Familial and temperamental predictors of resilience in children at risk for conduct disorder and depression

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated predictors of resilience among 8-to 12-year-old children recruited from primarily low socioeconomic status neighborhoods, 117 of whom suffered from clinical levels of conduct problems and/or depression, and 63 of whom suffered from no significant symptoms. Tests of interactions were conducted between (a) paternal antisocial behavior and maternal depression and (b) several physiological indices of child temperament and emotionality in predicting (c) children's conduct problems and depression. Both internalizing and externalizing outcomes among children were associated specifically with maternal melancholic depression, and not with nonmelancholic depression. In addition, low levels of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) among children conferred significant risk for depression, regardless of maternal melancholia, whereas high RSA offered partial protection. Furthermore, high levels of maternal melancholia conferred significant risk for child depression, regardless of paternal antisocial behavior, whereas low levels of maternal melancholia offered partial protection. Finally, low levels of electrodermal responding (EDR) conferred significant risk for conduct problems, regardless of paternal antisocial behavior, whereas high EDR offered partial protection. None of the identified protective factors offered complete immunity from psychopathology. These findings underscore the complexity of resilience and resilience-related processes, and suggest several potential avenues for future longitudinal research.Several alternative definitions of resilience have been proposed by developmental psychopathologists, yet all include some form of adaptive functioning following significant exposure to adversity (see Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). Adverse risk exposure is central to any definition of resilience because without such experiences, psychopathological outcomes are far less likely, so the construct loses much of its meaning (Curtis & Cicchetti, 2003;Luthar, 2006). Accordingly, most researchers agree that some form of risk exposure is necessary to infer resilience or resilience-related processes. Nevertheless, both adaptation and adversity are often defined very differently across studies, sometimes quite broadly and other times quite specifically. For example, adaptation has been defined as a set of general competencies across multiple domains of functioning including social, occupational, and psychopathological; yet it has also been defined as the absence of a specific psychiatric condition such as major depression despite a strong familial loading for mood disorders (see Luthar, 2006). From a developmental psychopathology perspective, more broad definitions of adaptation are preferred because most adversities confer risk that extends to a wide range of multifinal outcomes. For example, in addition to increasing the risk for mood disorders among offspring, maternal depression also confers risk for conduct problems, delinquency, and antisocial behavior (Boyle & Pickles, 1997;Kim-Cohen,...

Individual Differences in Behavioral, Physiological, and Genetic Sensitivities to Contexts: Implications for Development and Adaptation

“…Equally high RSA reactivity was associated, on the other hand, with better adaptation and lower symptoms in the context of low family adversity [56] . Further, in a clinical sample, parental psychopathology had a negative effect on children's emotional and behavioral problems only in children with high baseline RSA [57] . Finally, Boyce et al [58] examined whether an aggregate measure of SNS and PNS reactivity, mean arterial pressure (MAP), was a risk factor for short-term physical health problems in children.…”

“…Moreover, some researchers have argued that SCL reactivity reflects individual differences in behavioral inhibition and the passive avoidance tendencies associated with fear and anxiety. SCL reactivity has been found to increase under the threat of punishment but to be unaffected by reward [33,36,57] . Finally, fearful temperament, as indexed by freezing behavior in the presence of a stranger, has been associated with shorter resting PEP in toddlers [82] .…”

Future Directions in Emotion Dysregulation and Youth Psychopathology

“…For example, children with high RSA who witness marital conflict and hostility or are exposed to problem drinking by their parents appear to be buffered from the associated risk of developing both internalizing and externalizing behavior patterns (El-Sheikh, 2005;El-Sheikh & Erath, 2011;El-Sheikh, Harger, & Whitson, 2001;Katz & Gottman, 1995. Similarly, high RSA is associated better adjustment among children of depressed mothers, and among children who experience various forms of adversity (McLaughlin, Alves, & Sheridan, 2014;Shannon, Beauchaine, Brenner, Neuhaus, & Gatzke-Kopp, 2007). Furthermore, RSA is associated positively with children's social engagement (Fox & Field, 1989), with teacher reports of social competence (Eisenberg et al, 1995), and with expressions of empathy toward others who are in distress (Fabes, Eisenberg, & Eisenbud, 1993).…”

Toward a new biology of social adversity

“…Such individuals thus show either the least or most adaptive outcomes within the population, depending on the character of the proximal social contexts in which they are reared. Studies demonstrating this greater susceptibility of neurobiologically responsive children to both positive and negative aspects of their environments have implicated a wide variety of stressors and adversities, including paternal depression (67), marital conflict (68,69), parental psychopathology (70), and overall family distress (71); of positive environmental features, including parental warmth (72) and supportive interventions (73); and of defining biological parameters, including physiological reactivity (e.g., 74, 75), differences in brain circuitry (76), and gene polymorphisms (77,78). Most importantly, highly susceptible children show bidirectional effects on outcomes in contrasting low-and high-stress settings, not simply an attenuation of negative effects in low-stress circumstances.…”