Emotion, regulation and quality of social functioning

描述(申请人提供)：拟议研究的主要目的是考察个体差异对儿童社会情绪功能的各种努力控制(EC：执行注意的效率，包括抑制优势反应和/或激活次要反应、计划和发现错误的能力)和反应性(较不自愿的)控制的贡献，包括他们的社交能力、同理心、人格复原力；以及适应及其可能的先兆。其他目标包括审查规范发展和父母教育方面(例如，情感表达、控制策略、温暖、对儿童负面情绪的反应)与儿童的情绪性、规律性和社会功能的关系。预测包括：(A)低注意和激活调节、低复原力、非自愿过度控制(或低冲动性)、倾向于恐惧和悲伤将预测内化行为和早期害羞/行为抑制；(B)低反应性控制、低EC和高性情愤怒/挫折感将预测青春期外化问题和幼儿的顺从/反抗问题；(C)EC与复原力呈线性相关，而冲动与幼儿的复原力呈正相关，在较大的儿童中与复原力呈二次关系；以及(D)消极情绪有时会调节与结果的关系。在规范性发展方面，据预测，随着年龄的增长，发展结果与EC之间的关系变得更强，而结果与冲动或行为抑制(反应控制)之间的关系在年轻时(EC最弱)最强。 多方法(行为、面部和生理测量、问卷)和多报告者方法将用于三项纵向研究、两项正在进行的青少年研究和一项新的幼儿研究(具有多项评估)。在所有研究中，将测量7个结构：社会能力/适应、EC、反应控制、弹性、情绪性、父母教养和家庭层面的变量(例如，社会经济状况、婚姻功能)。在幼儿的研究中，还将测量儿童的发展水平、语言和对情感的理解。在三个样本中，将检验这些功能方面的规范性变化，以及个体在情绪、EC、反应控制和父母养育方面的差异，联合和独特地预测心理健康和社交能力(当控制后一种结构的初始水平时)。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The major purpose of the proposed research is to examine the contributions of individual differences in various types of effortful control (EC: efficiency of executive attention, including the ability to inhibit a dominant response and/or to activate a subdominant response, to plan, and to detect errors) and reactive (less voluntary) control to children's socioemotional functioning, including their social competence, empathy, personality resiliency; and adjustment and its possible precursors. Other goals include examining normative development and relating aspects of parenting (e.g., expression of emotion, control tactics, warmth, reactions to children's negative emotions) to children's emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Predictions include: (a) low attentional and activational regulation, low resiliency, involuntary overcontrol (or low impulsivity), and proneness to fear and sadness will predict internalizing behaviors and early shyness/behavioral inhibition; (b) low reactive control, low EC and high dispositional anger/frustration will predict adolescent externalizing problems and problems with compliance/defiance in young children; (c) EC is linearly related to resiliency whereas impulsivity bears a positive linear relation to resiliency in young children and a quadratic relation in older children; and (d) negative emotionality sometimes will moderate the relation of regulation to outcomes. In regard to normative development, it is predicted that relations between developmental outcomes and EC become stronger with age in life, whereas relations between outcomes and impulsivity or behavioral inhibition (reactive control) are strongest at young ages (when EC is weakest). A multi-method (behavioral, facial, and physiological measures, questionnaires) and multi-reporter approach will be used in three longitudinal studies, two ongoing studies of adolescents, and one new study of young children (with multiple assessments). In all studies, 7 constructs will be measured: social competence/adjustment, EC, reactive control, resiliency, emotionality, parenting, and family-level variables (e.g., socioeconomic status, marital functioning). In the study of young children, developmental level, language, and understanding of emotions also will be measured. Across the 3 samples, both normative change in these aspects of functioning and the ways that individual differences in emotion, EC, reactive control, and parenting, jointly and uniquely predict mental health and social competence (when controlling for initial levels of the latter constructs) will be examined.