Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Background: Theoretical models propose that parenting practices play a role in the development and maintenance of child depression. However, previous meta-analytic findings indicated that parenting...Show moreBackground: Theoretical models propose that parenting practices play a role in the development and maintenance of child depression. However, previous meta-analytic findings indicated that parenting accounted for only 5-11% of the variance in childhood depression, with varying effects for different types of parenting behaviors. Research Question: The current study aimed to investigate the association between observed negative/positive parenting behavior, childhood depression, and child gender, while controlling for the confounding effects of type of informant and assessment approach for childhood depression. Method: Two meta-analysis were conducted for the negative parenting – childhood depression and positive parenting – childhood depression association, while including moderating and confounding variables. The current study included thirty articles in total, with nineteen examining negative parenting behaviors and twenty-three examining positive parenting behaviors. Results: Observed negative parenting behavior was positively and observed positive parenting behavior was negatively related to childhood depression, with overall small effect sizes. Type of parenting behavior, child gender, and assessment approach for childhood depression did not moderate the associations. Type of informant for childhood depression explained some variance in the positive parenting – childhood depression association. Conclusions: Parenting interventions for childhood depression might aim to improve a broader range of parental behaviors. Future research is advised to compare actual to perceived parenting behaviors and investigate the direction of the parenting – childhood depression association, while adopting a multiple levels of analysis perspective. This could possibly contribute towards developing most effective personalized interventions for childhood depression, while lowering the high burden of depression.Show less
Adaptive emotion regulation is crucial in all aspects of life and includes processes through which individuals influence the occurrence, timing, nature, experience, and expression of their emotions...Show moreAdaptive emotion regulation is crucial in all aspects of life and includes processes through which individuals influence the occurrence, timing, nature, experience, and expression of their emotions. The family environment plays an important role in the development of emotion regulation strategies and can affect it through various routes. In this study, we aimed to test the association of parental psychological control (PC) and adolescent cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation strategies. In addition, we investigated if childhood emotional maltreatment (EM) moderated the proposed relationship. It was expected that parental psychological control and emotional maltreatment would both be negatively related to emotion regulation. Additionally, we expected less adaptive emotion regulation strategies in adolescents with high parental psychological control and experiences of childhood emotional maltreatment. The proposed relationships were expected to differ for cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation and for the two different interaction tasks between parents and adolescents. The current sample consisted of 80 healthy adolescents (64% girls) and 137 parents, with the majority having Caucasian heritage (91%). We used a cross-sectional online survey to assess emotional maltreatment and emotion regulation. Psychological control was observed and coded during two on-sight interaction tasks. We analyzed the data with multiple linear regression analyses. None of the proposed associations were found to be significant. Therefore, it remains unclear whether parental psychological control relates to maladaptive adolescent emotion regulation and the extent to which emotional maltreatment may moderate this relationship. However, using data from healthy adolescents might have biased our results. Differences with other studies and implications for future research are discussed.Show less
This study used hierarchical linear modelling to examine parental behaviors such as autonomy support and psychological control and their relation to adolescent attachment. Another goal was to find...Show moreThis study used hierarchical linear modelling to examine parental behaviors such as autonomy support and psychological control and their relation to adolescent attachment. Another goal was to find whether there were differences between mothers and fathers on their display of the investigated behaviors. The present sample consisted of adolescents (N=80) participating with their mothers (N=78) and fathers (N=65) from the Netherlands. Observational ratings of parental autonomy support and psychological control were obtained in mother/father-adolescent dyads performing a problem-solving task. Adolescent attachment was measured by adolescent report, using the parent scale of the revised inventory of parent and peer attachment (IPPA-R) by Raja et al (1992). Analyses indicated that parental autonomy support positively relates to adolescent attachment, while psychological control was not found to relate to adolescent attachment in this sample. Furthermore, results of parental gender differences were inconlusive. This study emphasizes the need to take into account parental behaviors when working with teenagers and the impact parents might have on their children. Further, this study poses important implications for family therapy or social workers, while raising questions for future research.Show less
Adolescence is a time of great psychological change and research highlights the importance of self-esteem in relation to wellbeing. However, it is not clear which parental techniques contribute to...Show moreAdolescence is a time of great psychological change and research highlights the importance of self-esteem in relation to wellbeing. However, it is not clear which parental techniques contribute to high levels of self-esteem. In this research parental behavior strategies are investigated in relation to self-esteem of adolescents. The first aim of the study was to investigate the association between autonomy support and psychological control (AS/PC) and self-esteem in adolescents. Secondly, we explored if the relationship between observed parental behavior and self-esteem was mediated by adolescent gender and/or cognitive emotion regulation skills (CERS). Data from 142 parents and 80 healthy control group adolescents from the larger, ongoing Dutch research project ‘Relations and Emotions in Parent-Adolescent Interaction Research’ (RE-PAIR) were used. Self-esteem and CERS were measured with the Rosenberg self-esteem scale and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that AS/PC did not significantly predict self-esteem in adolescents and no moderating effect of adolescent gender was found. However, we did find a moderating effect from CERS on the relation between AS and self-esteem, with a weaker relation between AS and self-esteem for higher levels of CERS (β = -1.97, p = .002). Further studies are recommended to investigate the underlying mechanisms between parental behavior strategies and self-esteem in adolescents.Show less
Worry and anxiety are associated with an increase in absolute heart rate, while heart rate variability decreases. Low heart rate variability is associated with an active anterior insula. A...Show moreWorry and anxiety are associated with an increase in absolute heart rate, while heart rate variability decreases. Low heart rate variability is associated with an active anterior insula. A hyperactive anterior insula is observed in individuals with anxiety disorders. However, it is not yet known whether a hyperactive anterior insula makes a person vulnerable to developing anxiety disorders or whether the anterior insula becomes hyperactive as a result of the disorder. Therefore, this study aims to investigate these associations in healthy participants. The following research questions were asked, "Is there a correlation between absolute heart rate and trait worry?" and "Is trait worry associated with low heart rate variability?" the same questions are posed in the context of anxiety. Finally, the question "Is trait anxiety associated with a hyperactive insula?" is asked. To examine this, data from the HADS, PSWQ, vectorcardiogram measures of heart rate and the heart rate variability, and the functional connectivity of the salience network from the 30 female participants were used. Results show no significant relationship between absolute heart rate, heart rate variability, and trait worry and anxiety in healthy participants. A significant relationship between the functional connectivity in the anterior insula and trait anxiety was found in our sample (r = .42, p = <.05). The effects of worry and anxiety on cardiac activity are mainly seen in clinically diagnosed individuals under an unpredictable and uncontrollable stressful environment. Our sample were healthy individuals, so symptoms were apparently not severe enough. The effects of trait anxiety are directly reflected in brain connectivity in the anterior insula observed in our analysis. The results can be applied to treatments reducing anxiety and worry.Show less
Background: rumination is both a symptom and predictor of major depressive disorder (MDD). In MDD patients, rumination is correlated with depression severity, and for healthy people rumination is a...Show moreBackground: rumination is both a symptom and predictor of major depressive disorder (MDD). In MDD patients, rumination is correlated with depression severity, and for healthy people rumination is a predictor of the onset and duration of a depressive episode. Recently, rumination was shown to be correlated to functional connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) in the brain. During working memory (WM) tasks, the central executive network (CEN) shows high connectivity and the DMN shows low connectivity, whereas during rest this is the other way around. This ‘switching’ between DMN and CEN connectivity is blunted in MDD patients, but it is still unknown whether this ‘switch’ is affected by acute rumination in healthy participants. The aim of the current study is to determine the effect of acute rumination on the switching between the DMN and the CEN in healthy participants. Methods: 36 healthy females, randomly assigned to the acute-rumination group (n=18) or the no-rumination group (n=18) underwent fMRI assessment during a rest-WM task (alternating rest and WM conditions). Only for the acute-rumination group, an acute rumination phase immediately preceded the rest-WM task. Pearson’s correlation was performed to analyze the correlation between the DMN and the CEN in each participant. A mixed ANOVA was performed to analyze the effects of acute rumination. Results: Negative Pearson correlation coefficients were found between DMN and CEN for both groups. A statistically significant interaction effect was found for network (CEN versus DMN) × condition (rest versus WM). However, no statistically significant main effect was found for group (acute-rumination versus no-rumination). Conclusion: Consistent with previous studies an interaction in the expected direction was found between the DMN and CEN. However, this study does not support the effect of acute rumination on this interaction. The current study contributes to an increased understanding of the effect of rumination, and contributes to research of this prominent symptom of MDD and other psychological disorders.Show less
Childhood emotional neglect (CEN) can lead to problems in parenting. Parents with a history of CEN can have difficulties recognizing and labelling emotions. Our research question is: is a history...Show moreChildhood emotional neglect (CEN) can lead to problems in parenting. Parents with a history of CEN can have difficulties recognizing and labelling emotions. Our research question is: is a history of CEN in parents associated with reduced empathic accuracy (EA) towards their children? Our sample consisted of 74 mothers and 62 fathers (N = 136) and their children. We measured CEN with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) (Bernstein et al., 1998). We measured general EA with a computer task by Aan Het Rot (2014), consisting of videoclips in which persons talked about an emotional experience. Parents rated the emotional valence of the persons continuously. We measured parental EA using a parent-child interaction task that was videotaped. The children rated their emotions and their parents rated their child’s emotions. Results showed no significant association between a history of CEN and general EA. In contrast, parents who reported more CEN significantly underestimated positive and overestimated negative emotions of their child. No significant gender differences were found. In conclusion, the more CEN is reported by parents, the more negatively they interpret the emotional state of their child. We speculate that a parent with a history of CEN is more empathically concerned and worries more excessively over the well-being of their child. This could be a disadvantage in caregiving, it could lead to overprotection of the child, which is not good for a child’s self-confidence. Future research could investigate whether children are more prone to depression when their parents interpret their emotions more negatively.Show less
Over the years, parental behaviors were proved to influence children’s mental health. Rejection constitutes one of the main behaviors that affect the socioemotional adjustment of the child....Show moreOver the years, parental behaviors were proved to influence children’s mental health. Rejection constitutes one of the main behaviors that affect the socioemotional adjustment of the child. Existing literature suggests that low educated parents are more rejecting, while their children show higher levels of internalizing problems compared to their peers. Even though parents constitute the most significant others of the child, as children grow older, they become more functionally autonomous. In the current study, three analyses were conducted to examine the correlation between parental rejection and internalizing problems exclusively in observed parent-child interactions (k = 20, N = 3.689), parental educational level as a confounder of the latter correlation (k = 12, N = 1.579) and children’s age as a possible moderator (k = 19, N = 2.613). Results show positive effects for the correlation between rejection and internalizing problems (ES = .11). Both moderator analyses were insignificant. In the future, it is necessary to examine the individual effect of parental educational level on rejecting behaviors and internalizing problems. More studies are needed to examine whether the strength of the correlation between parental rejection and internalizing problems alters based on diverse developmental stages of the child.Show less
Mostly based on the theoretical framework regarding the depression-distortion hypothesis, the aim of this study was to answer the following research question: ‘To what extent is the severity of the...Show moreMostly based on the theoretical framework regarding the depression-distortion hypothesis, the aim of this study was to answer the following research question: ‘To what extent is the severity of the adolescents’ depressive symptoms associated with discrepancies between adolescents and their parents, regarding their perceptions of parental behaviors during different interaction tasks?’. In order to answer this question, the participants of this study were divided into three groups of families (consisting of one adolescent and at least one parent). The distribution of these groups was based on the depression severity score of the adolescent as measured by the PHQ-9 (low, mild and moderate to severe). The families in each of these groups participated in three interaction tasks (i.e., a problem solving task, an event planning task and a reminiscence task). After participating in each of these tasks, the adolescents and their parent(s) both separately completed the same questionnaire regarding parental behavior during the task (listening skills, empathy, criticism and dominance). Subsequently, the groups of adolescents and their parent(s) were compared, based on their evaluations of parental behavior during the tasks. The results of these comparisons showed no significant associations between the severity of the adolescents’ depressive symptoms and their as well as their parent(s)’ perception on parental behavior during the tasks. In addition, there was no significant association between the severity of the adolescents’ depressive symptoms and parent-adolescent discrepancies regarding the evaluation of parental behavior during the tasks. This implicates that the results of this study are rather discrepant with the theoretical framework regarding the depression-distortion hypothesis.Show less
