Methodological implications of the affect revolution: A 35-year review of emotion regulation assessment in children
Highlights
► A review of 157 articles revealed a dramatic increase over 35 years in the scientific inquiry of emotion regulation in youth. ► Designs using one assessment method were most common. ► The use of multi-modal emotion regulation assessment has not changed over time. ► A vast array of emotion regulation assessments have been developed to capture the diversity of systems involved in examining this construct.
Introduction
The regulation of emotion involves the management of diverse systems, including physiological arousal, facial and behavioral expressions, motivation, inter- and intrapersonal goals, and cognitive evaluations (Thompson, 1994). Due to this diversity in systems, it has been a challenge to find a common definition for emotion regulation (ER) and then develop and implement optimal assessment methods (Cole, Martin, & Dennis, 2004; Langlois, 2004). Measurement of ER is directly linked to theoretical issues regarding the definition and nature of the construct. Furthermore, debate has ensued regarding the conceptual and methodological dissociation of emotion from ER (see Child Development, Vol. 75, 2004), with some purporting a two-factor solution (emotion as preceding ER) (e.g., Cole et al., 2004) and others arguing for the inseparability of emotion from ER (e.g., Campos, Frankel, & Camras, 2004). As such, for this review, the following commonly accepted definition of ER is adopted: “the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive and temporal features, to accomplish one’s goals” (Thompson, 1994, pp. 27–28).
The study of ER in children is a relatively new field, with the past two decades described as an affect revolution (Fischer & Tangney, 1995) that has transformed how emotion processes have been conceptualized. However, the progress in assessment of these constructs lags behind and, as a result, limits the questions that can be addressed and makes the interpretation of mixed findings a daunting task. The overarching aim of this research was to provide documentation of how ER has been studied in children over the past 35 years because this information has the potential to provide insights concerning the strengths and limitations of the field and to offer guidance for future directions.
Even with a cleverly devised methodological system, the challenging nature of scientific inquiry into ER must be acknowledged. As Larsen and Prizmic-Larsen (2006) stated, “Emotion researchers need to keep clearly in mind that constructs are never purely measured. Rather, all measures are construct–method composites. … The theoretical meaning of a construct is given, in part, by the methods used to measure it” (p. 342). Because of the complexity of the constructs involved in ER and equifinality of dynamic systems, multilevel and multimethod approaches to the scientific inquiry of ER in both normative and atypical child samples have been advocated. Emotion is best defined as a multifaceted construct inferred from multiple indicators, and by focusing and isolating one aspect of emotion, an incomplete picture of the emotion system is likely to emerge (Larsen and Prizmic-Larsen, 2006). However, measurement in this system is complicated because the converging multiple response systems are loosely and imperfectly coupled, complexly interactive, and mutually influential. Thus, ER may be understood through accessing a variety of different processes from central and peripheral nervous system processes, sociocultural influences, and biological and behavioral contexts (Thompson, Lewis, & Calkins, 2008). The current study sought to systematically analyze the ways in which ER researchers have grappled with investigating this construct.
Researchers interested in studying children’s ER measure this construct primarily in four ways: self-report, other informant (parent, teacher, or peer), observational, and physiological–biological indicators (for reviews, see Morris, Robinson, & Eisenberg, 2006; Zeman, Klimes-Dougan, Cassano, & Adrian, 2007). Self-report methodologies provide an important assessment of ER even when the reporter may be a young child (Durbin, 2010). Individuals are the only ones able to assess and integrate a variety of levels of information about their own emotions (e.g., meld information about cognitions and physiological symptoms such as heart rate). However, self-report methods are limited by the demands they place on children such that they require children to be aware of emotions, have the ability to monitor emotions, recall their emotional experience retrospectively, and then communicate this information effectively to others (Zeman et al., 2007). The recent invention and use of electronic communication sources (e.g., electronic diaries) offers a partial solution to some of these issues, yet their incremental validity over other approaches is still questionable (Suveg, Payne, Thomassin, & Jacob, 2010).
Other reporters (e.g., parents, teachers) are also often enlisted to measure components of emotion because they provide an opportunity to understand children’s ER in diverse social settings. Although this information is considered to have better reliability and validity than self-reports (Morris et al., 2006), research has revealed that there are biases and other processes (e.g., parental psychopathology) that can affect ratings of children’s behavior (Fergusson, Lynskey, & Horwood, 1993). Although rarely explored, peer methods of nominations and emotion-based sociometrics could be a valuable method to explore the connection between ER and social processes (Perry-Parrish and Zeman, 2011).
Observational methods are often considered the “gold standard” in developmental research (Cummings, Davies, & Campbell, 2000). Body gestures, tones of voice, and facial expressions relay important information about emotional experiences, particularly emotional expression. In addition, observational coding systems can be developed in a flexible manner to capture the precipitants, reactions, and consequences of emotional expressions. However, an observational approach captures only some of the components of ER and does not tap into the associated internal unobservable processes. Furthermore, as children develop, so does their ability to dissemble emotional displays, thereby affecting the validity of this method (Saarni, 1984).
Neurophysiological systems are critically involved in the experience, production, and regulation of emotion (Curtis and Cicchetti, 2007). Recent evidence indicates that key neurocircuitry relevant to emotion processing undergoes several periods of reorganization well into adolescence (Giedd et al., 1999). Due to recent technological advances, a number of methods have evaluated different biological emotion systems. To investigate the activity of the cortico-limbic circuitry that is involved in emotion processing and regulation (LeDoux, 1996), electroencephalogram and neuroimaging techniques have been used to provide insight into these processes. The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis is implicated in ER efforts, and studies with children have used cortisol assays to understand the impact of HPA disruption on ER efforts. Activation of the parasympathetic system, which is associated with ER abilities, has been measured by the vagal tone index (Porges, 1991).
Along with the increasing advances in the study of children’s ER, an acute awareness of the complexity of the construct has arisen; as such, achieving clarity in what constitutes ER and understanding the dynamic interplay between the developmentally important constituents has been slow to emerge (Thompson et al., 2008). As such, the overarching goal of this review was to evaluate the methodological state of the field of ER research using a multipronged approach. First, we sought to provide a description of the field with respect to validating the claim that we are indeed in the middle of an affect revolution. Second, we examined the number and type of measurement strategies used in the study of ER in children. Third, we investigated whether the use of certain methodologies to study ER differed as a function of developmental status. Fourth, we explored whether inquiries into typical versus atypical ER processes used different methodologies. Fifth, we investigated whether specific methodologies provided differential impacts on the understanding of ER in children. Sixth, we compiled a summary of the measures used to evaluate ER to provide researchers with a guide to the available instruments and methods as well as to illuminate gaps in our assessment toolbox. To meet these goals, 42 child clinical, developmental, and emotion psychology journals were reviewed to evaluate the methods used and their contributions to the study of childhood ER throughout a 35-year period.
Section snippets
Method
For a journal to be considered appropriate for review, it needed to be in the academic discipline of psychology and to have its primary focus on children (infants to 18-year-olds) or emotion processes; this yielded child clinical, developmental, and emotion journals. Articles on children’s ER published from 1976 through 2010 were selected from the following 42 journals (listed alphabetically with the number of articles located within each journal presented in parentheses): Advances in Child
Affect revolution
Overall, 157 studies were identified as being appropriate for the review. See the Appendix for a comprehensive listing of the publications, with some articles cited in the References section and denoted by asterisks. An examination of the number of studies published by decade revealed that the majority of studies that included ER as a variable were conducted between 2000 and 2010 (82.8%, n = 130), followed by 17.2% (n = 27) published from 1989 to 1999. There were no published studies with the key
Discussion
The findings of this 35-year review of the methods used to study children’s ER provide a valuable context from which to evaluate the state of the field and offer insight into avenues for growth. Quite striking is the evidence validating the claim made 16 years ago that we are indeed in the midst of an affect revolution (Fischer and Tangney, 1995). The rate of publications in children’s ER has increased dramatically since 1989, with 82.2% of the publications occurring within the past decade. If
References (150)
Indicators of aggression: The dissipation-rumination scale
Personality and Individual Differences
(1986)- et al.
Indicators for impulsive aggression: Present status of research on irritability and emotional susceptibility scales
Personality and Individual Differences
(1985) - et al.
Inhibitory control and emotion regulation in preschool children
Cognitive Development
(2007) - et al.
Negative life events, cognitive emotion regulation and emotional problems
Personality and Individual Differences
(2001) The Parenting Stress Index Short Form
(1990)- et al.
Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation
(1978) - et al.
Attachment and exploratory behavior of 1-year-olds in a Strange Situation
- Allen, J. P., Hauser, S. T., Bell, K. T., McElhaney, K. B., Tate, D. C., Insabella, G. M., et al. (1994). Autonomy and...
- et al.
Role of affective self-regulatory efficacy in diverse spheres of psychosocial functioning
Child Development
(2003) Bayley Scales of Infant Development: Manual
(1993)
Stress regulation in adolescents: Physiological reactivity during the adult attachment interview and conflict interaction
Child Development
The experience of sadness and anger in everyday problems impacts age differences in emotion regulation
Developmental Psychology
The California Child Q-Set
The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
Temperament: Early developing personality traits
Fear and anger regulation in infancy: Effects on the temporal dynamics of affective expression
Child Development
Frustration in infancy: Implications for emotion regulation, physiological processes, and temperament
Infancy
On the nature of emotion regulation
Child Development
Family–peer connections: The roles of emotional expressiveness within the family and children’s understanding of emotions
Child Development
Three-month-old infants’ reaction to simulated maternal depression
Child Development
Preschoolers’ emotion regulation strategy understanding: Relations with emotion socialization and child self-regulation
Social Development
Mood induction stimulus for children
Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Challenges and directions for child development research
Child development
Mutual emotion regulation and the stability of conduct problems between preschool and early school age
Development and Psychopathology
Individual differences in emotion regulation and behavior problems in preschool children
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Expressive control during a disappointment: Variations related to preschoolers’ behavior problems
Developmental Psychology
Response to stress in adolescence. Measurement of coping and involuntary engagement stress response
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Emotion regulation as a mediator of associations between mother–child attachment and peer relationships in middle childhood
Journal of Family Psychology
Mothers’ internal models of relationships and children’s behavioral and developmental status: A study of the mother–child interaction
Child Development
Coping with background anger in early childhood
Child Development
Developmental psychopathology and family process: Theory, research, and clinical implications
Emotion and resilience. A multilevel investigation of hemispheric electroencephalogram asymmetry and emotion regulation in maltreated and nonmaltreated children
Development and Psychopathology
Metacognitive emotion regulation: Children’s awareness that changing thoughts and goals can alleviate negative emotions
Emotion
Emotions in social information processing and their relations with reactive and proactive aggression in referred aggressive boys
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Introduction to the special section: Transformative research on emotion regulation and dysregulation
Child Development Perspectives
Preschoolers at play: Co-socialisers of emotional and social competence
International Journal of Behavioral Development
Preschool emotional competence. Pathway to social competence
Child Development
The late positive potential: A neurophysiological marker for emotion regulation in children
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Adolescent peer relationships and emerging adult romantic styles: A longitudinal study of youth in an Italian community
Journal of Adolescent Research
Rejection sensitivity and children’s interpersonal difficulties
Child Development
Validity of young children’s self-reports of their emotion in response to structured laboratory tasks
Emotion
The relations of emotionality and regulation to preschooler’s social skills and sociometric status
Child Development
The relations of children’s dispositional prosocial behavior to emotionality, regulation, and social functioning
Child Development
Parents’ reactions to children’s negative emotions: Relations to children’s social competence and comforting behavior
Child Development
The role of emotionality and regulation in children’s social functioning: A longitudinal study
Child Development
Relations among positive parenting, children’s effortful control, and externalizing problems: A three-wave longitudinal study
Child Development
Young children’s coping with interpersonal anger
Child Development
The relations of children’s emotion regulation to their vicarious emotional responses and comforting behaviors
Child Development
Parenting stress, infant emotion regulation, maternal sensitivity, and cognitive development of triplets: A model for parent and child influences in a unique ecology
Child Development
Cited by (161)
Editorial: Adding Measures of Emotion Dysregulation to Our Toolkits
2023, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatrySystematic Review: Questionnaire-Based Measurement of Emotion Dysregulation in Children and Adolescents
2023, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryCitation Excerpt :First, more than 100 questionnaires have been used to probe emotion (dys)regulation in youth since 2000. This is more than 3 times the number of self-, parent-, and other informant–reported measures identified by Adrian et al.27—an increase that illustrates the mission of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2020 Presidential Initiative.6 Second, closer examination of the questionnaires and their subscales reveals that measures assess disparate constructs and processes, whereby some capture the external manifestations of emotion dysregulation, while others capture its internal processes.
The socialization of positive emotions: Implications for physical health and psychological adjustment
2023, Mental Health and PreventionParent and friend emotion socialization in adolescence: The path to internalizing symptoms
2023, Journal of Applied Developmental PsychologyMeasurement of Emotion Regulation in a Clinical Sample of Children: The Psychometric Properties of the How I Feel Scale
2024, Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment