youth. Although specific mechanisms of risk remain largely unknown, theorists and researchers highlight the importance of the parent–child relationship. The current study focused on one aspect of this relationship: the dynamic exchange of facial affect during interactions. Specifically, we examined the relation between children's history of suicidal ideation (SI) and synchrony of facial expressions during positive and negative mother–child interactions.

   Participants were 353 mother–child dyads. Of these, 44 dyads included a child with an SI history. Dyads engaged in positive and negative discussions during which their facial electromyography was recorded from mothers and children to index second‐to‐second changes in positive (zygomaticus) and negative (corrugator) facial affect.

   Child SI dyads were characterized specifically by reduced synchrony of positive facial affect during the positive discussion compared to dyads without child SI.

   These findings suggest child SI dyads exhibit reduced synchrony of normative positive expressions during mother–child interactions. If replicated and extended in longitudinal research, these results may help to explain one mechanism of risk among children with SI.

    

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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.

    

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3. Differential outcomes of tonic and phasic irritability in adolescent girls

   https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13402  

   Silver, Jamilah ; Carlson, Gabrielle A. ; Olino, Thomas M. ; Perlman, Greg ; Mackin, Daniel ; Kotov, Roman ; Klein, Daniel N. ( March 2021 , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry)

   Irritable mood is a transdiagnostic clinical feature that is present in multiple psychiatric disorders. Although irritability is frequently examined as a unitary construct, two dimensions of irritability, tonic (i.e., irritable mood) and phasic (i.e., temper outbursts), have been hypothesized. However, few studies have examined whether tonic and phasic irritability are empirically separable and predict different forms of psychopathology.

   We utilized data from a longitudinal study of a community sample of 550 girls (age 13.5–15.5 years) followed at 9‐month intervals for 3 years. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using items from three self‐report inventories: the International Personality Item Pool Anger scale, Temperament and Affectivity Inventory Anger scale, and Buss‐Perry Aggression Questionnaire Anger scale.

   The EFA identified dimensions that were consistent with tonic and phasic irritability. Tonic irritability at baseline independently predicted the development of depressive disorders and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in subsequent waves. Phasic irritability independently predicted a decreased probability of GAD, but an increased probability of oppositional defiant, conduct, and substance use disorder, and greater risky sexual behavior and relational aggression during the follow‐up.

   Tonic and phasic irritability appear to be separable constructs with unique implications for later psychopathology and related behavior among adolescent girls. It is important to consider this distinction in research on the etiology and pathophysiology of irritability and developing effective treatments.

    

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4. Family Cohesion Moderates the Relation between Parent–Child Neural Connectivity Pattern Similarity and Youth's Emotional Adjustment

   https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0349-23.2023  

   Zhou, Zexi ; Chen, Ya-Yun ; Yang, Beiming ; Qu, Yang ; Lee, Tae-Ho ( July 2023 , The Journal of Neuroscience)

   Despite a recent surge in research examining parent–child neural similarity using fMRI, there remains a need for further investigation into how such similarity may play a role in children's emotional adjustment. Moreover, no prior studies explored the potential contextual factors that may moderate the link between parent–child neural similarity and children's developmental outcomes. In this study, 32 parent–youth dyads (parents:M_age= 43.53 years, 72% female; children:M_age= 11.69 years, 41% female) watched an emotion-evoking animated film while being scanned using fMRI. We first quantified how similarly emotion network interacts with other brain regions in responding to the emotion-evoking film between parents and their children. We then examined how such parent–child neural similarity is associated with children's emotional adjustment, with attention to the moderating role of family cohesion. Results revealed that higher parent–child similarity in functional connectivity pattern during movie viewing was associated with better emotional adjustment, including less negative affect, lower anxiety, and greater ego resilience in youth. Moreover, such associations were significant only among families with higher cohesion, but not among families with lower cohesion. The findings advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying how children thrive by being in sync and attuned with their parents, and provide novel empirical evidence that the effects of parent–child concordance at the neural level on children's development are contextually dependent.

   SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTWhat neural processes underlie the attunement between children and their parents that helps children thrive? Using a naturalistic movie-watching fMRI paradigm, we find that greater parent–child similarity in how emotion network interacts with other brain regions during movie viewing is associated with youth's better emotional adjustment including less negative affect, lower anxiety, and greater ego resilience. Interestingly, these associations are only significant among families with higher cohesion, but not among those with lower cohesion. Our findings provide novel evidence that parent–child shared neural processes to emotional situations can confer benefits to children, and underscore the importance of considering specific family contexts in which parent–child neural similarity may be beneficial or detrimental to children's development, highlighting a crucial direction for future research.

    

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5. Testing reciprocal associations between child anxiety and parenting across early interventions for inhibited preschoolers

   https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13879  

   Novick, Danielle R. ; Meyer, Christian T. ; Wagner, Nicholas J. ; Rubin, Kenneth H. ; Danko, Christina M. ; Dougherty, Lea R. ; Druskin, Lindsay R. ; Smith, Kelly A. ; Chronis‐Tuscano, Andrea ( August 2023 , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry)

   Given the robust evidence base for the efficacy of evidence‐based treatments targeting youth anxiety, researchers have advanced beyond efficacy outcome analysis to identifymechanismsof change and treatment directionality. Grounded in developmental transactional models, interventions for young children at risk for anxiety by virtue of behaviorally inhibited temperament often target parenting and child factors implicated in the early emergence and maintenance of anxiety. In particular, overcontrolling parenting moderates risk for anxiety among highly inhibited children, just as child inhibition has been shown to elicit overcontrolling parenting. Although longitudinal research has elucidated the temporal unfolding of factors that interact to place inhibited children at risk for anxiety, reciprocal transactions between these child and parent factors in the context of early interventions remain unknown.

   This study addresses these gaps by examining mechanisms of change and treatment directionality (i.e., parent‐to‐child vs. child‐to‐parent influences) within a randomized controlled trial comparing two interventions for inhibited preschoolers (N = 151): the multicomponent Turtle Program (‘Turtle’) and the parent‐only Cool Little Kids program (‘CLK’). Reciprocal relations between parent‐reported child anxiety, observed parenting, and parent‐reported accommodation of child anxiety were examined across four timepoints: pre‐, mid‐, and post‐treatment, and one‐year follow‐up (NCT02308826).

   Hypotheses were tested via latent curve models with structured residuals (LCM‐SR) and latent change score (LCS) models. LCM‐SR results were consistent with the child‐to‐parent influences found in previous research on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for older anxious youth, but only emerged in Turtle. LCS analyses revealed bidirectional effects ofchangesin parent accommodation and child anxiety during and after intervention, but only in Turtle.

   Our findings coincide with developmental transactional models, suggesting that the development of child anxiety may result from child‐to‐parent influences rather than the reverse, and highlight the importance of targeting parentandchild factors simultaneously in early interventions for young, inhibited children.

    

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