Poster #93 - Testing the Dynamic Model of Affect in Middle Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

Despite the emerging ability to differentiate emotional experiences in middle childhood (Leonhardt et al., 2016), limited research has studied the structure of affect in children. Childhood studies that have examined the structure of affect have done so through using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and measures of anxiety and depression yielding inconclusive evidence for a two-factor structure of positive and negative affect that is both inversely correlated and independent (Bushman & Crowley, 2010). The Dynamic Model of Affect (DMA) is an innovative conceptualization that has reconciled these disparate findings by positing that the structure underlying positive and negative affect depends on levels of environmental uncertainty such that the inverse correlation between PA and NA becomes stronger as perceived stress increases (Reich et al., 2003). Because situations perceived as threatening or overwhelming can give rise to uncertainty, Ong et al. (2017) examined the DMA through modeling positive affect as a function of the interaction between negative affect and perceived stress in adults finding supportive evidence for the DMA. Although children tend to conceptualize affective states differently than do adults (Bushman & Crowley, 2010), with the help of parent-reported child affect, it may be possible to examine whether the DMA holds true in childhood as well as adulthood.
Families took part in a state-wide longitudinal twin study and a subsample completed daily diaries (N = 604, 51.3% female, >27% Hispanic/Latino, 45.8% below middle class; Lemery-Chalfant et al., 2019). During the first wave of assessment (Mage = 8.43), primary caregivers completed daily diaries for each twin across one week (M = 6.43 diaries completed, SD = .89) in which they were asked to report whether the twin experienced at least one stressor and a rating for the child’s perceived stress in response to the most stressful event that day on a scale from 1 (not at all stressful) to 5 (very stressful). Primary caregivers also completed the reliable and valid Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-C (Laurent et al., 1999) in each diary (Ndays = 4,047). Composite scores for average positive and negative affect for each day will be created separately.
As suggested by Ong et al. (2017), we will compute two generalized linear mixed models to test our hypothesis that the inverse relation between positive and negative affect gets stronger as perceived stress increases. Each GLMM will include positive affect as the outcome variable, the interaction between negative affect and perceived stress and covariates including sex, age, race/ethnicity, and income-to-needs as a measure for socioeconomic status. The first GLMM will include a randomized sample of one child from each of pair of twins (n = 302), while the second GLMM serves as an internal replication (n = 302). Although previous research has assessed changes in positive and negative affect across child development (Martin-Krumm et al., 2017), the underlying structure of the relation between positive and negative affect in childhood remains unclear. By assessing affective differentiation through the DMA, we can gain further insight on the capacity for emotion regulation in stressful contexts in childhood.

Authors

• Alexys S. Murillo, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Mary Davis, Arizona State University

• Leah D Doane, Arizona State University

• Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, Arizona State University