This is a biobehavioral, longitudinal investigation of the role of emotion in the development of psychopathology in adolescence. The focus is on (a) the role of multiple components (experience, expression, regulation) of negative emotions (anger, anxiety, sadness) in the evolution of psychopathology, and (b) socialization experiences and biological processes that contribute to emotion dysregulation and disorder. The dysregulated experience and expression of emotion is implicated in both externalizing (antisocial patterns) and internalizing (anxiety, depressed mood) disorders. Adolescence is a critical juncture in the development of these disorders because of both the increased incidence of psychopathology during this time period and the increased differentiation of clinical problems. Four groups of youths are studied (N= 60 in each group): (1) comorbid externalizing and internalizing problems, (2) externalizing problems predominate, (3) internalizing problems predominate, (4) asymptomatic. Half the youth in each group are 11-13 years, the other half 14-16 years in order to conduct age cross-sectional analyses at each time point. Equal numbers of males and females participate, in order to examine sex differences in symptoms and emotion regulation. One theme pertains to the integration of emotions across systems, and how different patterns of emotion relate to psychopathology. A second theme pertains to the developmental changes in how disorders are manifested, e.g. increased differentiation of disorder along gender specific pathways. During the past year a primary focus has been on data collection, and both laboratory sessions and home visits are close to complete. This year will be spent (a) coding, analyzing, and preparing articles for publication based on Time 1 data, and (b) collecting the Time 2 data for longitudinal analyses. - emotions & psychopathology; adolescent clinical problems; co-morbidity; gender - Human Subjects & Human Subjects: Interview, Questionaires, or Surveys Only
| Han, Georges; Helm, Jonathan; Iucha, Cornelia et al. (2016) Are Executive Functioning Deficits Concurrently and Predictively Associated with Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Adolescents? J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 45:44-58 |
| Marceau, Kristine; Zahn-Waxler, Carolyn; Shirtcliff, Elizabeth A et al. (2015) Adolescents', mothers', and fathers' gendered coping strategies during conflict: Youth and parent influences on conflict resolution and psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol 27:1025-44 |
