Affect Consciousness in children with internalizing problems: Assessment of affect integration.

Affect integration was operationalized through the Affect Consciousness (AC) construct as degrees of awareness, tolerance, nonverbal expression and conceptual expression of 11 affects. These aspects are assessed through a semi-structured Affect Consciousness Interview (ACI) and separate rating scales (Affect Consciousness Scales (ACSs)) developed for use in research and clinical work with adults with psychopathological disorders. Age-adjusted changes were made in the interview and rating system. This study explored the applicability of the adjusted ACI to a sample of 11-year-old children with internalizing problems through examining inter-rater reliability of the adjusted ACI, along with relationships between the AC aspects and aspects of mental health as symptoms of depression, symptoms of anxiety, social competence, besides general intelligence. Satisfactory inter-rater reliability was found, as well as consistent relationships between the AC aspects and the various aspects of mental health, a finding which coincides with previous research. The finding indicates that the attainment of the capacity to deal adaptively with affect is probably an important contributor to the development of adequate social competence and maybe in the prevention of psychopathology in children. The results indicate that the adjusted ACI and rating scales are useful tools in treatment planning with children at least from the age of 11 years.

Affect integration and attachment in children and youth: conceptual issues -Implications for practice and research

The essential role of affect and emotion in human behavior, motivation, cognition, and interpersonal interaction is emphasized in various efforts to understand how children develop. However, various theoretical traditions have focused on different features. In this article we focus on the views in attachment theory and the affect consciousness (AC) model/related affect integration perspectives. The attachment theory and the AC perspective/related affect integration perspectives are widely recognized approaches that explicitly focus on the role of affect, cognition, and behavior in the context of others as the main areas in both children’s developmental processes and psychotherapeutic processes. However, these traditions represent both overlapping and contrasting views. On this background we discuss the following questions: 1. How does attachment theory describe the view on affect/emotion, motivation, cognition, and interpersonal interaction, and how do the AC perspective/related affect integration perspectives describe the view on the same subjects? What central theoretical similarities and differences do we find when we compare AC and attachment theory? 2. What role does AC play in attachment, and what role does attachment play in AC? 3. Can the AC perspective/related affect integration perspectives expand and provide nuance to our understanding of the role of affect and emotion in attachment theory, including an understanding of typical and nontypical emotional learning processes? We identified six central AC aspects that can expand our understanding of the function and role of affect and emotion in attachment theory. This understanding is considered central to both practice and research (AU)

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