Poster #20 - Presence of Positive Affect during Challenging Situation Protects Children from Problem Behaviors

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

It has long been established that children’s negative affect (e.g., irritability, anger/frustration) during challenging situations is a risk factor for emerging child problem behavior (e.g., Liu et al., 2022). Only a few studies have examined children’s positive affect during challenging situations. These few studies suggest that children’s positive affect can help buffer the risk of negative affect and may protect children from problem behaviors. For example, previous work found that the presence (vs. absence) of positive affect (e.g., smiling) in infants during the still-face interaction was associated with lower problem behaviors during toddlerhood (Moore et al., 2001). Building on previous work, the current study examines the association between the presence vs. absence of positive affect during a challenging situation (i.e., gentle arm restraint task) at 27 months and children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors at 4.5 years.

Participants were children from the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS; Leve et al., 2019), a longitudinal parent-offspring adoption study with children placed for adoption at or near birth. Children’s positive affect was assessed during a gentle arm restraint task designed to elicit anger/frustration at child age 27 months. The gentle arm restraint task presents toddlers with a mildly challenging situation. The arm restraint task was administered to children (n = 431) in five 30-second episodes that involved the following activities: toy play, arm restraint by mother, second toy play, second arm restraint, and a final toy play. Only the first arm restraint episode was used in the current study. Positive affect was coded from video files with an independent coding team as the presence of joyful, excited, enthused, delighted, gleeful, or pleasantly surprised expressions based on vocal and facial cues and posture/gesture. Children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors were assessed using Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at 4.5 years based on parents’ reports. We averaged across adoptive mothers’ and fathers’ reports to create an index score for externalizing and internalizing behaviors, respectively.

During the gentle arm restraint task, positive affect was observed in 28.3% (n = 122) of toddlers. The absence of positive affect during the challenging task at 27 months predicted children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors at 4.5 years. Toddlers who did not show any positive affect during the task had higher levels of externalizing (t = 2.11, p = .04) and internalizing (t = 2.31, p = .02) behaviors. Toddlers who showed positive affect toward their mother such as seeking support when frustrated during a task that reliably elicits negative affect, demonstrated lower scores on problem behaviors at 4.5 years. The findings emphasize that positive affect during challenging situations may buffer against the risk for later problem behavior.

Authors

• Chang Liu, George Washington University
  Presenting Author

• Ginger A. Moore, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

• Jody M. Ganiban, George Washington University

• Zhaoying Chen, George Washington University

• Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh

• David Reiss, Yale University

• Misaki N. Natsuaki, University of California - Riverside

• Jenae M Neiderhiser, Pennsylvania State University, University Park