A Longitudinal Study of Negative Emotional States and Adjustment from Early Childhood through Adolescence

Abstract

The relations among various negative emotional and behavioral characteristics (e.g., aggression, anxiety, undercompliance, depressive mood) and adjustment were examined through use of data from the 31-year-old New York Longitudinal Study. 75 white, middle-class children were rated on these negative characteristics from infancy to adolescence. Measures of family, peer, and personal adjustment were also obtained. Because of the longitudinal nature of the data, we were able to use structural equation models to address the following questions: (1) How stable are these negative behaviors from early life through adolescence? (2) What is the degree of relation between these emotional characteristics and adjustment in childhood and adolescence? and (3) To what degree do these emotional characteristics differentially predict multiple adjustment dimensions in adolescence? 2 factors of negative emotional behavior, labeled as Aggression and Affect, respectively, were identified in early and late childhood and were found to have relatively high stability of individual differences. Aggression significantly predicted adolescent maladjustment, whereas Affect had no independent prediction of maladjustment. Moreover, emotional problems provided better prediction of adolescent adjustment problems than did earlier childhood adjustment ratings.

Strategy narratives and wellbeing challenges: The role of everyday self-presentation

“…Indeed, women often derive a sense of the positive self from their ability to enter and maintain close relationships (Kaplan 1986). Yet, they often do so by suppressing negative feelings and their own needs during social interactions (Lerner et al 1988;Piran and Cormier 2005). The emphasis here is on concealing the negative self that is perceived to be in conflict with social expectations in order to achieve relationship wellbeing.…”

“…The literature on wellbeing, especially with reference to gender, has long emphasized the complex interplay between personal and social wellbeing (Lerner, Hertzog, Hooker, Hassibi and Thomas 1988;Piran and Cormier 2005). This is of particular relevance to women because they are often socialized into the role of a caregiver (e.g., daughter, friend, wife or mother) who puts the needs of others before their own (Jack 1991;Thompson 1996).…”

“…The tendency to conceal the self in social interactions can prompt depressive symptoms, negative self-esteem and psychological distress (Larson and Chastain 1990;Vogel, Heimerdinger-Edwards and Hubbard 2011). For example, Lerner, Hertzog and Hooker (1988) illustrated how self-concealment in a given social encounter often leads to internalized anger. In the consumption context, Hartman, Patock-Peckhama, Corbin, Gates, Leeman, Luk and King (2015) found that greater self-concealment was linked to impaired selfcontrol over drinking, thereby threatening personal wellbeing.…”

Symptoms of Psychological Distress Among Mothers and their Adult Offspring: A Longitudinal Examination

“…The results indicate that continuity in maternal distress from offspring's early to middle childhood has a strong effect on offspring's experiences of distress in adulthood-over half of the indirect effect of maternal distress at offspring's age of five on offspring's distress in adulthood occurs through mother's distress at offspring's age of 10. Given that symptoms of adult psychological distress tend to remain stable (Lerner et al 1988), children who are exposed to mothers with distress symptoms at an early age are likely to continue to be exposed to mothers with such symptoms in middle childhood. Thus, the cumulative effect of continued exposure to mothers with some level of distress has negative effects on the children's psychological well-being in adulthood.…”

Self-Silencing as a Mediator and Moderator of Adult Attachment and Disordered Eating Attitudes

“…Lerner, Hertzog, and Hooker (1988) proposed that self-silencing can be viewed in the form of internalized anger, as women learn that their expressions of anger are judged by others to be inappropriate and tend to push others away. Similarly, Hooker and Convisser (1983) suggested that, in attempt to suppress their anger, women may learn to engage in bingeing or emotionbased eating, essentially swallowing their anger, which then places them at higher risk for developing an eating disorder.…”