Emotional and Cortisol Differences Associated with Context Inappropriate Anger

描述(由申请人提供)：一些儿童表现出愤怒的反应，与对背景的标准评估不一致，因此是“背景不合适”。尽管环境中不恰当的愤怒可能会加剧行为问题，但人们对可能与之相关的情绪处理因素知之甚少。这个项目的一个主要目标是调查环境中不适当的愤怒是否可能与情绪知识的差异有关，这反过来可能会阐明哪些干预过程对这种形式的情绪行为最有利。这项拟议的研究将解决四个问题：1)情境不当愤怒的水平是否与情绪识别和对情绪状况的理解有关；2)情境不当愤怒的水平是否与行为问题的差异有关；3)情境不当愤怒的水平是否与学龄前儿童下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺(HPA)轴活动的差异有关；以及4)情绪知识是否与HPA轴活动的差异有关。这些目标将有助于解决主要焦点，即HPA轴活动(皮质醇)的个体差异是否可能通过影响情绪知识来调节CI愤怒和行为问题之间的关系。四岁儿童将参加关于基本情绪知识和情绪行为观察的访谈。主要照顾者将报告气质和环境，不适当的愤怒和教师将报告行为问题。将收集唾液样本以评估HPA轴的反应性(基础皮质醇、皮质醇反应性)。背景不恰当影响的罕见要求使用基于问卷的预选程序。这项研究具有临床意义，因为关于情绪理解相关性的研究结果将突出显示哪些干预程序对上下文不适当愤怒最有利，不适当愤怒是一种与临床相关的情绪行为。提出的与这种情绪行为相关的临床和生物学因素也使这一领域的研究适合于NIH关于翻译情绪研究的议程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Some children show anger responses that are not concordant with normative appraisal of the context and are thus "context inappropriate". Although context inappropriate anger might potentiate behavior problems, little is known about the emotion processing factors that might be related to it. One primary goal of this project is to investigate if context inappropriate anger might be related to differences in emotion knowledge, which in turn might elucidate which intervention processes would be most advantageous for this form of emotional behavior. The proposed research will address four issues: 1) whether levels of context inappropriate anger are related to emotion recognition and understanding of emotional situations; 2) whether levels of context inappropriate anger are related to differences in behavior problems; 3) whether levels of context inappropriate anger are related to differences in Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis activity in preschool age children, and 4) whether emotion knowledge is associated with differences in HPA axis activity. These goals will aid in addressing the main focus of whether individual differences in HPA axis activity (cortisol) may mediate the relationship between CI anger and behavior problems through influences on emotion knowledge. Four year-old children will participate in interviews regarding basic emotion knowledge and behavioral observations of emotion. The primary caregiver will report on temperament and context inappropriate anger and teachers will report on behavior problems. Saliva samples will be collected for assessment of HPA axis reactivity (basal cortisol, cortisol reactivity). The rarity of context inappropriate affect requires the use of questionnaire-based pre-selection procedures. The study has clinical relevance because findings on emotional understanding correlates will highlight which intervention procedures would be most advantageous for context inappropriate anger, a clinically-relevant emotional behavior. The proposed clinical and biological factors relevant for this emotional behavior also make this area of research appropriate for the NIH agenda on translational emotion research.