Poster #59 - Negative Mood and the Development of Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: The Role of Negative-Intrusive Parenting

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Negative mood during infancy and toddlerhood is associated with later internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Dougherty, Klein, Durbin, Hayden, & Olino, 2010). However, few studies have examined the role of negative-intrusive parenting as potentially shaping such associations. Early caregiving experiences play a critical role in the development of emotion and affect (Côté et al., 2009) and may indirectly affect how negative mood influence the onset and concurrent development of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. The current study examines negative mood as an early precursor of internalizing and externalizing behaviors during early and middle childhood in the context of high and low negative-intrusive parenting.
Data comes from a representative sample of children living in low-income U.S. communities. The sample (N = 1,255) was 41% African American and 46% female. Observational assessments during a parent-child interaction task were used to measure negative mood at 24 months and negative-intrusive parenting at 6, 15, 24, and 35 months. Internalizing and externalizing behaviors were measured at 35, 48, 58, and 90 months, using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire based on parental reports. Analyses were performed using structural equation modeling (SEM) methods in Mplus 8. Model covariates include child sex, child race, family income, maternal education, and state of residence. A FIML estimation procedure was used to accommodate missing data and indirect effects were examined using a bootstrapping approach.
The SEM (figure 1) provided acceptable fit to the data at high levels of negative-intrusive parenting: χ2 (41) = 117.84, p < .01; CFI = .93; RMSEA = .064, 90% CI, [.051, .078]; SRMR = .071. Negative mood was associated with externalizing behavior at 35 months and indirectly with externalizing behaviors at 90 months though externalizing at 35, 48, and 58 months (β = .011; 95% CI, [001, .007]) and with internalizing behaviors at 90 months through externalizing at 35 months and internalizing at 48 and 58 months (β = .003; 95% CI, [.001, .003]). Additionally, the SEM model provided acceptable fit at low levels of negative-intrusive parenting: χ2 (44) = 166.22, p < .01; CFI = .90; RMSEA = .075, 90% CI, [.063, .088]; SRMR = .086. Negative mood was associated with externalizing at 35 months and internalizing behaviors at 58 months and indirectly with internalizing behaviors at 90 months through internalizing at 58 months (β = .024; 95% CI, [.002, .021]). The 95% confidence intervals of these indirect paths do not contain 0 and are considered significant (MacKinnon et al., 2004).
The present study highlights the role of negative mood as an early precursor of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology across early and middle childhood. Findings suggest that children with negative mood who experience high negative-intrusive parenting are more likely to develop internalizing and externalizing behaviors, compared to those exposed to low negative-intrusive parenting. Additionally, negative mood may be driving comorbid internalizing and externalizing behaviors but through the development of externalizing behaviors first. These findings raise important questions regarding the role of environmental influences and child characteristics in the development of comorbid internalizing and externalizing behaviors over time.

Authors

• Marta Benito-Gomez, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Guan Wang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• W. Roger Mills-Koonce, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author