The Dynamic Interplay Between Satisfaction With Intimate Relationship Functioning and Daily Mood in Low-Income Outpatients.

Substantial research supports bidirectional links between intimate relationship discord and individual psychopathology, including depressive symptoms. However, few studies have utilized daily diary methods to capture the micro-level processes underlying the association between couple discord and depression, particularly among populations that are at elevated risk for both interpersonal and individual dysfunction. To address this gap, we examined whether daily changes in satisfaction with relationship functioning were associated with daily changes in negative affect and positive affect over the span of 2 weeks among mental health outpatients of low socioeconomic status. Participants were 53 low-income outpatients from community mental health clinics who completed a semi-structured interview about the quality of their intimate relationships followed by 14 daily reports of positive and negative mood and satisfaction with relationship functioning across several domains. Growth curve analytic techniques revealed the hypothesized bidirectional relations. Decline in satisfaction with relationship functioning predicted escalation in negative affect and deterioration in positive affect over 2 weeks, and deterioration of mood predicted declining satisfaction with relationship functioning. This study extends existing knowledge about couple dysfunction and individual psychopathology by highlighting the immediate nature of this dynamic process as it unfolds over time.

Gran cantidad de investigaciones respaldan las conexiones bidreccionales entre los desacuerdos en las relaciones afectivas y la psicopatología individual, incluidos los síntomas depresivos. Sin embargo, pocos estudios han utilizado los métodos de registro diario para captar los procesos a pequeñísima escala que subyacen a la asociación entre el desacuerdo entre las parejas y la depresión, particularmente entre poblaciones que tienen un riesgo elevado de disfunción interpersonal e individual. Para abordar esta brecha, analizamos si los cambios diarios en la satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación estuvieron asociados con los cambios diarios en el afecto negativo y el afecto positivo durante el periodo de dos semanas entre los pacientes ambulatorios de salud mental de bajo nivel socioeconómico. Los participantes fueron 53 pacientes ambulatorios de bajos ingresos de clínicas comunitarias de salud mental que se sometieron a una entrevista semiestructurada acerca de la calidad de sus relaciones afectivas seguida de 14 informes diarios de estado de ánimo positivo y negativo y de satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación en varias áreas. Las técnicas analíticas de la curva de crecimiento revelaron las relaciones bidireccionales planteadas como hipótesis. La disminución de la satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación predijo un aumento del afecto negativo y un deterioro del afecto positivo durante dos semanas, y el deterioro del estado de ánimo predijo una disminución de la satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación. Conclusiones: Este estudio amplía el conocimiento existente sobre la disfunción en la pareja y la psicopatología individual destacando la índole inmediata de este proceso dinámico a medida que se desarrolla poco a poco con el tiempo.

Effortful control mediates relations between children's attachment security and their regard for rules of conduct.

Although attachment security has been associated with children's rule-compatible conduct, the mechanism through which attachment influences early regard for rules is not well established. We hypothesized that effortful control would mediate the link between security and indicators of children's emerging regard for rules (discomfort following rule violations, internalization of parents' and experimenter's rules, few externalizing behaviors). In a longitudinal study, the Attachment Q-Set was completed by parents, effortful control was observed, and Regard for Rules was observed and rated by parents. The proposed model fit the data well: Children's security to mothers predicted their effortful control, which in turn had a direct link to a greater Regard for Rules. Children's security with fathers did not predict effortful control. The mother-child relationship appears particularly important for positive developmental cascades of self-regulation and socialization.

Developmental trajectory from early responses to transgressions to future antisocial behavior: evidence for the role of the parent-child relationship from two longitudinal studies.

Parent-child relationships are critical in development, but much remains to be learned about the mechanisms of their impact. We examined the early parent-child relationship as a moderator of the developmental trajectory from children's affective and behavioral responses to transgressions to future antisocial, externalizing behavior problems in the Family Study (102 community mothers, fathers, and infants, followed through age 8) and the Play Study (186 low-income, diverse mothers and toddlers, followed for 10 months). The relationship quality was indexed by attachment security in the Family Study and maternal responsiveness in the Play Study. Responses to transgressions (tense discomfort and reparation) were observed in laboratory mishaps wherein children believed they had damaged a valued object. Antisocial outcomes were rated by parents. In both studies, early relationships moderated the future developmental trajectory: diminished tense discomfort predicted more antisocial outcomes, but only in insecure or unresponsive relationships. That risk was defused in secure or responsive relationships. Moderated mediation analyses in the Family Study indicated that the links between diminished tense discomfort and future antisocial behavior in insecure parent-child dyads were mediated by stronger discipline pressure from parents. By indirectly influencing future developmental sequelae, early relationships may increase or decrease the probability that the parent-child dyad will embark on a path toward antisocial outcomes.

Early attachment organization moderates the parent-child mutually coercive pathway to children's antisocial conduct.

This multimethod study of 101 mothers, fathers, and children elucidates poorly understood role of children's attachment security as moderating a common maladaptive trajectory: from parental power assertion, to child resentful opposition, to child antisocial conduct. Children's security was assessed at 15 months, parents' power assertion observed at 25 and 38 months, children's resentful opposition to parents observed at 52 months, and antisocial conduct rated by parents at 67 months. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that in insecure dyads, parental power assertion predicted children's resentful opposition, which then predicted antisocial conduct. This mechanism was absent in secure dyads. Early insecurity acts as a catalyst for a dyad embarking on mutually adversarial path toward antisocial outcomes, whereas early security defuses this maladaptive trajectory.