Objective Linguistic Markers Associated with Callous-Unemotional Traits in Early Childhood.

BACKGROUND: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with interpersonal difficulties and risk for severe conduct problems (CP). The ability to communicate thoughts and feelings is critical to social success, with language a promising treatment target. However, no prior studies have examined objective linguistic correlates of childhood CU traits in early childhood, which could give insight into underlying risk mechanisms and novel target treatments. METHODS: We computed lexical (positive emotion, sad, and anger words) and conversational (interruptions and speech rate) markers produced by 131 children aged 5-6 years (M = 5.98; SD = 0.54, 58.8% female) and their parents while narrating wordless storybooks during two online visits separated by 6-8 weeks (M = 6.56, SD = 1.11; two books, order counterbalanced). Audio recordings were diarized, time-aligned, and orthographically transcribed using WebTrans. Conversational markers were calculated using R and word frequencies were calculated using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. We examined links between child CU traits and linguistic markers, and explored whether relationships were moderated by child sex. RESULTS: Higher CU traits were associated with fewer positive emotion words produced by parents and children. Higher CU traits were also associated with greater concordance in the degree of interruptions and expression of anger emotion words by parents and children. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that objective linguistic correlates of CU traits are detectable during early childhood, which could inform adjunctive treatment modules that improve outcomes by precisely tracking and targeting subtle communication patterns.

Assessing social-emotional development in children from a longitudinal perspective.

This paper provides an overview of methodological challenges related to the epidemiological assessment of social-emotional development in children. Because population-based studies involve large cohorts and are usually multicentre in structure, they have cost, participant burden and other specific issues that affect the feasibility of the types of measures that can be administered. Despite these challenges, accurate in-depth assessment of social-emotional functioning is crucial, based on its importance to child outcomes like mental health, academic performance, delinquency and substance abuse. Five dimensions of social-emotional development in children are defined: (1) social competence; (2) attachment; (3) emotional competence; (4) self-perceived competence; and (5) temperament/personality. Their measurement in a longitudinal study and associated challenges are discussed. Means of making valid, reliable assessments while at the same time minimising the multiple challenges posed in the epidemiological assessment of social-emotional development in children are reviewed.

Managing scholarship in the faculty role.

BACKGROUND: This article was written to describe approaches the author used that ultimately resulted in tenure and promotion. METHOD: Self-reflection was used to identify the progressive steps that lead to being tenured and promoted. RESULTS: This article describes the key factors to remember in gaining promotion and tenured status. Personal experiences and life philosophy describe the essence of the steps taken. CONCLUSION: Achieving tenure and promotion, while never easy, is best accomplished with a clear vision of the desired outcomes, a plan that allows incorporation of alternative opportunities, willingness to persevere in the face of obstacles, and the ability to see humor in the midst of turmoil.

Prediction of externalizing behavior problems from early to middle childhood: the role of parental socialization and emotion expression.

Parental emotions and behaviors that contribute to continuity and change in preschool children's externalizing problems were examined. Mothers and fathers were observed interacting with their children, and child-rearing styles were reported. Teachers, mothers, and children reported children's antisocial, oppositional behavior. Externalizing problems showed strong continuity 2 and 4 years later. Proactive parenting (i.e., supportive presence, clear instruction, and limit setting) predicted fewer behavior problems over time, after controlling for initial problems; the converse was true for parental anger. In contrast, the hypothesized ameliorative contribution of parents' positive emotion was not found. Parental contributions were most influential for children whose initial problems were in the clinical range. In particular, parental anger predicted continuation of problems over time. Paternal, as well as maternal, influences were identified. Examination of parental emotions and inclusion of fathers is important to research and intervention with young antisocial children.

Mother-child dialogue about emotions and preschoolers' emotional competence.

Conversations about emotions between preschoolers and their mothers constitute an important form of shared meaning. As groundwork for a child's developing theory of mind, such conversations are expected to predict aspects of children's emotional competence. Forty-seven preschoolers and their mothers looked at a picturebook in which characters displayed emotions on almost every page; although the emotions were central to the plot, it was up to each mother and child (dyad) whether to discuss them or not. Conversations were transcribed and coded for frequency and function of emotional language as well as for specific emotions to which both mother and child referred. In general, mothers talked more than their children did about emotions, yet the frequency of emotional utterances that served as simple comments or to guide the other's behavior did not differ for mothers and children. As expected, patterns of emotional language of mothers and children were related to indices of positive social-emotional development.

Family routines: a construct for considering family health.

Nursing has tended to focus on health needs of individuals rather than the life-style implications of health for families and the natural support systems they provide. Health care reform is demanding that new methods be formulated for ensuring health promotion, disease prevention, and health maintenance within our society in a cost-effective and cost-efficient way. The article considers family routines as a construct for entering into dialog with families about their health. Family routines are observable relationship patterns occurring among family members on a consistent basis that describe, explain, and predict the uniqueness of families as the members interact and respond to their environment. Family routines provide an authentic demonstration of identifiable family health practices that can serve as areas for developing, implementing, and evaluating health interventions.

Maternal emotional responsiveness and toddlers' social-emotional competence.

This study investigated, via extended naturalistic observation: (a) how mothers and children responded emotionally to each other's emotional displays; and (b) whether ratings of the child's social-emotional competence (made when the mother was absent) could be predicted by specific maternal responses to the child's emotions. Subjects were 28 mother-toddler pairs. Sequential analyses suggested that emotional dialogue does exist between mothers and children: certain emotional responses of mothers and children occurred more often than expected by their base rate during interaction. Maternal responsiveness to child sadness, anger, fear and neutrality predicted dimensions of children's social-emotional competence. Implications regarding the mother-child affective environment, socialization of emotion and social competency, and developmental methodology are discussed.

Stemming the tide of disreputable science: implications for nursing.

Numerous cases of fraud and misconduct in scientific endeavors have been brought to the attention of the public in recent years. Although nursing has not yet been scathed by abuses, the possibility exists that similar incidents can occur. The author reviews the factors that potentiate unethical practices and details a proactive approach for nursing to take to stem the tide of disreputable science.

Soft object and pacifier attachments in young children: the role of security of attachment to the mother.

A longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate the hypothesis that a healthy mother-infant relationship is a prerequisite for the development of a child's attachment to a blanket or other soft object. Security of attachment to mother was measured at 12 months with the Strange Situation Test and at 30 months with the Attachment Q-Sort. Most of the children with soft object attachments were rated as securely attached to their mothers at both ages. Children with pacifier attachments, on the other hand, were less often rated as securely attached and were more likely to show changes in security classification between 12 and 30 months. The results are discussed in terms of necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for the development of attachments to inanimate objects.

Social-emotional predictors of preschoolers' responses to adult negative emotion.

The study examined predictors of children's prosocial responses to adult negative emotions. An adult displayed anger, sadness and pain during play sessions with 39 preschoolers (mean age = 43 months). Older children responded more prosocially to all three emotions, whereas children with greater emotion knowledge responded more prosocially to the adult's sadness. Children who behaved prosocially in response to peers' negative emotions also were prosocial after the adult's negative emotions, even with effects of age and emotion knowledge held constant. Assertive children responded more prosocially to the adult's anger, even with effects of other variables held constant. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Social competence in young children's peer relations: patterns of development and change.

Patterns of developmental change and individual differences in social competence were examined in children of depressed and psychiatrically well mothers, during the toddler-to-late-preschool period. Forty-one children were observed in peer interaction at ages two and five under semi-naturalistic laboratory conditions intended to elicit a range of emotions and social skills. Social competence increased with age, but patterns of developmental change were moderated by maternal diagnosis. Low levels of individual stability were identified in children's social competence.

Emotional and behavioral predictors of preschool peer ratings.

It was predicted that social cognitive, behavioral, and affective aspects of young children's social development would predict stable peer ratings of their likability. Measures of likability, emotion knowledge, prosocial and aggressive behavior, peer competence, and expressed emotions (happy and angry) were obtained for 65 subjects (mean age = 44 months). Sociometric ratings, particularly negative, were stable over 1- and 9-month time periods. Correlational analyses showed that emotion knowledge and prosocial behavior were direct predictors of likability. Prosocial behavior mediated the relations of gender and expressed emotions with likability (i.e., gender and expressed emotions were each related to prosocial behavior, and prosocial behavior was related to likability, but neither gender nor expressed emotions were related to likability with prosocial behavior partialled out). Knowledge of emotional situations similarly mediated the age-likability relation. Results uphold the early development of stable peer reputations and the hypothesized centrality of emotion-related predictors of likability.

Maternal affect and toddlers' social-emotional competence.

Mothers' and toddlers' discrete emotions, as well as their more general psycho-social functioning, were coded. Indices of maternal emotion and psychosocial functioning showed patterns of correlations with child indices and with each other. Two possible explanations of these patterns, child temperament and socialization of emotion, are discussed.