A nonlinear dynamical systems analysis of child emotion displays in relation to family context and child adjustment: a cox hazard approach

Nonlinear Dynamics Psychol Life Sci. 2012 Jul;16(3):313-30.

Abstract

This report examines how the relative attractor strengths of children's display of three emotion states, anger, sadness/fear, and neutral-engaged, are associated with exposure to maternal negative affect and care giving disruptions, and to child antisocial behavior and depression. Exposure to negative maternal affect was associated with a weaker attractor state for sadness or fear displays relative to those for anger and neutral-engaged displays. Exposure to care giving disruptions was associated with stronger attractor strength for anger and sadness/fear relative to that for neutral-engaged. Overt and covert antisocial behaviors were associated with weaker attractor states for sadness/fear displays relative that for the neutral-engaged displays. Overt antisocial behavior was associated with a stronger attractor state for anger displays relative to that for neutral-engaged displays, and covert antisocial behavior with a weaker attractor state for fear/sadness displays relative to that for neutral-engaged displays. Child depressive symptoms were marginally associated with a stronger attractor state for fear/sadness displays relative to neutral-engaged. The data suggest the attractor strengths for emotion display states are affected by social experience and that between-individual risk for various forms of psychopathology is related to the relative intra-individual attractor strength of various emotion displays in a multi-state emotion display system.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Affect
  • Anger
  • Child Behavior / psychology*
  • Child Behavior Disorders / psychology
  • Child, Preschool
  • Depression
  • Emotions*
  • Family / psychology*
  • Fear / psychology
  • Female
  • Happiness
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / psychology*
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Mothers / psychology
  • Nonlinear Dynamics*
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Risk Factors
  • Social Adjustment