Psychometric properties of the children's emotion management scales within a psychiatric sample.

The Children's Emotion Management Scales (CEMS) are widely used measures of children's emotion regulation strategies in response to three specific emotions: sadness, anger, and worry. Original factor analyses suggested a three-factor subscale structure for each emotion: inhibition, dysregulation, and coping (Zeman et al., 2001, 2002, 2010). However, this factor structure had not been reexamined since it was originally developed, including within a racially diverse psychiatric sample. The present study attempted to address this gap for the Anger Management Scale and Sadness Management Scale separately, as well as testing the overarching structure of these two in combination. Participants included 302 children (ages 8-12; 70.4% boys; 55.72% African American; 39.3% White) from inpatient and outpatient centers and their primary caregivers. The three-factor structure replicated well with the Anger Management Scale and Sadness Management Scale separately in our sample. A bifactor model that included both higher order emotion factors (i.e., Anger and Sadness) and higher order strategy factors (i.e., Coping, Dysregulation, and Inhibition) best represented the overarching structure of the CEMS. Results from latent correlations and structural regressions showed that some of these factors were related to child-reported depressive symptoms and parent-reported disruptive behaviors, supporting the validity of the bifactor model conceptualization of scores on the CEMS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Indirect effect of family climate on adolescent depression through emotion regulatory processes.

Adolescent depression is a serious public health concern, warranting examination of its development. A negative family emotional climate (NFEC) is one risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms. The specific emotion regulatory processes linking NFEC and depression, however, remain unclear. Cognitive reappraisal, a strategy that entails shifting one's thoughts about an emotion eliciting situation before the emotion is generated, expressive suppression, an emotion regulation strategy where individuals push down their expressions of an emotion after it is generated, and emotional inertia, the process of remaining in a given emotional state for a longer period compared to other individuals, were tested as potential emotion processes through which NFEC might be indirectly related to depressive symptoms. Adolescents (N = 92; ages 11-18; 62% girls, 80% White) participated in a multimethod two-time-point study (∼6 months apart). NFEC was measured at Time 1; cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, emotional inertia, and depressive symptoms, at Time 2. Emotional inertia scores for negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) were obtained through continuous coding of affect during 2 parent-child interactions. Codes were analyzed second-by-second, and multilevel logistic regression was used to extract each participant's emotional inertia score. NFEC was directly related to depressive symptoms. NFEC was also indirectly related to depressive symptoms via cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression (for girls, not boys) but not emotional inertia (for either NA or PA). Results suggest that both emotion regulation and the family emotional climate should be considered as targets for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Family relationships and the interpersonal theory of suicide in a clinically suicidal sample of adolescents.

In a sample of suicidal adolescents (N = 117), we sought to identify how adolescents' attachment to their parents related to a key mechanism of suicide from the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS). We tested both attachment-anxiety and attachment-avoidance, to both mother- and father-figures as correlates of the IPTS construct, perceived burdensomeness (PB). In addition, we tested PB as a mediator between these attachment variables and adolescent suicide ideation in a path analysis. Our path analysis indicated both mother- and father-related attachment anxiety were associated with PB and PB was related to suicide ideation. We also found an indirect effect of father-related attachment anxiety on suicide ideation. This study provides empirical support for earlier systemic work that proposes how family relationships may influence an adolescent's suicidal ideation. Finally, we provide practical clinical suggestions for how therapists may implement a systemic framework to address a suicidal adolescent and their family relationships.