Integration of the Cognitive-Contextual Framework & the Specific Emotions Model Incorporation of Childhood Internali

1. Interparental Conflict & Children’s Internalizing Psychopathology: Examining the Role of Children’s Appraisals & EmotionsJennifer K. Hauser & John H. GrychMarquette University INTRODUCTION RESULTS: Correlations of Criterion & Dependent Variables GOALS OF THE CURRENT PROJECT • Cognitive-Contextual Framework(Grych & Fincham, 1990) • Children’s appraisals mediate the relationship between interparental conflict and child adjustment • Two-stage Appraisal Process • Initial Processing: awareness of stressor & affective reaction • Secondary Processing: more elaborate; attempt to understand why the conflict has occurred & how the child should respond Children’s Emotions (Stein & Levine, 1987; Stein & Trabasso, 1992) • Organize and guide actions • When children perceive that their goals are threatened, the nature of the emotional reaction depends on the child’s estimate of how likely it is that a goal can be restored or maintained if threatened. • Thus, a child experiences different emotions depending upon if: • They think the goal can be reinstated • They think it unlikely that that the goal can be reinstated • The outcome is uncertain Specific Emotions Model (Crockenberg & Forgays, 1996; Crockenberg & Langrock, 2001) • Highlights importance of children’s emotional reactions to interparental conflict for understanding how exposure to conflict influences children’s responses & adjustment. • The parental conflict functions as information that children can use to construct the meaning of the conflict. • Appraisals: (evaluating the status of personally significant goals) determine whether and which emotion the child will experience. • Emotions: guide the type of behavior the child will engage in. • Integration of the Cognitive-Contextual Framework & the Specific Emotions Model • Incorporation of Childhood Internalizing Literature into this Model Interparental Conflict Child Adjustment Appraisals Worry Threat Anxiety IPC Blame Sad Depression APPRAISAL EMOTION ADJUSTMENT METHODS Note: * p<.05, ** p<.01 Participants • N=137 fourth & fifth grade children • Mean age= 10.7 • 52.2% Male, 47.8% Female • Ethnic Background • 57.4% Caucasian • 25% African-American • 6.6% Hispanic • .7% Asian • 8.1% Biracial • 2.2% Other Hierarchical Regression Analyses DISCUSSION Appraisals • Threat • Mediator of relationship between Interparental Conflict & Anxiety • As predicted, not significantly related to Sadness or Depression • Blame • Mediator of both Interparental Conflict - Depression relationship & Interparental Conflict - Anxiety relationship Emotions • Worry appears to be specific to Anxiety, whereas Sadness seems to be specific to Depression. • Sadness • Contrary to predictions, Sadness was not a mediator of the association between Blame and Depression • Worry • Mediates relationship between Threat and Anxiety • Also, partially mediates relationship between Blame and Anxiety Predictor Variables: Anxiety Step 1: β for Interparental Conflict .24* R2 .04 Step 2: β for Interparental Conflict .01 β for Threat .21* β for Blame .32** R2 .16 Step 3: β for Interparental Conflict .07 β for Threat .03 β for Blame .21* β for Worry .35** β for Sad .15 R2 .32 THE PRESENT STUDY MEASURES • Integration of the Cognitive-Contextual Framework & the Specific Emotions Model • This model seeks to evaluate both appraisals and emotions in the presence of interparental conflict • It will also seek to incorporate the relationships between specific appraisals & emotions and the type of psychopathology to which they are related. Internalizing Psychopathology • Anxiety & depression differ with regard to diagnosis, course, and appropriate treatment. • Current measures of childhood anxiety & depression are highly correlated. Tripartite Model of Emotions(Clark & Watson, 1991) • Two-factor structure of Affect • Symptoms of anxiety & depression can be divided into 3 classes: • Those specific to anxiety • Those exclusive to depression • Those that are common to both disorders • Current self-report measures of anxiety & depression tend to tap into negative affect (NA) • Positive & Negative Affect Scale for Children • (PANAS-C; Laurent et al., 1999) • New measure created to distinguish anxious from depressed individuals– adapted from the adult version of the PANAS. • Based on the Tripartite Model of Emotions • Consists of Negative Affect (NA) items & Positive Affect (PA) items • Basic Premise: While both anxious & depressed children will score high on negative affect, depressed children will score significantly low on the positive affect items. Level of Interparental Conflict • Children’s Perceptions of Interparental Conflict Scale (CPIC; Grych, Seid, & Fincham, 1992): Conflict Properties Scale • Assesses frequency, intensity, & resolution of parental conflict Appraisals • CPIC Threat Scale • Assesses the level of threat felt by the child when their parents have an argument • CPIC Blame Scale • Assesses the degree to which the child has the tendency to blame themselves for the conflict Emotions: Worry & Sadness • Problem Solving Task (PST) • Children are instructed to identify ‘how much’ they felt each emotion during the previous discussion. • Sad & Worried were among other emotions that children were asked to rate Child Internalizing Psychopathology • Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C): Used to distinguish anxious from depressed children • 12 Positive Affect Items (interested, excited, happy) • 15 Negative Affect Items (sad, ashamed, upset) Predictor Variables: Depression Step 1: β for Interparental Conflict .27* R2 .06 Step 2: β for Interparental Conflict .12 β for Threat .03 β for Blame .39** R2 .18 Step 3: β for Interparental Conflict .13 β for Threat -.06 β for Blame .37** β for Worry .04 β for Sad .30* R2 .26 • Limitations & Directions for Future Research • Cross-sectional data: Since cross-sectional data were used in this project, no conclusions about time-ordered sequencing can be made. Longitudinal data are needed to explore predictive relationships among these variables. • Utilization of PANAS-C: (1) used alternate scoring, (2) does not assess comorbid anxiety & depression, and (3) does not assess physiological hyperarousal (thought to be a significant component of anxiety). • Measurement of Emotion: Emotions demonstrated may be modulated versions of initial emotional responses (product of emotion regulation). Hence, it is difficult to assess a “pure emotion;” emotion regulation literature explores this issue conceptually & methodologically (Cole et al., 2004; Campos et al., 2004). • Contributions of the Current Project • Integration of the Cognitive-Contextual Framework & the Specific Emotions Model • Increased Specificity • Incorporation of Child Anxiety & Depression Literature into Interparental Conflict Domain .35* .42** Anxiety Worry Threat .18* Conflict Properties .21* .30* Blame Sad Depression This work was supported by Grant NIMH# MH60294-01. .37**