Abstract
Behavioral rigidity is a common feature of many psychopathologies, yet the association between rigidity and the development of childhood psychopathology has not been studied. State space grids (a dynamic systems [DS] method) were used to examine the relation between rigidity in Parent—Child interactions and childhood externalizing and internalizing problems. High-risk kindergarten children (n = 240) and their parents were observed for 2 hr engaging in a variety of tasks that were expected to elicit a range of affect. State space grid analysis of the observational data revealed an association between rigidity in Parent—Child interactions and child externalizing behavior problems in the fall and spring of kindergarten and 1st grade, and with growth in those problems over time. Rigidity was associated with concurrent levels and with chronic high-level internalizing problems. Strengths and limitations of the new DS methodology in relation to understanding child psychopathology are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. (1987). Manual for the Teacher's Report Form and Teacher Version of the Child Behavior Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
Achenbach, T. M. (1993). Taxonomy and comorbidity of conduct problems: Evidence from empirically based approaches. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 51-64.
Barrett, P. M., Rapee, R. M., Dadds, M. R., and Ryan, S. M. (1996). Family enhancement of cognitive style in anxious and aggressive children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 187-203.
Cattell, R. B. (1935). On measurement of perseveration. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 5,76-91.
Chown, S. (1959). Rigidity: A flexible concept. Psychological Bulletin, 56, 195-223.
Cicchetti, D., & Cohen, D. J. (1995). Perspectives on developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology. Vol. 1: Theory and methods (pp.3-20). New York: Wiley.
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 53, 221-241.
Cohn, J. F., Matias, R., Tronick, E. Z., Connell, D., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (1986). Face-to-face interactions of depressed mothers and their infants. In E. Tronick & T. Field (Eds.), Maternal depression and infant disturbance (pp.31-46). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115,74-101.
DeYoung, C. G., Peterson, J. B., & Higgins, D. M. (2002). Higher-order of the Big Five predict conformity: Are there neuroses of health? Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 533-552.
Downey, G., & Coyne, J. C. (1990). Children of depressed parents: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 108,50-76.
Dumas, J. E., & LaFreniere, P. J. (1993). Mother-child relationships as sources of support or stress: A comparison of competent, average, aggressive, and anxious dyads. Child Development, 64, 1732-1754.
Dumas, J. E., & LaFreniere, P. J. (1995). Relationships as context: Supportive and coercive interactions in competent, aggressive, and anxious mother-child dyads. In J. McCord (Ed.), Coercion and punishment in long-term perspectives (pp.9-33). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dumas, J. E., LaFreniere, P. J., & Serkeitich, W. J. (1995). "Balance of power": A transactional analysis of control in mother-child dyads involving socially competent, aggressive, and anxious children.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 104-113.
Dumas, J. E., Lemay, P., & Dauwalder, J. P. (2001). Dynamic analyses of mother-child interactions in functional and dysfunctional dyads: A synergetic approach. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 317-329.
Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., & Spinrad, T. L. (1998). Parental socialization of emotion. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 241-273.
Field, T., Sandberg, D., Garcia, R., Vega-Lahr, N., Goldstein, S., & Guy, L. (1985). Pregnancy problems, postpartum depression, and early mother-infant interactions. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1152-1156.
Gardner, F. E. M. (1987). Positive interaction between mothers and conduct-problem children: Is there training for harmony as well as fighting? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15, 283-293.
Gardner, F. E. M. (1994). The quality of joint activity between moth-ers and their children with behaviour problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 935-948.
Gelfand, D. M., & Teti, D. M. (1990). The effects of maternal depression on children. Clinical Psychology Review, 10, 329-353.
Gottman, J. M., Katz, L. F., & Hooven, C. (1996). Parental meta-emotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data. Journal of Family Psychology, 10, 243-268.
Gottman, J. M., McCoy, K., Coan, J., & Collier, H. (1996). The specific affect coding system (SPAFF) for observing emotional communication in marital and family interaction. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gottman, J. M., & Notarius, C. I. (2000). Decade review: Observing marital interaction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 927-947.
Granic, I. (2000). The self-organization of parent-child relations: Beyond bidirectional models. In M. D. Lewis & I. Granic (Eds.), Emotion, development and self-organization: Dynamic systems approaches to emotional development (pp.267-297). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Granic, I., & Hollenstein, T. (2003). Dynamic systems methods for models of developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 641-669.
Granic, I., Hollenstein, T., Dishion, T. J., & Patterson, G. R. (2003). Longitudinal analysis of flexibility and reorganization in early adolescence: A dynamic systems study of family interactions. Developmental Psychology, 39, 606-617.
Granic, I., & Lamey, A. V. (2002). Combining dynamic-systems and multivariate analyses to compare the mother-child interactions of externalizing subtypes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 265-283.
Harris, M. E. (1988). Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: Computer version. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Hinshaw, S. P. (2002). Process, mechanism, and explanation related to externalizing behavior in developmental psychology. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 431-446.
Hinshaw, S. P., & Lee, S. S. (2003). Conduct and oppositional defiant disorders. In E. J. Mash & R. A. Barkley (Eds.), Child psychopathology (pp.144-198). New York: Guilford.
Jones, R. R., Reid, J. B., & Patterson, G. R. (1975). Naturalistic observations in clinical assessment. In P. McReynolds (Ed.), Advances in psychological assessment (Vol. 3, pp. 42-95). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Krohne, H. W., & Hocke, M. (1991). Relationships between restrictive mother-child interactions and anxiety of the child. Anxiety Research, 4, 109-124.
Lewis, M. D., Lamey, A. V., & Douglas, L. (1999). A new dynamic systems method for the analysis of early socioemotional development. Developmental Science, 2, 457-475.
Lewis, M. D., Zimmerman, S., Hollenstein, T., & Lamey, A. V. (2004). Reorganization in coping behavior at 1 1 2 years: Dynamic systems and normative change. Developmental Science, 7,56-73.
Luchins, A. S., & Luchins, E. H. (1959). Rigidity of behavior. Eugene: University of Oregon Books.
Mahoney, M. J. (1991). Human change processes: The scientific foundations of psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and family therapy. Oxford, UK: Harvard University Press.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
Olson, D. H. (2000). Circumplex model of marital and family systems. Journal of Family Therapy, 22, 144-167.
Overton, W. F., & Horowitz, H. A. (1991). Developmental Psychopathology: Integrations and differentiations. In D. Cicchetti and S. L. Toth (Eds.), Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology. Vol. 3: Models and integrations (pp.1-42). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family processes. Eugene, OR: Castalia.
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., & Dishion, T. (1992). Antisocial boys. Eugene, OR: Castalia.
Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1989). Family interaction patterns and children's behaviour problems from infancy to 4 years. Developmental Psychology, 25, 413-420.
Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., & Dodge, K. A. (1993). Family interaction patterns and children's conduct problems at home and school: A longitudinal perspective. School Psychology Review, 22, 403-420.
Pickles, A., & Angold, A. (2003). Natural categories or fundamental dimensions: On carving nature at the joints and the rearticulation of psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 529-551.
Ramsden, S. R., & Hubbard, J. A. (2002). Family expressiveness and parental emotion coaching: Their role in children's emotion regulation and aggression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 657-667.
Richters, J. E. (1997). The Hubble hypothesis and the developmentalist's dilemma. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 193-229.
Richters, J. E., & Cicchetti, D. (1993). Mark Twain meets DSM-III-R: Conduct disorder, development, and the concept of harmful dysfunction. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 243-262.
Robins, L. N., & McEvoy, L. (1990). Conduct problems as predictors of substance abuse. In L. N. Robins & M. Rutter (Eds.), Straight and devious pathways from childhood to adulthood (pp.182-204). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Rothbart, M. K., & Derryberry, D. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In M. Lamb & A. Brown (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology (pp.37-86). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rothbart, M. K., Zaiae, H., & O'Boyle, C. G. (1992). Self-regulation and emotion in infancy. In N. Eisenberg & R. A. Fabes (Eds.), Emotion and its regulation in early development. New directions for child development, No. 55: The Jossey-Bass education series (pp.7-23). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Rutter, M. (1995). Relationships between mental disorders in childhood and adulthood. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 91,73-85.
Sameroff, A. J., & Chandler, M. J. (1975). Reproductive risk and the continuum of caretaking causality. In F. D. Horowitz (Ed.), Review of child development research (Vol. 4, pp. 187-244). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schore, A. N. (2003). Affect dysregulation and disorders of the self. New York: Norton.
Schultz, P. W., & Searleman, A. (2002). Rigidity of thought and behavior: 100 years of research. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 128, 165-207.
Shortt, A. L., Barrett, P. M., Dadds, M. R., & Fox, T. L. (2001). The influenceof family and experimental context on cognition in anxious children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 585-596.
Spearman, C. (1927). The abilities of man: Their nature and measurement. New York: Macmillan.
Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge, MA: Bradford/MIT Press.
Thelen, E., & Ulrich, B. D. (1991). Hidden skills: A dynamic systems analysis of treadmill stepping during the first year. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 56(1, Serial No.
Thompson, R. A. (1990). Emotion and self-regulation. In R. A. Thompson (Ed.), Socioemotional development: Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 36, pp. 367-467). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Weinberg, M. K., & Tronick, E. Z. (1998). The impact of maternal psychiatric illness on infant development. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59,53-61.
Weiss, B., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J., & Pettit, G. (1992). Some consequences of early harsh discipline and a maladaptive social information processing style. Child Development, 63, 1321-1335.
Werner, H. (1940). Comparative psychology of mental development. New York: Harper.
Werner, H. (1946). The concept of rigidity: A critical evaluation. Psychological Review, 53,43-52.
Wood, J. J., McLeod, B. D., Sigman, M., Hwang, W., & Chu, B. C. (2003). Parenting and childhood anxiety: Theory, empirical findings, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 134-151.
Yahav, R. (2002). External and internal symptoms in children and characteristics of the family system: A comparison of the linear and circumplex models. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 30,39-56.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hollenstein, T., Granic, I., Stoolmiller, M. et al. Rigidity in Parent—Child Interactions and the Development of Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior in Early Childhood. J Abnorm Child Psychol 32, 595–607 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JACP.0000047209.37650.41
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JACP.0000047209.37650.41