Abstract
AbstractThe current state of research on the emergence and maintenance of somatoform symptoms in childhood identifies the influence of both child and parental factors. The aim of the present study is to examine reciprocal relations and stability between somatoform complaints, children’s adaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies, withdrawal behavior, and overprotective parenting. In total, 97 children (female n = 46, (47%); M age T1 = 9.7 years (SD) = 0.54) and their parents completed questionnaires at two time points. A cross-lagged panel design was used to analyze reciprocal associations and stability effects between the included variables over one year (Kearney, 2017; Selig & Little, 2012). Results show significant autoregressive effects of both the individual child and parental variables. Parental overprotection predicted child emotion regulation, withdrawal behavior, and somatoform complaints over time; with no reciprocal effects. Similarly, only unilateral effects were shown between adaptive ER strategies, and withdrawal behaviors, and somatoform symptoms. The results are discussed in the framework of learning theory and secondary gain.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Life-span and Life-course Studies,Developmental and Educational Psychology
Reference99 articles.
1. Achenbach, T. M., Becker, A., Döpfner, M., Heiervang, E., Roessner, V., Steinhausen, H. C., & Rothenberger, A. (2008). Multicultural Assessment of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology with ASEBA and SDQ Instruments: Research Findings, Applications, and Future Directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 251–275.
2. Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-Age forms & profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families.
3. Aldao, A., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies: Interactive effects during CBT for social anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 28(4), 382–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.03.005.
4. Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2011). When Are Adaptive Strategies Most Predictive of Psychopathology?. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023598
5. Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2012). The influence of context on the implementation of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Behaviour research and therapy, 50(7-8), 493–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2012.04.004.