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This study focused on mother-toddler emotion processes as related to internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in 2-year-old children. Participants were 59 toddlers (ages 24- to 35-months) and their mothers. Dyads were observed in two interactive contexts (Free Play and Waiting Task) and rated along global dimensions of responsiveness and emotion sharing. Mothers completed questionnaire measures of child behavior problems and maternal depressive symptoms. Findings suggested that parent-child emotion processes were associated with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms in 2-year-old children, although the nature of these associations varied across the interaction contexts in which these processes were assessed. With respect to the Free Play interaction, children's emotional responsiveness to their mothers was associated with internalizing behavior symptoms, with less responsive children evidencing more mother-reported internalizing problems. During the Waiting Task, children's emotional responsiveness and shared negative emotion were associated with child externalizing behavior symptoms, with less responsiveness and more shared negativity associated with increased externalizing symptoms. Maternal depression made modest contributions to both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Findings suggest that the study of parent-child emotion processes may contribute to our understanding of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems as expressed in toddlers, with implications for early assessment and intervention.
Keywords', mother-child interaction, internalizing and externalizing problems, emotions, toddlers
The developmental processes associated with emotion and emotion regulation are fundamental to early mental health and psychopathology (Cole & DeaterDeckard, 2009; Izard, Youngstrom, Fine, Mostow, & Trentacosta, 2006). Indeed, early difficulties in the experience, expression, and management of emotion appear central to the emergence and maintenance of child behavior disorders (e.g., Cole, Michel, & Teti, 1994; Frick & Morris, 2004; Shaw, Keenan, Vondra, Delliquadri, & Giovannelli, 1997; Silk, Shaw, Forbes, Lane, «fe Kovacs, 2006; Zeman, Shipman, «fe Suveg, 2002). Further, for very young children, such affective processes occur in the context of their social environment and unfold in the course of their dyadic interactions with caregivers. As such, a focus on parent-child emotion processes may offer important insight into the nature and interactive contexts of behavior problems as expressed in early childhood.
Mother-Toddler Emotions and Child Behavior Problems
There has been increasing theoretical and empirical attention devoted to the nature and function of emotions within early dyadic interactions. Constructs such as synchrony (Harrist & Waugh, 2002; Skuban,...