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Linking Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs to developmental psychopathology: The role of self-regulation and emotion knowledge in the development of internalizing and externalizing growth trajectories from ages 3 to 10

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2019

Ka I Ip Open the ORCID record for Ka I Ip [Opens in a new window] ,
Jennifer M. Jester ,
Arnold Sameroff  and
Sheryl L. Olson
Ka I Ip*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology
Jennifer M. Jester
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Arnold Sameroff
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology
Sheryl L. Olson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology
*
Address for correspondence: Ka I Ip, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109. E-mail: kaip@umich.edu.
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Abstract

Identifying Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs in early childhood is essential for understanding etiological pathways of psychopathology. Our central goal was to identify early emotion knowledge and self-regulation difficulties across different RDoC domains and examine how they relate to typical versus atypical symptom trajectories between ages 3 and 10. Particularly, we assessed potential contributions of children's gender, executive control, delay of gratification, and regulation of frustration, emotion recognition, and emotion understanding at age 3 to co-occurring patterns of internalizing and externalizing across development. A total of 238 3-year-old boys and girls were assessed using behavioral tasks and parent reports and reassessed at ages 5 and 10 years. Results indicated that very few children developed “pure” internalizing or externalizing symptoms relative to various levels of co-occurring symptoms across development. Four classes of co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems were identified: low, low-moderate, rising, and severe-decreasing trajectories. Three-year-old children with poor executive control but high emotion understanding were far more likely to show severe-decreasing than low/low-moderate class co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptom patterns. Child gender and poor executive control differentiated children in rising versus low trajectories. Implications for early intervention targeting self-regulation of executive control are discussed.

Keywords

emotion knowledgeinternalizing and externalizing symptomspreschool; RDoCself-regulation
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , October 2019 , pp. 1557 - 1574
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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