Developmental Trajectories and Origins of a Core Cognitive Vulnerability to Internalizing Symptoms in Middle Childhood

Abstract

Cognitive theories of psychopathology posit that the way individuals encode, interpret, and recall information can confer vulnerability to the development of psychological symptoms (Riskind & Alloy, 2006). A large body of literature has accrued on the potentially etiologic role of several cognitive vulnerabilities that contribute to the onset and maintenance of depression and anxiety in adults.

What are They Thinking? Examining Complex Links Among Social Withdrawal, Maladaptive Cognitions, and Internalizing Problems in Children and Emerging Adults

“…This broad pattern of inter-associations is in keeping with previous assertions that threatening and negative cognitions share both conceptual and methodological overlap (Hong et al, 2017;Mathews et al, 1997). As a result, previous researchers have often grouped maladaptive cognitions into a broad category that included indices of both threatening and negative cognitions (Watts & Weems, 2006), or have failed to control for shared variance between types of cognitions (Eley et al, 2008).…”

“…These inconsistencies in the literature have led to competing interpretations of the findings. For instance, because both anxiety and depression are linked to maladaptive cognitions and share conceptual and empirical overlap , some have argued that these findings reflect a more general, common cognitive style present in both disorders (Hong, Lee, Tsai, & Tan, 2017). Conversely, it has been argued that anxious and depressed individuals do exhibit specificity in their cognitive styles, but that non-specificity emerges as a result of construct and measurement overlap of disorders and cognitive styles (Luebbe et al, 2010).…”

“…In early childhood, there is greater neuroplasticity and capacity to learn new skills, making early identification and prevention efforts particularly effective in prompting long-term change (Hirshfeld-Becker & Biederman, 2002;Luby, 2013;Rapee et al, 2005). Thus, understanding the underlying temperamental and motivational substrates of withdrawn behaviour early in life may be critical for implementing appropriate strategies, potentially preventing or interrupting pathways leading to subsequent internalizing problems (Hong et al, 2017).…”

“…then examined whether SIP styles added unique variance over and above trait affect in predicting internalizing problems. Among the results, it was reported that SIP partially mediated the links between affect and internalizing symptoms Hong et al (2017). similarly reported that negative affectivity at age 7 predicted cognitive vulnerabilities which, in turn, were positively related to internalizing symptoms.In another study,Broeren et al (2011) examined the role of repetitive worry and rumination in the vulnerability for emotional problems in a sample of 8-to 13-year-olds.…”

Becoming more or less mature? The decline of self‐control in middle childhood

“…Participants were parent and child respondents who were recruited for a longitudinal study on middle childhood adjustment in Singapore. Previous research (Hong et al, , ; Hong, Lee, Tsai, & Tan, ) was done based on the same data set, although the current article addresses a novel set of research questions. Details on the recruitment procedure are available in those reports; hence, it is only briefly described here.…”