From trust in caregivers' support to exploration: The role of openness to negative affect and self-regulation.

Attachment theory assumes that trust in caregivers' support and exploration are closely related. Little research tried to investigate this link, nor focuses on mechanisms that might explain this association. The present studies examined whether trust is related to exploration through a serial indirect effect of openness to negative affect and self-regulation. In Study 1, 212 children, aged 8-13, completed questionnaires assessing trust, openness to negative affect, self-regulation and exploration. The results showed that trust predicted exploration, but only to the extent to which openness to negative affect and self-regulation were involved too. Study 2 refined these findings (n = 59, aged 9-12) using a behavioral measure of openness to negative affect and exploration, and with mother-reported self-regulation. Replicating this serial indirect effect of openness to negative affect and self-regulation with multiple informants and methods, the present studies advance our understanding of how trust might foster exploration in preadolescence.

Variability in anger intensity profiles: structure and predictive basis.

The aim of this study is to describe variability in the shape and amplitude of intensity profiles of anger episodes and how it relates to duration, and to investigate whether this variability can be predicted on the basis of appraisals and emotion regulation strategies used. Participants were asked to report on a wide range of recollected anger episodes. By means of K-spectral centroid clustering, two prototypical shapes of anger intensity profiles were identified: early- and late-blooming episodes. Early-blooming episodes are relatively short and reach their peak immediately. These profiles are associated with low-importance events and adaptive regulation. Late-blooming episodes last longer and reach their peak (relatively) late in the episode. These profiles are related to high-importance events and maladaptive regulation. For both early- and late-blooming profiles, overall amplitude is positively associated with event importance and the use of maladaptive regulation strategies and negatively with the use of adaptive ones.

Children's Attention to Mother and Adolescent Stress Moderate the Attachment-Depressive Symptoms Link.

The breadth of children's attentional field around their mother determines whether securely or insecurely attached children are at risk to develop depressive symptoms when confronted with distress in adolescence. To test this effect longitudinally, we measured children's (M age = 10.93; N = 109) baseline attentional breadth around their mother, attachment status (combining attachment coherence, secure base script knowledge, and self-reported trust), and self-reported depressive symptoms. One and two years later, we measured self-reported distress and depressive symptoms. We tested three-way interactions between attentional breadth × attachment × distress on changes in depressive symptoms. This three-way interaction was marginally significantly linked with changes in depressive symptoms from baseline to year 1, and significantly with changes in depressive symptoms from baseline to year 2. Results pointed to the protective role of a narrow attentional field around the mother in middle childhood for securely attached children who are confronted with distress later in life.

Stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood and early adolescence: A 3-year longitudinal study.

There is limited research examining stability and change in attachment security in middle childhood. The current study addresses this gap using data from a 3-year longitudinal study. Specifically, we examined stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood using a sample of 157 children (Wave 1 mean age [Mage] = 10.91, standard deviation [SD] = 0.87) assessed at 1-year intervals across 4 waves. Secure base script knowledge was moderately stable over time, as script scores were significantly correlated between each wave. We also investigated the impact of life stress on change in secure base script knowledge within individuals across waves. The results demonstrated that daily hassles (minor and frequently occurring stressful life events) but not major (more severe and infrequent) stressful life events predicted change in script knowledge. Implications for attachment-based interventions and, more broadly, the stability of attachment security are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

KSC-N: Clustering of Hierarchical Time Profile Data.

Quite a few studies in the behavioral sciences result in hierarchical time profile data, with a number of time profiles being measured for each person under study. Associated research questions often focus on individual differences in profile repertoire, that is, differences between persons in the number and the nature of profile shapes that show up for each person. In this paper, we introduce a new method, called KSC-N, that parsimoniously captures such differences while neatly disentangling variability in shape and amplitude. KSC-N induces a few person clusters from the data and derives for each person cluster the types of profile shape that occur most for the persons in that cluster. An algorithm for fitting KSC-N is proposed and evaluated in a simulation study. Finally, the new method is applied to emotional intensity profile data.

Children's Attentional Processing of Mother and Proximity Seeking.

Attachment expectations regarding the availability of mother as a source for support are supposed to influence distressed children's support seeking behavior. Because research is needed to better understand the mechanisms related to support seeking behavior, this study tested the hypothesis that the cognitive processing of mother-related information is linked to proximity and support seeking behavior. Uncertainty in maternal support has been shown to be characterized by a biased attentional encoding of mother, reducing the breadth of children's attentional field around her. We investigated whether this attentional bias is related to how long distressed children wait before seeking their mother's proximity. Thirty-three children (9-11 years) participated in this study that consisted of experimental tasks to measure attentional breadth and to observe proximity seeking behavior and of questionnaires to measure confidence in maternal support and experienced distress. Results suggested that distressed children with a more narrow attentional field around their mother wait longer to seek her proximity. Key Message: These findings provide a first support for the hypothesis that the attentional processing of mother is related to children's attachment behavior.