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Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation

Children’s understanding of the nature, origins and consequences of emotions has been intensively investigated over the last 30–40 years. However, few empirical studies have looked at the relation between emotion understanding and anxiety in children and their results are mixed. The aim of the prese...

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Autores principales: Bender, Patrick K., Pons, Francisco, Harris, Paul L., Esbjørn, Barbara H., Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4683184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26733909
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01916
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author Bender, Patrick K.
Pons, Francisco
Harris, Paul L.
Esbjørn, Barbara H.
Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie L.
author_facet Bender, Patrick K.
Pons, Francisco
Harris, Paul L.
Esbjørn, Barbara H.
Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie L.
author_sort Bender, Patrick K.
collection PubMed
description Children’s understanding of the nature, origins and consequences of emotions has been intensively investigated over the last 30–40 years. However, few empirical studies have looked at the relation between emotion understanding and anxiety in children and their results are mixed. The aim of the present study was to perform a preliminary investigation of the relationships between emotion understanding, anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and attachment security in clinically anxious children. A sample of 16 clinically anxious children (age 8–12, eight girls/boys) was assessed for emotion understanding (Test of Emotion Comprehension), anxiety (Screening for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Revised and Anxiety Disorder Interview Schedule), emotion dysregulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) and attachment security (Security Scale). Children who reported more overall anxiety also reported greater difficulties in regulating their emotions, and were less securely attached to their parents. The results also showed that more specific symptoms of anxiety (i.e., OCD and PTSD) correlated not only with emotion dysregulation and attachment insecurity but also with emotion understanding. Finally, there were interrelations among emotion understanding, attachment security, and emotion dysregulation. The present results provide the first comprehensive evidence for a socio-emotional framework and its relevance to childhood anxiety.
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spelling pubmed-46831842016-01-05 Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation Bender, Patrick K. Pons, Francisco Harris, Paul L. Esbjørn, Barbara H. Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie L. Front Psychol Psychology Children’s understanding of the nature, origins and consequences of emotions has been intensively investigated over the last 30–40 years. However, few empirical studies have looked at the relation between emotion understanding and anxiety in children and their results are mixed. The aim of the present study was to perform a preliminary investigation of the relationships between emotion understanding, anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and attachment security in clinically anxious children. A sample of 16 clinically anxious children (age 8–12, eight girls/boys) was assessed for emotion understanding (Test of Emotion Comprehension), anxiety (Screening for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Revised and Anxiety Disorder Interview Schedule), emotion dysregulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) and attachment security (Security Scale). Children who reported more overall anxiety also reported greater difficulties in regulating their emotions, and were less securely attached to their parents. The results also showed that more specific symptoms of anxiety (i.e., OCD and PTSD) correlated not only with emotion dysregulation and attachment insecurity but also with emotion understanding. Finally, there were interrelations among emotion understanding, attachment security, and emotion dysregulation. The present results provide the first comprehensive evidence for a socio-emotional framework and its relevance to childhood anxiety. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-12-18 /pmc/articles/PMC4683184/ /pubmed/26733909 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01916 Text en Copyright © 2015 Bender, Pons, Harris, Esbjørn and Reinholdt-Dunne. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Bender, Patrick K.
Pons, Francisco
Harris, Paul L.
Esbjørn, Barbara H.
Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie L.
Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation
title Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation
title_full Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation
title_fullStr Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation
title_full_unstemmed Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation
title_short Emotion Understanding in Clinically Anxious Children: A Preliminary Investigation
title_sort emotion understanding in clinically anxious children: a preliminary investigation
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4683184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26733909
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01916
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