Adolescence is often characterized by an increase in negative affect and depressive symptoms. Sleep problems are common in depressed adolescents. Previous research indicates that sleep and mood are...Show moreAdolescence is often characterized by an increase in negative affect and depressive symptoms. Sleep problems are common in depressed adolescents. Previous research indicates that sleep and mood are bidirectionally associated. However, the predictive relationship between daily mood and sleep in the next night remains less clear. The current study aimed to compare subjective sleep quality between healthy and depressed adolescents. Secondly, this study aimed to examine whether the daily mood of the adolescents and parents, as well as parent-child interactions, predict sleep quality. A 14-day longitudinal observational study using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was conducted in a sample of depressed (n = 80) and healthy adolescents (n = 35), aged between 11 and 17 years (M = 15.79, SD = 1.46), and their parents (n = 216). 65.6% of the participants were female and 34,4% were male. Participants completed four daily assessments on their mobile phones. The results indicate that adolescents with depression suffer from poorer sleep quality than healthy adolescents (MD = 1.60 (95% CI, 1.39 to 1.82), t(366.88) = 14.48, p < 0.001). Daily positive affect of the adolescent (b = 0.16, t(773.05) = 3.21, p < 0.001) and daily positive affect of the parents (b = 0.18, t(605.26) = 2.57, p = 0.01) were associated with better sleep quality of the adolescents. The effect of adolescent positive affect disappeared when controlling for other variables. Increasing positive affect during the day might consequently improve sleep quality. Interventions should consider the role of the family environment in adolescent sleep.Show less
Adolescence is a sensitive period for the onset of internalizing problems. Previous studies showed that internalizing problems in adolescence may stem from lack of parental warmth and critical...Show moreAdolescence is a sensitive period for the onset of internalizing problems. Previous studies showed that internalizing problems in adolescence may stem from lack of parental warmth and critical parenting. However, most research between parenting and adolescent well-being is based on longitudinal designs, that do not account for the dynamic nature of daily parenting processes and the daily fluctuations in the adolescent affective states. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate to what extent perceived critical parenting and lack of parental warmth of both fathers and mothers are associated with negative affect of adolescents in daily life. Parental attachment was included to investigate the influence of attachment on the link between (negative) parenting behaviour and negative affect. The sample consisted of 80 Dutch adolescents (Mage = 15.90, 63.7% female) who completed ecological momentary assessments for a total of 14 days (4 surveys a day). The multi-level regression models showed that adolescents experienced significantly more negative affect on days when parents showed more criticism or less warmth. In addition, no significant interaction-effect was found between attachment and daily parental criticism from father and mother on adolescent's negative affect. Parental attachment only influences the association between lack of daily parental warmth from fathers and adolescent negative affect. The results showed that daily warmth from father has a stronger positive influence on adolescent negative affect when adolescents had a more secure attachment to their father. In addition, no significant interaction effect was found between attachment with mother and mother's warmth on adolescent's negative affect. These current findings could aid in developing new parental interventions to prevent internalizing problems in adolescents.Show less
The current study aimed to investigate the influence of positive feedback from peers on positive and negative affect in highly socially anxious students. High social anxiety is related to low...Show moreThe current study aimed to investigate the influence of positive feedback from peers on positive and negative affect in highly socially anxious students. High social anxiety is related to low positive affect and high negative affect. Positive affect is considered as a global and unidimensional factor that refers to valence and not to a specific positive emotion, that makes life enjoyable and also contributes in the increase of psychological flexibility and social bonds development. In the present study, 40 university students were asked to perform a speech task and received positive or neutral feedback from two individuals of the same age immediately after the speech. In order to see whether there are changes in positive affect and negative affect, each affect was measured at two time points, session one and session two with a 1-week interval. Results showed that participants who received positive feedback interpreted the feedback more positively than participants who received neutral feedback. There was no significant difference between positive and neutral feedback conditions on the positive affect and negative affect levels. Furthermore, positive affect seemed to decrease from the first to second session regardless of the feedback received, and negative affect was relatively stable. These findings are in contrast to previous findings regarding social anxiety and social feedback with positive valence in social situations. Our results suggest that people with social anxiety do attend to positive social situations but that this does not necessarily influence the way they feel to be more positive.Show less
Aggressive behavior in infants is a predictor of an unfavorable development later in life. Current study investigates the relation between infant aggressive behavior, regulation capacity and...Show moreAggressive behavior in infants is a predictor of an unfavorable development later in life. Current study investigates the relation between infant aggressive behavior, regulation capacity and negative affect, and maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness. The aim of the study was to identify indicators of early infant aggression. 85 Mothers (M = 24.67 years, SD = 2.10) filled in questionnaires concerning infant aggressive behavior and temperament of their 20-month-old infant (M = 19.92 months, SD = 0.76, 54 % boys). Maternal behavior was observed during a Teaching Task. Regression and mediation analyses where conducted. Current study confirms maternal sensitivity and negative affect as predictors of infant aggressive behavior. For infant regulation capacity and intrusive parenting of the mother no predictive value was found. Maternal parenting skills did not mediate the association between infant temperament and aggression. The results suggest that infant negative affect is an important factor in the development of infant aggression and should be involved in future prevention and intervention programs together with stimulating mothers’ sensitive parenting skills.Show less
