Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T14:19:54.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Poverty, household chaos, and interparental aggression predict children's ability to recognize and modulate negative emotions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2014

C. Cybele Raver ,
Clancy Blair ,
Patricia Garrett-Peters  and
Family Life Project Key Investigators
C. Cybele Raver*
Affiliation:
New York University
Clancy Blair
Affiliation:
New York University
Patricia Garrett-Peters
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Family Life Project Key Investigators
Affiliation:
New York University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: C. Cybele Raver, Institute of Human Development and Social Change, New York University, 196 Mercer Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10012; E-mail: cybele.raver@nyu.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The following prospective longitudinal study considers the ways that protracted exposure to verbal and physical aggression between parents may take a substantial toll on emotional adjustment for 1,025 children followed from 6 to 58 months of age. Exposure to chronic poverty from infancy to early childhood as well as multiple measures of household chaos were also included as predictors of children's ability to recognize and modulate negative emotions in order to disentangle the role of interparental conflict from the socioeconomic forces that sometimes accompany it. Analyses revealed that exposure to greater levels of interparental conflict, more chaos in the household, and a higher number of years in poverty can be empirically distinguished as key contributors to 58-month-olds' ability to recognize and modulate negative emotion. Implications for models of experiential canalization of emotional processes within the context of adversity are discussed.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , August 2015 , pp. 695 - 708
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blair, C., & Raver, C. C. (2012). Child development in the context of adversity: Experiential canalization of brain and behavior. American Psychologist, 67, 309–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blair, C., Raver, C. C., Granger, D., Mills-Koonce, R., Hibel, L., & Family Life Project Key Investigators (2011). Allostasis and allostatic load in the context of poverty in early childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 845–857.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Browne, A., Salomon, A., & Bassuck, S. S. (1999). Impact of partner violence on poor women's capacity to maintain work. Violence Against Women, 5, 393–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Cohen, D. J. (1995). Perspectives on developmental psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 1. Theory and method (pp. 3–20). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2009). Adaptive coping under conditions of extreme stress: Multi-level influences on the determinants of resilience in maltreated children. In Skinner, E. & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (Eds.), Coping and the development of regulation: New directions in child and adolescent development ( Vol. 124, pp. 47–59). San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., Gunnar, M. R., & Toth, S. L. (2010). The differential impacts of early abuse on internalizing problems and diurnal cortisol activity in school-aged children. Child Development, 81, 252–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, M., Paley, B., Burchinal, M., & Payne, C. (1999). Marital perceptions and interactions across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 61, 611–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crockenberg, S., & Langrock, A. (2001). The role of specific emotions in children's responses to interparental conflict: A test of the model. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 163–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2002). Effects of marital conflict on children: Recent advances and emerging themes in process-oriented research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 31–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, E. M., Davies, P. T., & Campbell, S. B. (2000). Developmental psychopathology and family process: Theory, research, and clinical implications. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cummings, J. S., Pellegrini, D. S., Notarius, C. I., & Cummings, E. M. (1989). Children's responses to angry adult behavior as a function of marital distress and history of interparent hostility. Child Development, 60, 1035–1043.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dadds, M. R., Atkinson, E., Turner, C., Blums, G. J., & Lendich, B. (1999). Family conflict and child adjustment: Evidence for a cognitive–contextual model of intergenerational transmission. Journal of Family Psychology, 13, 194–208. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.13.2.194CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. T., Cicchetti, D., & Martin, M. (in press). Towards greater specificity in identifying associations among interparental aggression, child emotional reactivity to conflict, and child problems. Child Development.Google Scholar
Davies, P. T., Martin, M. J., & Cicchetti, D. (2012). Delineating the sequelae of destructive and constructive interparental conflict for children within an evolutionary framework. Developmental Psychology, 48, 939–955.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, P. T., Sturge-Apple, M. L., Cicchetti, D., Manning, L., & Vonhold, S. E. (2012). Pathways and processes of risk in associations among maternal antisocial personality symptoms, interparental aggression, and preschool psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 807–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Degnan, K. A., Almas, A. N., & Fox, N. A. (2010). Temperament and the environment in the etiology of childhood anxiety. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 497–517.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dill, B. T. (1999). Poverty in the rural U.S.: Implications for children, families, and communities. Annie E. Casey Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/KnowledgeCenter.aspxGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1994). Effects of physical maltreatment on the development of peer relations. Development and Psychopathology, 6, 43–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domitrovich, C. E., Cortes, R., & Greenberg, M. T. (2007). Improving young children's social and emotional competence: A randomized trial of the Preschool PATHS Program. Journal of Primary Prevention, 28, 67–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Sheikh, M. (1994). Children's emotional and physiological responses to interadult angry behavior: The role of history of interparental hostility. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22, 661–678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, G. W. (2006). Child development and the physical environment. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 423–451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, G. W., Gonnella, C., Marcynyszyn, L. A., Gentile, L., & Salpekar, N. (2005). The role of chaos in poverty and children's socioemotional adjustment. Psychological Science, 16, 560–565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, N. A., Henderson, H. A., Marshall, P. J., Nichols, K. E., & Ghera, M. M. (2005). Behavioral inhibition: Linking biology and behavior within a developmental framework. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 235–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, N. A., Henderson, H. A., Rubin, K. H., Calkins, S. D., & Schmidt, L. A. (2001). Continuity and discontinuity of behavioral inhibition and exuberance: Psychophysiological and behavioral influences across the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frankenhuis, W. E., & de Weerth, C. (2013). Does early-life exposure to stress shape or impair cognition? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 407–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrett-Peters, P. T., Vernon-Feagans, L., Pan, Y., Willoughby, M., & Family Life Project Key Investigators. (2013, March). Mediating effects of early and late household chaos on associations between poverty and academic outcomes in kindergarten. In P. T. Garrett-Peters (Chair), Household chaos and child functioning: Crossing cultural contexts and developmental domains. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
Gartstein, M. A., & Rothbart, M. K. (2003). Studying infant temperament via the revised Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 26, 64–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gianaros, P. J., & Hackman, D. A. (2013). Contributions of neuroscience to the study of socioeconomic health disparities. Psychosomatic Medicine, 75, 610–615. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e3182a5f9c1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, L. A., Smyth, K. F., Borges, A. M., & Singer, R. (2009). When crises collide: How intimate partner violence and poverty intersect to shape women's mental health and coping. Trauma Violence Abuse, 10, 306–329.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, R. (1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581–586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, R., & Scott, S. (1999). Comparing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist: Is small beautiful? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 17–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottlieb, G. (1991). Experiential canalization of behavioral development: Theory. Developmental Psychology, 27, 4–13. doi:10.11037/0012-1649.27.1.4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottlieb, G. (1997). Synthesizing nature–nurture: Prenatal roots of instinctive behavior. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Grych, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (1990). Marital conflict and children's adjustment: A cognitive–contextual framework. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 267–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hibel, L. C., Granger, D. A., Blair, C., Cox, M., & Family Life Project Key Investigators (2009). Intimate partner violence moderates the association between mother–infant adrenocortical activity across an emotional challenge. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 615–625. doi:10.1037/a0016323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingoldsby, E. M., Shaw, D. S., Owens, E. B., & Winslow, E. B. (1999). Longitudinal study of interparental conflict, emotional and behavioral reactivity, and preschoolers' adjustment problems among low income families. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 27, 343–356.Google ScholarPubMed
Jaffee, S. R., Hanscombe, K. B., Haworth, C. M. A., Davis, O. S. P., & Plomin, R. (2012). Chaotic homes and children's disruptive behavior: A longitudinal cross-lagged twin study. Psychological Science, 23, 643–650.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, J., & Cicchetti, D. (2010). Longitudinal pathways linking child maltreatment, emotion regulation, peer relations, and psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 706–716.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kitzmann, K. M., Gaylord, N. K., Holt, A. R., & Kenny, E. D. (2003). Child witnesses to domestic violence: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 339–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kouros, C. D., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2010). Early trajectories of interparental conflict and externalizing problems as predictors of social competence in preadolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 527–538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luu, P., Tucker, D., & Derryberry, D. (1998). Anxiety and the motivational basis of working memory. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 22, 577–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKinnon, D. P. (2008). An introduction to statistical mediation analysis. New York: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McCoy, K., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2009). Constructive and destructive marital conflict, emotional security, and children's prosocial behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 270–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDermott, J. M., Westerlund, A., Zeanah, C. H., Nelson, C. A., & Fox, N. A. (2012). Early adversity and neural correlates of executive function: Implications for academic adjustment. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 15, S59–S66. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2011.09.008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mian, N. D., Wainwright, L., Briggs-Gowan, M., & Carter, A. S. (2011). An ecological risk model of early childhood anxiety: The importance of early child symptoms and temperament. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 501–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2010). MPlus user's guide. Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (1999). Child care and mother–child interaction in the first three years of life. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1399–1413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obradović, J., Bush, N. R., & Boyce, W. T. (2011). The interactive effect of marital conflict and stress reactivity on externalizing and internalizing symptoms: The role of laboratory stressors. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 101–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Obradović, J., Bush, N. R., Stamperdahl, J., Adler, N. A., & Boyce, W. T. (2010). Biological sensitivity to context: The interactive effects of stress reactivity and family adversity on socio-emotional behavior and school readiness. Child Development, 81, 270–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouellet-Morin, I., Odgers, C. L., Danese, A., Bowes, L., Shakoor, S., Papadopoulos, A. S., et al. (2011). Blunted cortisol responses to stress signal social and behavioral problems among maltreated/bullied 12-year-old children. Biological Psychiatry, 70, 1016–1023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrill, S. A., Pike, A., Tom, P., & Plomine, R. (2004). Chaos in the home and socioeconomic status are associated with cognitive development in early childhood: Environmental mediators identified in a genetic design. Intelligence, 32, 445–460. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2004.06.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollak, S. D. (2008). Mechanisms linking early experience and the emergence of emotions: Illustrations from the study of maltreated children. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 370–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollak, S. D., Messner, M., Kistler, D. J., & Cohn, J. F. (2009). Development of perceptual expertise in emotion recognition. Cognition, 110, 242–247. PMCID: PMC2673797CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollak, S. D., Vardi, S., Bechner, A. M. P., & Curtin, J. J. (2005). Physically abused children's regulation of attention in response to hostility. Child Development, 76, 968–977. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00890.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raver, C. C., Blair, C., Willoughby, M., & Family Life Project Key Investigators (2012). Poverty as a predictor of 4-year-olds' executive function: New perspectives on models of differential susceptibility. Developmental Psychology, 49, 292–304. doi:10.1037/a0028343CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santiago, D. C., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2009). Coping with family conflict: What's helpful and what's not for low-income adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 18, 192–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultz, D., Izard, C. E., & Bear, G. (2004). Children's emotion processing: Relations to emotionality and aggression. Developmental Psychopathology, 16, 371–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shackman, J. E., Shackman, A. J., & Pollak, S. D. (2007). Physical abuse amplifies attention to threat and increases anxiety in children. Emotion, 7, 838–852.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendation. Psychological Methods, 7, 422–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stainbrook, K. A., & Hornik, J. (2006). Similarities in the characteristics and needs of women with children in homeless family and domestic violence shelters. Families in Society, 87, 53–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stets, J. E., & Straus, M. A. (1990). Gender differences in reporting marital violence and its medical and social consequences. In Straus, M. A. & Gelles, R. J. (Eds.), Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations to violence in 8,145 families (pp. 151–166). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Straus, M. A., & Gelles, R. J. (1990). Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations to violence in 8,145 families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Straus, M. A., & Sweet, S. (1992). Verbal/symbolic aggression in couples: Incidence rates and relationships to personal characteristics. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 346–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, M. W., Carmody, D. P., & Lewis, M. (2010). How neglect and punitiveness influence emotion knowledge. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 41, 285–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, R. A., & Meyer, S. (2007). Socialization of emotion regulation in the family. In Gross, J. J. (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 249–268). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Towe-Goodman, N. R., Stifter, C. A., Coccia, M. A., Cox, M., & Family Life Project Key Investigators (2011). Interparental aggression, attention skills, and early childhood behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 563–575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Towe-Goodman, N. R., Stifter, C. A., Mills-Koonce, W. R., Granger, D. A., & Family Life Project Key Investigators. (2012). Interparental aggression and infant patterns of adrenocortical and behavioral stress responses. Developmental Psychobiology, 54, 685–699. doi:10.1002/dev.20618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vernon-Feagans, L., Garrett-Peters, P., De Marco, A., & Bratsch, M. (2012). Children living in rural poverty: The role of chaos in early development. In Maholmes, V. & King, R. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of poverty and child development (pp. 448–466). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vernon-Feagans, L., Garrett-Peters, P., Willoughby, M., Mills-Koonce, R., & Family Life Project Key Investigators (2012). Chaos, poverty, and parenting: Predictors of early language development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27, 339–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yoshikawa, H., Aber, J. L., & Beardslee, W. R. (2012). The effects of poverty on the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youth: Implications for prevention. American Psychologist, 67, 272–284. doi:10.1037/a0028015CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, D., Wang, L., & Luo, Y. (2012). Individual differences in detecting rapidly presented fearful faces. PLOS One, 7, e49517. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049517Google ScholarPubMed