Poster #93 - Children’s Sensitivity to Facial Emotional Expressions: The Mediating Roles of Family Context and Early Adversity

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

Background. Children’s ability to recognize emotions in the facial expressions of others is critical for their social functioning and adaptive self-regulation. Exposure to early adversity has been associated at times with later deficits in emotion recognition. However, most prior research has relied on clinical or high-risk samples and focused primarily on exposure to extreme forms of adversity, such as child maltreatment or extreme neglect. In the present study, the role of SES as a unique predictor of children’s facial emotion recognition is documented within a genetically informative and population-representative sample of young children. Additionally, in-depth assessments of the parenting and home environment obtained via multiple sources (parent report, observer ratings, geo-coded poverty indicators) are integrated to test potential mediating pathways that might explain why children from lower-SES backgrounds are more likely to exhibit emotion recognition deficits, while controlling for child-related factors that may otherwise account for this association.

Sample and Method. The present study utilized data from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (E-Risk Study), an epidemiological cohort of 2,232 British twins, to (1) examine socioeconomic status (SES) gradients and the relative contributions of genetic versus environmental factors to children’s facial emotion recognition, and (2) test for mediating pathways, such as, parenting (i.e., maternal warmth, negative parenting), home environment (i.e., chaos and cognitive stimulation), and polyvictimization, of this association. At age 10, children were administered an emotion recognition task via computer using Ekman’s black-and-white set of facial stimuli (8 male and 8 female models) (Ekman & Friesen, 1976). Family SES was defined using a standardized composite of parents’ income, education, and social class. Polyvictimization, maternal warmth, state of the home, negative parenting, and maternal depression were assessed via a combination of child- and parent-report questionnaires.

Results. As shown in Figure 1, children living in higher versus middle and lower SES families were able to more quickly identify facial emotions in each of the four tasks. Linear regressions indicated that, even after accounting for child IQ and sex, children living in higher versus lower-income families were able to more quickly identify a range of facial emotions. Furthermore, maternal warmth and the state of the children’s homes, but not negative parenting, polyvictimization, or maternal depression, mediated this association (Figure 2). Findings suggest that greater maternal warmth and clean, safe homes may account for the greater emotion sensitivity displayed among higher-SES relative to lower-SES children.

Discussion. Findings from this study point to ways that children’s emotion recognition may be influenced by exposure to low levels of maternal warmth and unsafe, disorganized homes. Future intervention and experimental studies are required to test whether modifications of these aspects of the home environment can lead to improved emotion recognition among children, and in turn, improve social and emotional functioning.

Authors

• Helen Milojevich, UNC Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Louise Arseneault, King's College London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Avshalom Caspi, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julia Kim-Cohen, University of Illinois at Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrea Danese, King's College London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Terrie Moffitt, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Candice L. Odgers, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author