ArticlePDF Available

Linking Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs to developmental psychopathology: The role of self-regulation and emotion knowledge in the development of internalizing and externalizing growth trajectories from ages 3 to 10

Authors:

Abstract and Figures

Identifying Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs in early childhood is essential for understanding etiological pathways of psychopathology. Our central goal was to identify early emotion knowledge and self-regulation difficulties across different RDoC domains and examine how they relate to typical versus atypical symptom trajectories between ages 3 and 10. Particularly, we assessed potential contributions of children's gender, executive control, delay of gratification, and regulation of frustration, emotion recognition, and emotion understanding at age 3 to co-occurring patterns of internalizing and externalizing across development. A total of 238 3-year-old boys and girls were assessed using behavioral tasks and parent reports and reassessed at ages 5 and 10 years. Results indicated that very few children developed “pure” internalizing or externalizing symptoms relative to various levels of co-occurring symptoms across development. Four classes of co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems were identified: low, low-moderate, rising, and severe-decreasing trajectories. Three-year-old children with poor executive control but high emotion understanding were far more likely to show severe-decreasing than low/low-moderate class co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptom patterns. Child gender and poor executive control differentiated children in rising versus low trajectories. Implications for early intervention targeting self-regulation of executive control are discussed.
Content may be subject to copyright.
Regular Article
Linking Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs to
developmental psychopathology: The role of self-regulation
and emotion knowledge in the development of internalizing
and externalizing growth trajectories from ages 3 to 10
Ka I Ip1, Jennifer M. Jester2, Arnold Sameroff1and Sheryl L. Olson1
1
Department of Psychology and
2
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Abstract
Identifying Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs in early childhood is essential for understanding etiological pathways of psycho-
pathology. Our central goal was to identify early emotion knowledge and self-regulation difficulties across different RDoC domains and
examine how they relate to typical versus atypical symptom trajectories between ages 3 and 10. Particularly, we assessed potential contri-
butions of childrens gender, executive control, delay of gratification, and regulation of frustration, emotion recognition, and emotion under-
standing at age 3 to co-occurring patterns of internalizing and externalizing across development. A total of 238 3-year-old boys and girls
were assessed using behavioral tasks and parent reports and reassessed at ages 5 and 10 years. Results indicated that very few children devel-
oped pureinternalizing or externalizing symptoms relative to various levels of co-occurring symptoms across development. Four classes of
co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems were identified: low, low-moderate, rising, and severe-decreasing trajectories. Three-
year-old children with poor executive control but high emotion understanding were far more likely to show severe-decreasing than low/
low-moderate class co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptom patterns. Child gender and poor executive control differentiated
children in rising versus low trajectories. Implications for early intervention targeting self-regulation of executive control are discussed.
Keywords: emotion knowledge, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, preschool; RDoC, self-regulation
(Received 1 September 2017; revised 24 June 2018; accepted 24 August 2018)
A substantial body of research has highlighted the importance of
examining early behavioral and emotional difficulties in early
childhood that precede and predict myriad adverse developmental
outcomes (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Eggum, 2010; Gilliom & Shaw,
2004; Olson, Choe, & Sameroff, 2017). From a developmental
psychopathology perspective, identifying early childhood factors
that influence the developmental trajectories of internalizing
and externalizing symptoms is essential to elucidating etiological
pathways to psychopathology (Gilliom & Shaw, 2004). To achieve
this goal, however, we need a conceptual framework that system-
atically guides the selection of multiple risk factors, from cogni-
tive, affective, and social processes, that may underlie the
development of psychopathology across different symptom cate-
gories and levels of severity (Cuthbert, 2014; Insel, 2014).
The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC; www.nimh.nih.gov/
research-priorities/rdoc/index.shtml) project launched by the
National Institute of Mental Health has been championed as a
systematic framework for linking symptoms (e.g., internalizing
and externalizing), across the normal to abnormal range, to bio-
logical and psychosocial mechanisms underlying psychopathol-
ogy (Insel et al., 2010). In particular, five major domains of
functioning have been proposed as a workable RDoC matrix: neg-
ative valence systems (i.e., processes that respond to aversive situ-
ations), positive valence systems (i.e., processes that respond to
rewards), cognitive systems, systems for social processes, and
arousal/regulatory systems (Cuthbert, 2014). The RDoC perspec-
tive posits that pinpointing associations between symptoms and
behavioral and neurobiological constructs across domains will
inform future revisions of our diagnostic systems and, more
important, inform design of novel strategies to treat and prevent
psychopathology (Insel, 2014).
Despite almost decade-long efforts since the initiation of the
RDoC project (Sanislow et al., 2010), it is still in the initial
stage of integrating the critical role of early development and
understanding how developmental processes may contribute to
psychopathology over time (Franklin, Jamieson, Glenn, & Nock,
2015; Insel, 2014). Indeed, a central goal of RDoC is to under-
stand the neurodevelopmental origins of psychopathology
(Morris & Cuthbert, 2012). One challenge that impedes this
Address for correspondence: Ka I Ip, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109. E-mail:
kaip@umich.edu.
© Cambridge University Press 2019
Cite this article: Ip KI, Jester JM, Sameroff A, Olson SL (2019). Linking Research
Domain Criteria (RDoC) constructs to developmental psychopathology: The role of
self-regulation and emotion knowledge in the development of internalizing and external-
izing growth trajectories from ages 3 to 10. Development and Psychopathology 118.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579418001323
Development and Psychopathology (2019), 118
doi:10.1017/S0954579418001323
endeavor is the lack of establishment of observable RDoC con-
structs in early childhood and observes how they relate to the
development of psychopathology over time using a prospective
longitudinal design. Whereas the RDoC project has been an advo-
cate for using multiple units of analyses (i.e., molecular, genetic,
neural circuitry, behavioral) to understand psychopathological
processes, in practice, RDoC tends to place a stronger emphasis
on neurobiology (Franklin et al., 2015). To develop preventive
interventions that can target dysfunctional processes underlying
psychopathology, it is essential to first identify and establish
behavioral constructs from multiple functional domains.
Second, these behavioral constructs need to differentiate typical
versus atypical developmental pathways leading to entrenched
psychopathology. In this way, we can understand which specific
behavioral risk construct(s) to target through early intervention
and to examine through multilevel analyses. Accordingly, the cen-
tral goal of our study was to identify behavioral constructs
(described in a subsequent section) in early childhood across dif-
ferent RDoC domains based on existing literatures. We then
examined how these constructs predicted typical versus atypical
symptom trajectories between ages 3 and 10.
At the same time, developmental psychopathology research-
ers have pioneered using dimensional and person-centered
approaches to examine growth trajectories of symptom develop-
ment, but most studies have focused on either internalizing or
externalizing symptom trajectories (Broeren, Muris, Diamanto-
poulou, & Baker, 2013; Broidy et al., 2003; Feng, Shaw, & Silk,
2008; Miner & Clarke-Stewart, 2008; Sterba, Prinstein, & Cox,
2007); relatively few have simultaneously examined the codevel-
opment of both trajectories using growth curve analyses, espe-
cially beginning in early childhood (see Fanti & Henrich, 2010;
Wiggins, Mitchell, Hyde, & Monk, 2015 for exception). Based
on these findings, one may assume that internalizing and exter-
nalizing pathways are independent developmental pathways, and
that it is common for children to develop pureinternalizing
(characterized with high internalizing but low externalizing) or
pureexternalizing (characterized with high externalizing but
low internalizing) symptoms across development. Hence, separate
efforts have been made to understand risk factors that contribute
to internalizing or externalizing trajectories. On the other hand,
epidemiological research has shown that the prevalence of
co-occurring symptoms is high (Achenbach, 1991; Angold,
Costello, & Erkanli, 1999), even in community samples (Beyers
& Loeber, 2003). Similarly, attempts to identify children with
pure levels of internalizing/externalizing symptom trajectories
from early childhood have found that the prevalence rate is low
(2%) relative to children with some levels of co-occurring symp-
toms (Fanti & Henrich, 2010). Driven by the need to better
understand the nature of symptom development, we initially
examined the prevalence of pureand co-occurringinternaliz-
ing and externalizing symptom trajectories. Our first goal was to
identify models that best represent the nature of symptom trajec-
tories (i.e., pure vs. co-occurring) from the preschool years
through middle childhood.
In what follows, we briefly describe the nature of internalizing
and externalizing trajectories based on prior growth curve studies.
Next, we describe four behavioral constructs in the context of
early childhood across different RDoC domains: regulation of
frustration, executive control, delay gratification, and emotion
knowledge. Our overarching goal was to determine how these
constructs may be related to individual differences in the develop-
ment of internalizing and externalizing symptom patterns.
Internalizing and externalizing trajectories
Using latent class growth analysis (LCGA; Muthén & Muthén,
2012), a person-centered approach, investigators have typically
identified three to four externalizing trajectory groups using dif-
ferent samples: a normative group with stable low levels of prob-
lems, an intermediate group with either increasing or decreasing
problems, and a severe group with stable high problems (Bongers,
Koot, Van Der Ende, & Verhulst, 2004; Broidy et al., 2003; Miner
& Clarke-Stewart, 2008; Proctor, Skriner, Roesch, & Litrownik,
2010; Shaw, Hyde, & Brennan, 2012). Most prior studies have
focused on school-age children who have been assessed by single
(maternal) informants, with some noteworthy exceptions (e.g.,
Miner & Clarke-Stewart, 2008; NICHD Early Child Care
Research Network, 2004; Shaw et al., 2012).
To our knowledge, only three studies identified internalizing
symptom trajectories using data before school entry (Broeren
et al., 2013; Feng et al., 2008; Sterba et al., 2007), with inconsistent
findings concerning the number and composition of the growth
pathways. A large normative group with low-decreasing internal-
izing symptoms and a small severe group with high-stable or
high-increasing symptoms have consistently been identified, but
the nature of intermediate trajectories has been mixed (Broeren
et al., 2013; Feng et al., 2008; Sterba et al., 2007).
Moreover, externalizing and internalizing problems often
co-occur (Achenbach, 1991; Angold et al., 1999) and symptoms
from one domain tend to precede and predict symptoms from
the other (Capaldi, 1992; Gilliom & Shaw, 2004; Trim, Meehan,
King, & Chassin, 2007). This may be due in part to the modest
positive associations between internalizing and externalizing tra-
jectories, and that the two domains have shown similar rates of
change between early childhood through school entry (Gilliom
& Shaw, 2004) and between school entry through early adoles-
cence (Keiley, Bates, Dodge, & Pettit, 2000). Delineating classes
of individuals based on internalizing and externalizing symptoms
independently may therefore create biased estimates because
models neglect the covariance with the construct not in the
model. Taken together, these findings highlight the desirability
of using a person-oriented approach to understand the
co-development of symptom trajectories (Fanti & Henrich,
2010; Wiggins et al., 2015).
Co-development of internalizing and externalizing
trajectories
To our knowledge, only two prior studies have used person-
centered approaches to examine the co-development of internal-
izing and externalizing symptom trajectories from the preschool
years, with different analytical techniques. Fanti and Henrich
(2010) identified 11 classes of co-occurring symptom trajectories
between ages 2 and 12. Using latent class growth analysis, the
authors first identified separate trajectories of internalizing and
externalizing symptoms, then calculated the joint probabilities
between the two trajectories. This modeling technique permits
researchers to identify pure or co-occurring internalizing/exter-
nalizing trajectories. As Wiggins et al. (2015) have pointed out,
however, this approach might run the risk of identifying nonexist-
ing joint classes, or classes with too few subjects, limiting statisti-
cal inferences.
Alternatively, parallel-process LCGA modeling (Wiggins et al.,
2015) permits researchers to examine concurrent relationships
between change in internalizing and externalizing symptoms by
2 K. I. Ip et al.
simultaneously estimating two sets of intercepts and slopes (one
set for each repeated measure variable), and the covariance
among the intercepts and slopes. Using this data-driven approach,
Wiggins et al. (2015) identified three classes using a male-only
sample between ages 3 and 9 years: (a) a normative class with
low and declining levels of internalizing and externalizing symp-
toms; (b) a moderate class with initially medium but decreasing
internalizing symptoms and initially high but rapidly decreasing
externalizing symptoms; and (c) a severe class with initially mod-
erate but increasing internalizing symptoms and initially high but
slightly decreasing externalizing symptoms. Using the same
approach, Hinnant & El-Sheikh (2013) identified three similar
symptom classes using both genders between middle and late
childhood, supporting the generalizability of Wiggins et al.s
findings.
To our knowledge, no investigators have used this approach to
examine both boysand girlsdevelopmental trajectories starting
in early childhood. Developmentally, externalizing symptoms typ-
ically peak at around age 3 and then steadily decline across the
school-age years (Tremblay, 2010). Boys tend to show higher lev-
els of externalizing problems earlier in childhood, whereas girls
tend to develop more internalizing problems in adolescence
(e.g., Hankin, Wetter, & Cheely, 2008; Zahn-Waxler, Shirtcliff,
& Marceau, 2008). To fully capture the developmental course of
co-occurring behavioral symptoms and the generalizability of
these trajectories across genders, we need longitudinal studies
that begin in early childhood and include both boys and girls.
Identify behavioral constructs across RDoC domains in the
context of early development
To establish the validity of RDoC constructs in early childhood, it
is crucial to understand them in the context of development
(Franklin, Jamieson, Glenn, & Nock, 2015). Toddlerhood marks
a major period of growth in physical, cognitive, and social abili-
ties: instead of solely relying on extrinsic caregivers input or
intrinsic reactive control, preschoolers begin to develop reflective
self-regulatory skills to modulate their behaviors and emotions in
relation to situational demands (Eisenberg et al., 2004). They also
begin to recognize emotional expressions and understand emo-
tional and behavioral cues of others, which may in turn facilitate
self-regulation (Denham et al., 2012). Self-regulation processes
play a central role in developmental psychopathology (Nigg,
2017; Posner & Rothbart, 2000); therefore, vulnerabilities in self-
regulatory skills and emotion knowledge in early childhood may
place a child at risk for the onset of internalizing and externalizing
pathways. Using the RDoC framework, we propose four con-
structs across different domains that are central to toddlers self-
regulatory and behavioral development.
Negative valence systems: Regulation of frustration
Regulation of frustration refers to the ability to modulate or
adjust the intensity or valence of ones affective responses to
[frustration] in situational challenges(Cole, Martin, & Dennis,
2004), and could be classified in the RDoC domain of negative
valence systems. Negative emotionality, especially proneness to
anger and frustration, has been consistently identified as a
major risk factor for the development/co-development of inter-
nalizing and externalizing problems (Cole, Zahn-Waxler, Fox,
Usher, & Welsh, 1996; Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser,
2000; Gilliom & Shaw, 2004; Rothbart, Posner, & Kieras, 2006).
Over-and-under modulation of negative emotions in response
to situational challenges may foster negative consequences, such
as peer rejection and rule violation (Denham et al., 2003), leading
to the development of internalizing and externalizing problems
(e.g., Cole, Bruschi, & Tamang, 2002; Cole et al., 1996). Indeed,
a variety of early childhood internalizing and externalizing disor-
ders may arise, in part from difficulties in the ability to regulate
anger and tolerate frustration (Calkins, 2009; Hill, Degnan,
Calkins, & Keane, 2006). For example, regulation of negative emo-
tion resulting from frustration at age 2 differentiated girls with
borderline-clinical but declining levels of externalizing behaviors
from those who displayed chronic and clinical behavioral prob-
lems across the preschool period (Hill et al., 2006). Similarly, dys-
regulation of negative emotion among school-aged children was
related to concurrent internalizing and externalizing symptoms
and indirectly related to later symptoms at 1-yr follow-up (Kim
& Cicchetti, 2010).
Cognitive systems: Executive control (cooleffortful
control)
Effortful control (EC), a temperament construct that refers to the
childs ability to regulate attention and behavior impulses
(Rothbart et al., 2006), has consistently been found to be critical
to childrens long-term behavioral adjustment, especially control
of aggressive and disruptive behaviors (Eiden, Colder, Edwards,
& Leonard, 2009a; Eisenberg et al., 2009,2010; Olson, Choe, &
Sameroff, 2017). Child EC has also been linked to the develop-
ment of internalizing problems (Eisenberg et al., 2009; Lengua,
2006; Oldehinkel, Hartman, Ferdinand, Verhulst, & Ormel,
2007), albeit with mixed findings. For instance, Dennis,
Brotman, Huang, and Gouley (2007) found that EC was nega-
tively associated with childrens internalizing problems at age 4
but not at ages 5 or 6. Similarly, Eisenberg et al. (2005) found
that childrens attentional control (but not inhibitory control)
was negatively related to internalizing problems between ages 5
to 7, but not 2 years later.
These inconsistent findings may be in part reflect the way that
EC has been defined and measured (Nigg, 2017). A refined model
of EC has been proposed to capture two distinct but related pro-
cesses: executive control (coolEC) and delay of gratification
(hotEC) (Kim, Nordling, Yoon, Boldt, & Kochanska, 2013;
Sturge-Apple, Davies, Cicchetti, Hentges, & Coe, 2017). For the
sake of clarity, we used the term executive controlinstead of
coolEC to refer to the ability to deploy attention and inhibit
responses to stimuli that are neutral, decontextualized and
abstract(Sturge-Apple et al., 2017). Executive control tasks assess
behavioral inhibition (e.g., walking a line slowly) and cognitive
inhibition and sustained attention (e.g., Stroop-like tasks),
which have no specific extrinsic and proximal rewards associated
with performance. Given this conceptualization, executive control
could be classified in the RDoC domain of cognitive systems.
Positive valence systems: Delay of gratification (hotEC)
In contrast, delay of gratification refers to the ability to delay
hedonically attractive rewards (e.g., snack delay; Mischel, Shoda,
& Peake, 1988) and is conceptualized as an affectively charged
domain of EC in which tasks elicit approach motivation through
the offering of a potential prize or enhanced reward associated
with decision making(Sturge-Apple et al., 2017). Delay of grat-
ification in the preschool years predicted adults inhibition of
Development and Psychopathology 3
positive compelling cues (e.g., happy faces) in both behavioral and
neural levels (Casey et al., 2011), suggesting that delay of gratifica-
tion could be classified in the RDoC domain of positive valence
systems.
Supporting the functional utility of differentiating executive
control and delay of gratification within the EC construct, Kim
et al. (2013) found that preschoolersdelay gratification and exec-
utive control skills were distinctly associated with later behavior
problems and academic performance, respectively. Poor delay of
gratification in the preschool years was also related to changes
in boysanxiety symptom trajectories over time (Feng et al., 2008).
Systems for social processes: Emotion knowledge
Emotion knowledge (EK) refers to the ability to understand emo-
tion expressions, behavioral cues, and social contexts (Denham
et al., 2003). EK plays a key role in social competence and aca-
demic success (Denham et al., 2003,2012; Schultz, Izard,
Ackerman, & Youngstrom, 2001). For instance, preschoolers
with greater EK exhibit more prosocial behaviors toward peers,
are rated more likeable among peers and more socially competent
by teachers, and improve school readiness (Denham, Bassett,
Brown, Way, & Steed, 2015; Denham et al., 2012). In contrast,
the role of EK in the development of childrens internalizing
and externalizing problems has been unclear and understudied,
especially among young children (Trentacosta & Fine, 2010). In
community samples, preschoolers with deficits in EK were more
aggressive than others in kindergarten (Denham et al., 2002),
yet other studies have failed to find this relation (e.g., Izard
et al., 2001). In addition, one study showed that childrensEK
(about situations that elicit happiness, sadness, surprise, and
fear) was associated with higher risk of peer victimization
(Garner & Lemerise, 2007). There are several possible explana-
tions for these inconsistent findings. First, Bassett, Denham,
Mincic, & Graling (2012) suggested that EK is a complex
multidimensional construct with distinct subprocesses: emotion
recognition of emotion expressions, and situational-based (i.e.,
stereotypical and non-stereotypical context) emotion understand-
ing (Bassett et al., 2012). It is therefore possible that distinct EK
processes are uniquely related to development of different symp-
toms (e.g., Heinze, Miller, Seifer, Dickstein, & Locke, 2015).
Second, reciprocal associations were found between childrens
self-regulation and EK (Denham et al., 2012; Di Maggio,
Zappulla, & Pace, 2016), suggesting the need to examine self-
regulation and EK simultaneously to understand their unique
contributions on the development (or co-development) of inter-
nalizing and externalizing problems.
The current study
Based on developmental psychopathology and transdiagnostic
perspectives, self-regulation deficits across multiple domains
(i.e., regulation of frustration, executive control, and delay of grat-
ification) and EK (i.e., recognition and understanding) may con-
tribute to the development (or co-development) of internalizing
and externalizing symptom trajectories. To our knowledge, how-
ever, no previous investigators have simultaneously examined the
predictive role of all these constructs on the development (or
co-development) of internalizing and externalizing growth trajec-
tories longitudinally.
Aim 1
Our initial objective was to examine the prevalence of pure
and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptom trajec-
tories using two available analytical techniques: joint-class LCGA
(Fanti & Henrich, 2010) and parallel-process LCGA models
(Wiggins et al., 2015). The goal was to identify models that best
represent the nature of symptom trajectories (i.e., pure vs.
co-occurring) in our sample and to identify homogenous groups
of children manifesting distinct trajectories of co-occurring inter-
nalizing and externalizing symptoms from preschool through
middle childhood. Consistent with findings from a recent study
(Wiggins et al., 2015), we hypothesized that at least three trajec-
tories of co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptoms
would be identified: low, moderate, and severe classes (no specific
number of trajectories was hypothesized because prior research
included boys only).
Aim 2
To corroborate previous findings that self-regulation (Kim et al.,
2013) and EK (Bassett et al., 2012) are multifaceted, and to exam-
ine whether measures of these constructs can be subdivided into
different RDoC domains, we used a data-driven approach to
identify distinct self-regulatory and EK constructs. Particularly,
principal component analysis (PCA) was used to examine the fac-
tor structures childs EC, regulation of frustration, and EK.
Assessments of each of these were laboratory-based and parent-
reported measures that have been well-validated and widely
used in early childhood literatures.
Aim 3
Our primary goal was to identify specific EK and self-regulatory
antecedents of childrens co-occurring symptom trajectories. In
particular, we use multinomial logistic regressions to examine the
predictive role of preschool-aged self-regulatory and EK constructs
(identified from Aim 2) on class membership (identified from Aim
1). Socioeconomic status (SES) and general intelligence (IQ) at
age 3 were controlled as covariates. Given that poor EC has consis-
tently been linked to externalizing problems (Eisenberg et al., 2009;
Olson et al., 2017), whereas poor regulation of frustration has been
linked to both internalizing and externalizing problems (Cole, Hall,
& Hajal, 2008; Cole et al., 1996; Feng et al., 2008;Hilletal.,2006;
Kim & Cicchetti, 2010), we hypothesized that young children at
greatest risk for persistent co-occurring internalizing and external-
izing problems might have deficits in self-regulation processes
marked by poor EC and regulation of frustration. No hypothesis
was made regarding whether specific subcomponents of EC (i.e.,
executive control and delay gratification) would predict different
symptom trajectories because of insufficient evidence. Given the
inconclusive findings regarding EK, we did not have a strong
hypothesis but expected that deficits in EK would contribute to
atypical symptom development, but no hypothesis was made con-
cerning contributions of specific subcomponents of EK (i.e., emo-
tion recognition and situational-based understanding) to the
development of childrens behavior problems.
Aim 4
Given that gender differences in levels of early onset externalizing
problems have been consistently reported (e.g., Keenan et al.,
4 K. I. Ip et al.
2011; Zahn-Waxler et al., 2008), we also examined the role of gen-
der in the co-development of internalizing and externalizing
symptoms.
Method
Participants
Participants were 238 children (48% girls) and their mothers and
a subsample of fathers (63%) who were enrolled in a larger ongo-
ing multiwave study that tracked the development of childrens
behavioral problems starting at age 3 (Olson, S. L., Sameroff, A. J.,
Kerr, D. C., Lopez, N. L., & Wellman, H. M., 2005). Three chil-
dren were excluded from the total sample of 241 in the present
study because the mothers and fathers of these children did not
complete the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 2-3 (CBCL 2-3;
Achenbach, 1992) at Wave 1. Families were recruited using
local and regional newspaper ads, fliers posted at daycare centers
and preschools, and referrals by preschool teachers and pediatri-
cians. Because of the initial design of the study, children were
recruited to represent the full range of externalizing and internal-
izing problems scale of the mother-reported CBCL 2-3, with an
oversampling of toddlers in the moderate to high range of exter-
nalizing problems (T > 50 = 44.5%), whereas internalizing prob-
lems were allowed to vary and toddlers internalizing problems
varied from the low to high range (T > 50 = 34%).
In the present study, we used data from Waves 1 (n= 238), 2
(n= 228), and 3 (n= 209) in which target children were at ages
2.54 (mean [Μ] = 3.14 years, standard deviation [SD] = .23), 5
6(Μ= 5.28 years, SD = .23), and 811 (M= 10.42 years,
SD = .63), respectively. Among target children, 86% were non-
Hispanic European American and 14% were of other racial
ethnic backgrounds (e.g., African American, biracial). A total
of 89% of mothers reported being married, 5% single, 3%
living with a partner, and 3% separated or divorced; approxi-
mately 6% were in blended or stepfamilies. A total of 92% of
households had at least two adults living with the target child,
whereas 8% of households had a single, separated, or divorced
parent.
During recruitment from 1999 to 2001, 43% of mothers and
32% of fathers reported a bachelors degree as their highest level
of education, and another 39% of mothers and 46% of fathers
reported some graduate or professional training. Approximately
14% of mothers and 10% of fathers reported partial college expe-
rience or specialized training, and about 4% of mothers and 11%
of fathers reported a high school diploma as their highest level of
education (one mother and three fathers reported partial high
school completion up to tenth or eleventh grade).
Family SES scores ranged from 22 to 66 (M= 54.44, SD =
10.83), representing the top four of five social strata in the
Hollingshead system. Most families (87%) resided in the two
highest social strata. Average annual family income at recruit-
ment was between $60,000 and $70,000, although incomes
ranged from $10,000 to >$100,000. This primarily middle-class
sample allowed us to study the predictive role of early self-
regulation and EK on school-age internalizing and externalizing
problems with minimal confounds of severe environmental
adversity. Additionally, children with serious chronic health
problems, mental retardation, and/or pervasive developmental
disorders were not included in the study. See Olson and col-
leagues (2005) for more details description of the study sample
and study procedure.
Measures
SES
At Wave 1, mothers reported background information about
themselves and family members. The Hollingshead (1975)
Four-Factor Index of SES was calculated for each family.
Child internalizing and externalizing symptoms
Parents rated childrens internalizing (INT) and externalizing
behavior(EXT using the CBCL 2-3 at T1 (Achenbach, 1992)
and the CBCL 6-18 at T2 and T3 (Achenbach & Rescorla,
2001). Because different versions of CBCL (CBCL 2-3/CBCL
6-18) have different items to reflect internalizing and externaliz-
ing symptoms at different developmental stages, T scores were
used in all waves. Using T scores also enabled us to identify sub-
groups of children at highest risk based on clinically significant
cutoff scores (T score >60). To obtain a more objective measure
of symptoms, we averaged across maternal and paternal measures
when available. There were no significant differences on child
mean CBCL internalizing and externalizing between families
that had only maternal data and those had both parentsreports.
General cognitive functioning (IQ)
Childrens general cognitive functioning measured at age 3 was
estimated by aggregating scaled scores on the Block Design (α=
.84) and Vocabulary (α= .85) subtests of Wechslers Preschool
and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (Wechsler, 1989).
EC. Individual differences in EC were assessed using behavioral
tasks and maternal ratings.
Maternal rating of EC. At Wave 1, the two most theoretically and
empirically salient components of EC (Rothbart & Bates, 2006)
were assessed using the inhibitory control (α= .77) and atten-
tional focusing (α= 0.85) subscales of Rothbarts Child Behavior
Questionnaire (CBQ; Ahadi, Rothbart, & Ye, 1993), rated by
mothers. Higher scores indicated better performances.
Behavioral assessment of EC. At Wave 1, the general construct of
EC was tapped with five tasks from Kochanska, Murray, Jacques,
Koenig, and Vandegeest (1996)s toddler-age behavioral battery:
Snack Delay, Tongue, Tower, Turtle and Rabbit, and Gift Wrap
administered in that order. In Snack Delay, the child was
instructed to wait while the examiner rang a bell before retrieving
a piece of candy from under a glass cup. In the Tongue task, the
child was instructed to wait with a piece of candy on his or her
tongue until the examiner rang a bell before eating it. In the
Tower task, the child was asked to take turns with the examiner
while building a block tower using 20 blocks. In the Turtle and
Rabbit game, the child was asked to move a same-sex doll (base-
line), a fast rabbit, and a slow turtle along a curving path mounted
on a piece of poster board. In the Gift Wrap task, the child was
asked to sit in a chair facing away from the table where the exam-
iner noisily wrapped a gift for him or her (60 s). The examiner
asked the child not to look, so that the examiner could wrap up
the surprise.Next, the wrapped gift was placed near the child,
who was asked to wait while the examiner searched for a bow
(120 s). Composite scores of frequencies of peeking and verbal
references to the gift were used in the analyses.
We also included Animal Pegs from the Wechsler Preschool
and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised to measure effortful
attention. All tasks were introduced as games,and children
Development and Psychopathology 5
were reminded of the rules midway through each. Reliability was
excellent, κ= .95. Higher scores indicated better performances.
Regulation of frustration
At Wave 1, regulation of frustration was assessed using an adapted
version of the disappointment paradigm developed by Cole,
Zahn-Waxler, and Smith (1994). We assessed childrens regula-
tion of frustration based on both affective codes (i.e., expressed
anger and expressed sadness) and behavioral codes (i.e., active
regulation and passive regulation). Coding cues for sadness,
defined as glumness or tearfulness, included downward lip cor-
ners, raised inner brows, and protruding lower lip. Anger was
defined as hostility, irritation, annoyance, or harshness, and its
coding cues included tightened lips, tightened and narrow eyelids,
and clenched teeth. Coding cues for active regulation included
playing with the toy, talking about prize in a positive manner,
and appropriate eye contact. Passive regulation was coded if min-
imal regulation and neutral interaction with both the experi-
menter and toy observed (i.e., a faint thank you,asking
neutral questions about the toy). Frequencies of affective and
behavioral codes were coded every 10 s for each participant (κ
for inter-rater reliability ranged from .75 to .84 for all combina-
tions of coders). Affective and behavioral codes in response to
receiving a disappointing toy was subtracted from baseline levels
(assessed before the toy was presented) to index regulation of
these emotions and behaviors. All scores were transformed into
z-scores for use in all analyses. Higher values indicated higher lev-
els of expressed emotion (i.e., more expressed sadness and anger)
and more behavioral regulation.
EK
At Wave 1, Denham (1986)s Affect Knowledge Test (AKT) was
used to assess childrens EK. The measure included two parts: a
labeling subtest and a situation knowledge subtest. For the label-
ing subtest, children were asked to reference and identify four
line-drawn faces: happy,”“sad,”“angry,and fearfulfaces by
naming them (expressive knowledge), and then by pointing to
them (receptive knowledge). For the situation knowledge subtest,
an experimenter performed 10 vignettes with a puppet ( gender-
matched to the child), while providing vocal and facial cues to
indicate the puppets emotional reaction to each situation. For
four of the stereotypical vignettes, the puppet exhibited an emo-
tion typical of how most children would feel in a similar situation
(e.g., acting frightened after having a nightmare); for the other six
non-stereotypical vignettes, the puppet emoted contrary to the
way the child would feel in a similar situation, as reported by
the childs mother. Denham (1986) reported that these tasks pos-
sess good internal reliability (for labeling subtest: α= .89; for sit-
uation knowledge subtest: α= .93). Four separate scores (i.e.,
expressive knowledge, receptive knowledge, stereotypical situa-
tional knowledge, non-stereotypical situational knowledge) were
computed and transformed into z-scores. Higher values indicated
better performance.
Data analysis plan
Aim 1: To identify pure and co-occurring internalizing and
externalizing trajectories across preschool years through
pre-adolescence
First, two LCGA models (one for internalizing and one for exter-
nalizing symptoms) were conducted with Mplus 7.31 (Muthén &
Muthén, 2012) to identify internalizing and externalizing
trajectories separately. Following established procedures (Jung &
Wickrama, 2008), we estimated models with one to six classes
using LGCA to specify distinct classes in both constructs sepa-
rately. After that, the joint frequencies of being in both types of
classes were calculated based on the identified classes in each
construct (Fanti & Henrich, 2010). This method of examining tra-
jectories of externalizing symptoms, regardless of internalizing
symptoms, and vice versa, then calculating the joint frequencies,
allowed us to examine the prevalence of pure internalizing (char-
acterized with high internalizing but low externalizing symptoms)
or externalizing (characterized with high internalizing but low
externalizing symptoms) trajectories across early childhood and
pre-adolescence without the influences of the other symptom
domain. This method is limited however because (a) the two
symptom domains are highly correlated (Wave 1: r= .71; Wave
2: r=.52; Wave 3: r= .62; all p< .000), hence, the variance (and
co-variance) matrix of the growth factors may be biased if the
model doesnt estimate one symptom domain in the presence of
the other; (b) nonexisting joint classes (or classes with very few
cases) may be identified (see Fanti & Henrich, 2010); and (c)
identified joint classes may encompass more than one homoge-
nous subgroup (Wiggins et al., 2015). To overcome these short-
comings, we then conducted a parallel-process LCGA model to
identify individuals internalizing and externalizing trajectories
based on simultaneous consideration of internalizing and exter-
nalizing growth factors (Hinnant & El-Sheikh, 2013; Wiggins
et al., 2015). In particular, class memberships are estimated and
assigned based on individualsinitial levels (intercepts) and
changes (slopes) in both internalizing and externalizing symp-
toms concurrently (Wu et al., 2010). Parallel-process LCGA mod-
els with one to six classes are conducted to specify distinct classes
in both constructs concurrently. We chose the best fitting of each
of the models based on a comprehensive review of multiple fit
indexes: Akaike information criteria, Bayesian Information
Criteria (BIC), sample size-adjusted BIC, entropy, Vuong-Lo-
Mendell-Ruhin likelihood ratio test, bootstrap likelihood ratio
test, a minimum class size of 2%, and theoretical interpretability.
To ensure we had a multi-informant measure of childs internal-
izing and externalizing problems, ratings were averaged across
mothersand fathersreports. T-scores were used for all analyses.
Aim 2: To identify and establish RDoC constructs using early
childhood measures
PCA with varimax rotation of the components were conducted
to examine whether early childhood measures can be categorized
into subconstructs that adhere to the RDoC domains. Specifically,
measures included (a) EC: maternal CBQ reports (childs inhibi-
tory control and attentional focusing subscales), Kochanska
behavioral battery (Snack Delay, Tongue, Tower, Turtle and
Rabbit) and Animal Pegs from Wechslers Preschool and
Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised; and (b) regulation of frus-
tration assessed using the disappointment paradigm (active and
passive regulation, sad and anger expressions); and (c) emotion
understanding: receptive and expressive emotion labelling, and
stereotypical and non-stereotypical Puppet vignettes from
Denhams Emotion Understanding task.
Aims 3 and 4: To examine early childhood precursors (constructs
identified in Aim 2 and gender) of the INT and EXT trajectories
(identified in Aim 1)
Next, class membership identified using parallel-process LCGA
(Aim 1) was analyzed with Mplus using multinomial logistic
6 K. I. Ip et al.
regression models (using different reference classes) predicting
affiliation in co-occurring INT and EXT trajectory classes with
childs gender, environmental (i.e., SES), cognitive (i.e., IQ)
and constructs identified from PCA (described previously).
However, including additional/auxiliary variables in the identified
parallel-process LCGA model may affect the latent class informa-
tion because the probability of an individual entering into a cer-
tain latent class may change depending upon the effect of an
observed predictor (see Vermunt, 2010, for more details). Thus,
we used a newly developed three-step procedure (R3STEP) for
fitting multinomial logistic regression models to latent class out-
comes in Mplus to account for the uncertainty of the probability
described previously (Asparouhov & Muthen, 2013; Vermunt,
2010). Because of missing data, only a subset (n= 186) of partic-
ipants had all the study variables, multiple imputation was con-
ducted to impute 10 datasets in Mplus to fully use the whole
sample and to ensure we have enough power to detect the effects
of interest. Pooled estimates from 10 imputed datasets were thus
reported for all multinomial logistic regression models.
Results
Preliminary analysis
Missing data and attrition
Littles missing completely at random (1988) test was not signifi-
cant, χ
2
(39) = 32.49, p= .760, which suggests that data were miss-
ing completely at random and that conditions were sufficient to
use full information maximum likelihood to approximate missing
data for Aim 1. The percentage of missingness among all variables
ranged from 0% to 17%. No correlation was found between miss-
ingness of any T1 variables and childrens internalizing and exter-
nalizing symptoms at any waves. Inter-correlations between all
study variables are shown in Table 1.
Aim 1: Class membership for pure and co-occurring INT and EXT
trajectories. First, separate LCGA models were conducted for
internalizing and externalizing symptoms respectively across
three waves. Solutions for one to six classes of the LCGA models
for both internalizing and externalizing symptoms are presented
in Table 2. For internalizing trajectories, the two-class model
has overall better fit indexes (lower Akaike information criteria,
BIC, sample size-adjusted BIC, higher entropy values, and
Vuong-Lo-Mendell-Ruhin likelihood ratio test and bootstrap like-
lihood ratio test p< .05 indicate the model with a two-class sol-
ution is preferred over 1 class; see Table 2). For externalizing
trajectories, the three-class model had the best fit indexes
(Table 2). Thus, a two-class model of internalizing and a three-
class model of externalizing trajectories were identified. Table 3
shows the estimated slopes and intercepts of the identified classes.
For internalizing trajectories, the low symptoms (encompassed
75% of the sample) was characterized with initial low and stable
levels of internalizing symptoms over time, whereas the moderate
symptoms (25%) class was characterized with initial moderate
and increasing levels of internalizing symptoms over time. For
externalizing trajectories, the low symptoms class (21%) was char-
acterized with initial low and stable externalizing symptoms over
time, the moderate symptoms class (64%) was characterized with
initial moderate and stable externalizing symptoms over time, and
the high symptoms class (15%) characterized with initial high and
increasing levels of externalizing symptoms over time.
Next, joint frequencies of 2 INT by 3 EXT classes identified
from the LCGA models were calculated to examine the prevalence
of pure and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing trajecto-
ries. As shown in Table 6, very few children were in the pure
internalizing (characterized with moderate internalizing and low
externalizing symptoms) and pure externalizing (characterized
with high externalizing and low internalizing symptoms) classes,
which encompassed only 3.4% and 0.4% of the sample, respec-
tively. In contrast, 25% of the sample were in the moderate and
high symptoms classes characterized with co-occurring internaliz-
ing and externalizing symptom trajectories.
Given the constraints of the joint-class model as described pre-
viously and as seen in our sample (identified a class with only
0.4% cases), parallel-process LCGA models were conducted to
estimate individuals class membership based on individualsini-
tial levels (intercepts) and changes (slopes) in both internalizing
and externalizing symptoms concurrently (Hinnant & El-
Sheikh, 2013; Wiggins et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2010). Solutions
for one to six classes of the parallel-process LCGA models are pre-
sented in Table 4. A four-class model has the overall best fit
indexes. Table 5 and Figure 1 present the estimated slopes and
intercepts of the identified classes. The low class (encompassing
21% of the sample) was characterized with initial low and stable
levels of both internalizing and externalizing symptoms over
time. The low-moderate class (encompassing 55% of the sample)
had initial low and stable levels of internalizing and initial mod-
erate and stable levels of externalizing symptoms over time. The
rising class (encompassing 15% of the sample) had initial moder-
ate and increasing levels of internalizing and initial high and
increasing levels of externalizing symptoms over time. Last, the
severe-decreasing class represented a small subgroup of individu-
als (9.2%) with very high but decreasing levels of internalizing and
externalizing symptoms over time. Table 6 shows the joint fre-
quency distribution of cases based on using the parallel-process
LCGA model and the joint class (2 INT 3 × EXT) LCGA model.
Aim 2: To identify and establish RDoC constructs using early
childhood measures. PCA was conducted to examine whether
early childhood laboratory-based and parent-reported measures
can be categorized into subconstructs based on the RDoC
framework. PCA revealed a five-component solution with a
total of 54% explained variance (Table 7). The first component,
emotion understanding, consisted of the stereotypical and non-
stereotypical situational knowledge from the AKT, which pertains
to the RDoC domain of systems for social processes (perception
and understanding of others). The second component, executive
control, consisted of CBQ measures including attentional focusing
and inhibitory control, and laboratory measures including Animal
Pegs, Tower, and Turtle and Rabbit, which pertains to the RDoC
domain of cognitive systems (cognitive control). The third com-
ponent, delay of gratification, consisted of laboratory measures
including Snack Delay, Tongue, and Gift Wrap task, which per-
tains to the RDoC domain of positive valence systems (action
selection/preference-based decision making). The fourth compo-
nent, regulation of frustration, consists of anger, sadness expres-
sion, and active regulation from the disappointment paradigm,
which pertains to the RDoC domain of negative valence systems
(frustrative non-reward). The fifth component, emotion recogni-
tion, consisted of receptive and expressive emotional labelling
from the AKT, which pertains to RDoC domain of systems for
social processes (reception of facial communication) (Table 7).
Development and Psychopathology 7
Table 1. Intercorrelation of all study variables
1 2 3 4 5 d 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
1. SES
2. IQ .01
3. Turtle .02 .01
4. Tower 03 .07 .20**
5. Snack delay .16* .04 .15* .14*
6. Tongue .16* .06 .11 .08 .30***
7. IC .15 .13* .21** .26*** .18** .15*
8. AF .12 .06 .18** .12 .10 .14* .42***
9. Animals peg .11 .02 .33*** .23*** .11 .07 .24*** .23***
10. Gift wrap .15* .05 .08 .12 .33*** .12 .23*** .07 .16*
11. Sad .07 .04 .01 .12 .08 .06 .02 .05 .07 .03
12. Anger .15* .06 .12 .01 .09 .16* .02 .07 .01 .05 .15 *
13. Active Reg 00 .02 .03 .05 .13 .03 .14 13 .08 .08 .26*** .07
14. Passive Reg .02 .01 .07 .05 .06 .04 .02 .07 .12 .01 .17* .07 26***
15. Receptive EK .04 .19** .12 .17* .21** .20** .22*** .13 .21**- .10 .11 .02 .03 .08
16. Expressive EK. .06 .01 .13 .14* .09 .12 .13 .00 .20** .12 .01 .01 .01 .11 .47***
17. Stereotypical .14* .10 14* .30*** .14* .18 .17* .15* .25** .04 .03 .01 .01 .06 .39*** .39***
18. Non-stereotypical .15* .06 .11 .26*** .25*** .23** .16* .17* .29*** .11 .04 .05 .07 .02 .30*** .30*** .72***
I9. INT T1 .05 .04 .10 .06 .08 .09 23*** .19** .07 .04 .05 .09 .11 .01 .06 .03 .08 .03
20. EXT T1 .09 .01 .21** 0.8 .12 .21** .51*** .31*** 22** .09 .01 .11 .08 .04 .11 .05 .02 .05 .71***
21 INT T2 .01 .05 .15* 0.6 .00 .09 .19** .09 ,11 .04 .05 .01 .09 .01 .11 .01 .01 .05 .35*** .34***
22. EXT T2 .02 .02 12 .11 .05 .21** .37* .19** .11 .10 .03 .01 .04 .02 .08 .02 .06 .12 .30*** .55*** .52***
23. INT T3 .01 .02 .02 .03 .02 .04 .17* .16* .09 .08 .01 .14 .08 .02 .18 * .1.2 .02 .05 .33*** .39*** .51*** .46***
24. EXT T3 .04 .01 .04 .04 .02 .06 .28*** .18** .11 .01 .06 .04 .10 .05 .17* .11 .04 .18* .24*** .47*** .31*** .68*** .62***
Note: *p< .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001. Active reg. = active regulation; AF, attentional focusing; EXT = externalizing problem; IC = inhibitory control; INT = internalizing problem; non-stereotypical = non-stereotypical situation from AKT; passive reg. = passive
regulation; stereotypical = stereotypical situation from AKT.
8 K. I. Ip et al.
Aims 3 and 4: To examine how early self-regulatory and EK
constructs (identified from Aim 2) and gender related to the
co-development of INT and EXT trajectories (identified from
Aim 1). Next, we conducted a series of multinomial logistic
regressions to examine how gender, self-regulatory, and EK con-
structs related to latent class outcomes identified from the
parallel-process LCGA models. Mand SD of all predictors for
each class are presented in Table 8.
Comparison of low versus severe-decreasing class of concurrent
INT and EXT symptoms
As shown in bold font in Model 1 (Table 9), the odds ratio for a
1-unit increase childrens executive control during the preschool
years was associated with childrens 5.70:1 odds of being in a
low versus severe-decreasing class after controlling for other child-
hood factors. The odds ratio for a 1-unit increase in childrens
emotion understanding resulted in .22:1 odds for being in a low
versus severe-decreasing (or 4.48 odds for being in severe-
decreasing versus low) class after controlling for other study var-
iables. A 1-unit increase in childrens regulation of frustration
resulted in 3.29:1 odds for being in low versus severe-decreasing
class, but the result was marginal. Taken together, children low
in executive control and regulation of frustration but high in emo-
tion understanding were more likely to be in the severe-decreasing
versus low class of co-occurring internalizing and externalizing
symptoms.
Low-moderate versus severe-decreasing class
The odds ratio for being male was marginally associated with .86:1
odds of low-moderate versus severe-decreasing class. A 1-unit
increase in childrens executive control resulted in 4.53:1 odds
for being in low-moderate versus severe-decreasing class, respec-
tively. A 1-unit increase in childrens emotion recognition was
marginally resulted in 1.93:1 odds for being in low-moderate ver-
sus severe-decreasing class. A 1-unit increase in childrensemo-
tion understanding resulted in .28:1 for being in low-moderate
versus severe-decreasing (or 3.59:1 odds for being in severe-
decreasing versus low-moderate) class after controlling for other
study variables (Table 9).
Rising versus severe-decreasing class
The odds ratio for being male was associated with .11: 1 odds of
rising versus severe-decreasing class. A 1-unit increase in child-
rens regulation of frustration marginally resulted in 3.13:1 odds
for being in rising versus severe-decreasing class. A 1-unit
increase in childrens emotion understanding resulted in .20:1
odds for being in rising versus severe-decreasing (or 5.05:1 odds
for being in the severe-decreasing vs. rising) class after controlling
for other study variables (Table 9).
Low versus rising class
The odds ratio for being female was 4.22:1 odds for being in the
low versus rising class. A 1-unit increase in childrens executive
control resulted in 4.39:1 odds for being in low versus rising
class after controlling for other study variables (Table 10).
Low-moderate versus rising class
A 1-unit increase in childrens IQ and executive control resulted
in .44:1 and 3.53:1 odds for being in low-moderate versus rising
class after controlling for other study variables (Table 10).
Table 2. Comparison of model fit indices and criteria for one through six classes of LCGA of internalizing and externalizing trajectories
LCGA of internalizing LCGA of externalizing
C AIC BIC SSABIC VLMR BLRT Entropy Sm LC AIC BIC SSABIC VLMR BLRT Entropy Sm LC
1 4,839 4,856 4,840 NA NA NA 100% 4,884 4,902 4,886 NA NA NA 100%
2 4,752 4,779 4,754 <.001 <.001 .728 25.21% 4,753 4,780 4,755 .001 <.001 .720 29.8%
3 4,744 4,782 4,747 .08 <.001 .551 18.57% 4,701 4,739 4,704 .007 <.001 .754 23.7%
4 4,742 4,790 4,746 .12 .051 .640 3.78% 4,688 4,737 4,693 .28 <.001 .742 5.50%
5 4,738 4,797 4,743 .09 .050 .698 0.84% 4,685 4,744 4,690 .01 .09 .733 1.28%
a
6 4,743 4,813 4,749 .65 1 .737 1.07%
a
4,688 4,757 4,694 .939 .600 .704 1.30%
a
Note: The number of classes was chosen based on a comprehensive review of all the fit indicators listed here. The best fitting model is marked in bold font. Lower values of Akaike information criteria (AIC), Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC), and
sample size-adjusted Bayesian information criteria (SSABIC) indicate better model fit. Vuong-Lo-Mendell-Ruhin Likelihood Ratio Test (VLMR) and bootstrap likelihood ratio test (BLRT) p< .05 indicate the model with k classes is preferred over k 1
classes. Entropy values closer to 1 indicate higher classification accuracy. The smallest latent class (sm LC) needs to be >1% of the total sample size to be acceptable. C = latent class; LCGA= latent class growth analysis; NA = not available.
a
The best
log-likelihood value was not replicated.
Development and Psychopathology 9
Discussion
Our study objectives were fourfold. First, we sought to investigate
the nature of internalizing and externalizing symptom growth
trajectories from early childhood to middle childhood and in
both genders. Second, we examined whether different self-
regulatory and EK measures at age 3 can be categorized into sub-
constructs that adhere to the RDoC domains. Third, we examined
Table 3. Parameter estimates for separate latent class growth analysis models of internalizing and externalizing trajectories
Intercept CI Linear slope CI
Internalizing (T-score)
Low (n= 178, 74.79%) 44.37 *** [43.00, 45.75] .19 [.07, .45]
Moderate (n= 60; 25.21%) 51.71 *** [49.29, 53.74] 1.47 *** [.68, 2.73]
Externalizing (T-score)
Low (n= 50; 21.01%) 42.41 *** [39.60, 45.21] .43 [92, .07]
Moderate (n= 153; 64.29%) 50.75 *** [49.14, 52.35] .12 [.44, .20]
High (n= 35; 14.71%) 59.81 *** [56.45, 63.17] .73 * [.10, 1.35]
Note: *p< .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001. Parentheses indicate the percentage of participants in the latent classes. All values are based on unstandardized estimates. CI =95% confidence intervals.
Table 4. Comparison of model fit indices and criteria for one through six classes of parallel-process LCGA model of internalizing and externalizing trajectories
Parallel-process LGCA internalizing and externalizing trajectories
C AIC BIC SSABIC VLMR BLRT Entropy Sm LC
1 9723 9758 9726 NA NA NA 100%
2 9432 9484 9437 <.001 <.001 .791 34.03%
3 9357 9426 9363 .325 <.001 .746 18.91%
4 9320 9407 9328 .140 <.001 .793 9.24%
5 9300 9404 9309 .677 <.001 .775 9.24%
6
a
9275 9397 9286 .134 <.001 .782 1.78%
Note: The number of classes was chosen based on a comprehensive review of all the fit indicators listed here. The best fitting model is marked in bold font. Lower values of Akaike
information criteria (AIC), Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC), and sample size-adjusted Bayesian information criteria (SSABIC) indicate better model fit. Vuong-Lo-Mendell-Ruhin Likelihood
Ratio Test (VLMR) and bootstrap likelihood ratio test (BLRT) p< .05 indicate the model with k classes is preferred over k 1 classes. Entropy values closer to 1 indicate higher classification
accuracy. The smallest latent class (sm LC) needs to be >2% of the total sample size to be acceptable. C = latent class; LCGA= latent class growth analysis; NA = not available.
a
The best
log-likelihood value was not replicated.
Table 5. Parameter estimates for parallel-process LCGA models of internalizing and externalizing trajectories
Class Internalizing (T-score) Externalizing (T-score)
1. Low class: Low INT and low EXT (20.59%)
Intercept [CI] 39.95 *** [36.19, 43.72] 40.77 *** [36.60, 44.95]
Slope [CI] .37 [.28, 1.02] .06 [.98, .85]
2. Low-moderate class: Low INT and moderate EXT (55.04%)
Intercept [CI] 45.98 *** [44.44, 47.52] 49.75 [48.13, 51.37]
Slope [CI] .30 [.11, .71] .14 [.58, .31]
3. Rising class: Moderate INT and high EXT (15.1%)
Intercept [CI] 49.30 *** [46.18, 52.42] 55.98 *** [50.93, 61.03]
Slope [CI] 2.33 *** [1.29, 3.37] 1.33 *** [.63, 2.03]
4. Severe-decreasing class: High INT and high EXT (9.2%)
Intercept [CI] 60.02 *** [56.48, 63.55] 61.80 *** [56.49, 65.85]
Slope [CI] 1.28 * [2.28, .28] 2.01 *** [3.00, 1.01]
Note: *p< .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001. Parentheses indicate the percentage of participants in the latent classes. All values are based on unstandardized T-score estimates. CI= 95% confidence
intervals; EXT = externalizing problem; INT = internalizing problem.
10 K. I. Ip et al.
the predictive role of identified EK and self-regulatory constructs
on different internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectories.
Finally, we examined the predictive role of child gender on symp-
tom development.
Pure versus co-occurring of internalizing and externalizing
trajectories
Our findings revealed that the prevalence of pure internalizing or
externalizing trajectories was low from early childhood to middle
childhood. Specifically, only 3.4% and 0.4% of the children in our
sample developed pure internalizing and externalizing symptoms,
respectively, across a 7-yr period spanning the early preschool
years through preadolescence. In contrast, most children in our
sample were characterized with various levels of co-occurring
internalizing and externalizing symptoms across development.
Although the initial design of our study aimed to oversample chil-
dren with elevated externalizing problems (and allowing internal-
izing symptoms to vary) from the community, we found that in
practice most preschoolers with various levels of externalizing
symptoms were also characterized with co-occurring internalizing
symptoms, and that very few children exhibited pure elevated
Table 6. Cross-tabs frequency distribution of INT and EXT problems identified from parallel-process LCGA model versus joint frequency of 2 INT ×3 EXT classes from
separate LCGA models
Joint frequency of 2 INT × 3 EXT classes from separate LCGA models
Parallel-process LCGA model
of INT and EXT
Low INT,
low EXT
Low INT,
moderate EXT
Low INT,
high EXT
Moderate INT,
low EXT
Moderate INT,
moderate EXT
Moderate INT,
high EXT
Class 1: Low class (20.59%) 42 7 0 0 0 0
Class 2: Low-moderate class
(55.04%)
7 111 1 1 11 0
Class 3: Rising class (15.1%) 0 1 6 0 9 20
Class 4: Severe-decreasing
class (9.2%)
0 2 1 0 12 7
Total N49 118 8 1 32 27
Note: EXT = externalizing problem; INT= internalizing problem; LCGA= latent class growth analysis.
Figure 1. Trajectories of co-occurring internalizing (INT) and externalizing (EXT) problems from early preschool years to pre-adolescence. Parallel-process LCGA
approximated four discrete developmental trajectories of INT and EXT problems. Data were shown in estimated means. CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist; LCGA
= latent class growth analysis.
Development and Psychopathology 11
externalizing symptoms. Although our findings may be
sample-specific, they are in line with those based on other com-
munity samples (e.g., Beyers & Loeber, 2003), person-centered
trajectory models (e.g., Fanti & Henrich, 2010; Wiggins et al.,
2015), and empirical studies showing that the two domains
have similar rates of change (e.g., Gilliom & Shaw, 2004; Keiley,
Bates, Dodge, & Pettit, 2000). The nature of behavioral symptoms
across the early preschool years through preadolescence may
therefore be best captured by studying the co-development of
internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Indeed, variable-
centered models in adults have found that the relations of inter-
nalizing and externalizing symptoms are best represented by a
Table 7. Principal component analysis to identify RDoC constructs based on early childhood laboratory-based and parent-reported measures
Factor loadings and extracted components
RDoC domains
Variables
Social processes:
emotion
understanding
Cognitive systems:
executive
control
Positive
valence: delay
of gratification
Negative
valence: regulation
of frustration
Social processes:
emotion
recognition
AKT Stereotypical situation .85 .15 .03 .00 .22
AKT Non-stereotypical situation 83 .14 .17 .11 .11
CBQ Inhibitory control .01 .69 .21 .06 .11
CBQ Attentional focusing .11 .67 .08 .01 .22
Turtle and Rabbit .01 .63 .06 .12 .13
Animal Pegs .28 .58 .04 .13 .10
Tower .31 .40 .03 .16 .12
Snack Delay .14 .06 .77 .15 .05
Gift Wrap .15 .16 .61 .14 .22
Tongue .25 .06 .60 .23 .01
Disappointment sad expression .02 .03 .01 .70 .11
Disappointment active regulation .05 .14 .18 .65 .16
Disappointment anger expression .03 .10 .35 .47 .26
AKT: Receptive emotion knowledge .35 .07 .08 .02 .69
AKT: Expressive emotion knowledge .34 .16 .18 .11 .62
Disappointment passive regulation
a
.31 .03 02 .52 .55
Eigenvalue 3.26 1.68 1.45 1.22 1.09
% of variance 20.35 10.50 9.07 7.61 6.83
Total variance, % 54.35
Note: Factor loadings >.40 are marked in bold font. AKT = Affect Knowledge Test; CBQ = Child Behavioral Questionnaire; disappointment = disappointment paradigm.
a
Passive regulation was
dropped from subsequent analysis because of the nonspecific high factor loading across different domains.
Table 8. M and SD of all predictors for each class
Low class Low-moderate class Rising class
Severe-decreasing
class
Variables MSDMSDMSDMSD
Gender 18 boys; 31 girls 70 boys; 59 girls 25 boys; 11 girls 9 boys; 12 girls
SES 55.72 10.83 53.71 10.90 55.61 10.48 54.44 10.83
IQ .08 .77 .04 .80 .02 .72 .05 .86
Regulation of frustration .08 .54 .07 .60 .11 .88 .02 .81
Delay of gratification .00 .72 .17 .60 .03 .63 .23 1.04
Executive control .17 .56 .06 .64 .31 .51 .24 .63
Emotion recognition .00 1.05 .13 .85 .30 1.20 .22 1.21
Emotion understanding .03 1.03 .04 1.02 .32 .87 .41 .93
Note: M and SD of all (except gender and SES) variables are reported in z-score. IQ = intelligence quotient; M= mean; SD = standard deviation; SES = socioeconomic status.
12 K. I. Ip et al.
bifactor structure model, characterized by a pmeta-factor: a
latent factor underlying shared variance among overall sympto-
matology, along with sublatent factors of specific symptoms
(Beauchaine & McNulty, 2013). Further study is needed to exam-
ine the bifactor model in children using longitudinal designs.
Nevertheless, our findings highlight the necessity of simultane-
ously considering both internalizing and externalizing symptom
trajectories to elucidate pathways of psychopathology.
Using parallel-process LCGA model, we identified four
(low, low-moderate, rising and severe-decreasing) co-occurring
internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectories/classes
(Table 5). Because of our initial recruitment design with oversam-
pling of children with externalizing symptoms, the majority of
children (55%) in our sample were in the low-moderate symp-
tom class characterized with low and stable levels of internalizing
and moderate and stable levels of externalizing symptoms across
time. The second largest subgroup (21%) was the low symptom
class, characterized with low and stable internalizing and external-
izing symptom trajectories. In contrast, a third subgroup (rising
class, 15%) of preschoolers manifested moderate levels of
internalizing and high levels of externalizing symptoms, then
increased levels of both symptoms across the school-age years.
In other words, these preschoolers developed into the highest
risk group with clinically elevated levels of co-occurring symp-
toms across time. Finally, a small subgroup (severe-decreasing
class, 9%) of children showed high internalizing and high exter-
nalizing levels of symptoms, but decreased levels of both symp-
toms across time. These children were also at high risk for later
maladaptive outcomes due to their initial clinically elevated symp-
tom levels.
In a similar study of the development of co-occurring internal-
izing and externalizing problems, Wiggins et al. (2015) found
only three trajectories (low, severe-decreasing, and severe).
These partially discrepant findings may reflect differences in sam-
ple composition. First, our sample included both boys and girls
whereas Wiggins et al. had a male only sample. Second, unlike
the previous study that used a high familial risk sample, our
study used a moderate- to low-risk community sample; thus,
our findings augmented previous work by revealing distinct tra-
jectories of co-occurring internalizing and externalizing
Table 9. Model 1: Multinomial logistic regression for preschool-age predictors of parallel-process LCGA internalizing and externalizing trajectories from early
preschool years to preadolescence
Low class Low-moderate class Rising class
Predictor BCI OR B CI OR B CI OR
Gender .79 [2.68, 1.10] .45 1.54
a
[3.30, .22] .86 2.23 [4.26, .19] .11
SES .00 [.09, .09] 1 .02 [.11, .06] .98 .00 [.09, .09] 1
IQ .02 [1.28, 1.22] .98 .29 [1.47, .88] .75 .51 [87, 1.90] 1.67
Regulation of frustration 1.19
a
[.02, 2.58] 3.29 .79 [.28, 1.86] 2.20 1.14
a
[.03, 2.31] 3.13
Delay of gratification .58 [.70, 1.85] 1.79 .25 [.89, 1.39] 1.28 .63 [.75, 2.02] 1.88
Executive control 1.74 [.39, 3.08] 5.70 1.52 [.12, 2.92] 4.57 .25 [1.26, 1.76] 1.28
Emotion recognition .35 [.36, 1.06] 1.42 .66
a
[.06, 1.38] 1.93 .23 [.70., 1.15] 1.26
Emotion understanding 1.52 [2.76, .28] .22 1.29 [2.53. .05] .28 1.62 [3.02, .21] .20
Note: The severe-decreasing class with high internalizing and externalizing trajectory is the reference category. Pooled unstandardized estimates from 10 imputed data set are reported.
Significant estimates ( p< .05) at 95% CI are marked in bold font.
a
Marginal significant estimates ( p<.10) at 90% CI. For gender, male is the reference group. CI = confidence interval; IQ =
intelligence quotient; OR = odds ratio; SES = socioeconomic status.
Table 10. Model 2: Multinomial logistic regression for preschool-age predictors of parallel-process LCGA internalizing and externalizing trajectories from early
preschool years to preadolescence
Low class Low-moderate class Severe-decreasing class
Predictor B95% CI OR B 95% CI OR B 95% CI OR
Gender 1.44 [.19, 2.68] 4.22 .68 [.51, 1.88] .51 2.23 [.19, 4.26] 9.30
SES .00 [.05, .06] 1 .02 [.07, .03] .98 .00 [.09, .09] 1
IQ .54 [1.41, .33] .58 .81 [1.61, .00] .44 .51 [1.90, 87] .60
Regulation of frustration .04 [1.09, 1.18] 1.04 .36 [2.48, 1.77] .70 1.14
a
[2.31, .03] .32
Delay of gratification .06 [1.03, .92] .94 .38 [1.15, .38] .68 .63 [2.02, .75] .53
Executive control 1.48 [.52, 2.45] 4.39 1.26 [.35, 2.16] 3.53 .25 [1.76, 1.26] .78
Emotion recognition .12 [.53, .77] 1.12 .43 [.17, 1.03] 1.54 .23 [1.15, .70] .79
Emotion understanding .09 [.58, .77] 1.09 .32 [.32, .97] 1.38 1.62 [.21, 3.02] 5.05
Note: The rising class with moderate internalizing and high externalizing trajectory is the reference category. Pooled unstandardized estimates from 10 imputed data sets are reported.
Significant estimates ( p< .05) at 95% CI are marked in bold font.
a
Marginal significant estimates ( p<.10) at 90% CI. For gender, male is the reference group. CI = confidence interval; IQ =
intelligence quotient; OR = odds ratio; SES = socioeconomic status.
Development and Psychopathology 13
symptoms that existed across genders and in a moderate- to low-
risk community sample, highlighting the generalizability of this
approach.
Establishing RDoC constructs in early childhood
One of the challenges for integrating the critical role of early
development into RDoC perspectives is the lack of established
early behavioral constructs that can be targeted for multilevel
(e.g., genetic, molecular, neural) analyses and intervention. We
first selected different measures of self-regulation and EK based
on theoretical and empirical relevance to the development of
both internalizing and externalizing problems (Denham et al.,
2003;2012; Eisenberg et al., 2009; Hill et al., 2006; Kim &
Cicchetti, 2010; Olson et al., 2017). Second, using a data-driven
approach with different validated and developmentally appropri-
ated laboratory and parent-reported measures, we identified five
distinct EK and self-regulatory constructs across different RDoC
domains (Table 7). Specifically, these constructs included: emo-
tion recognition, emotion understanding (both of which are
under the RDoC domain of systems for social processes), regula-
tion of frustration (under negative valence systems), delay of grat-
ification (under positive valence systems), and executive control
(under cognitive systems). These distinct EK and self-regulatory
constructs thus corroborated the multifaceted nature of EK
(Bassett et al., 2012) and self-regulation (Kim et al., 2013).
Moreover, both regulation of frustration and delay of gratifica-
tion may be considered components of emotion regulation, which
is supported by executive control (Buhle et al., 2014; Kohn et al.,
2014; Ochsner, Silvers, & Buhle, 2012). Although investigators
tend to use only one domain of regulation (e.g., delay of gratifica-
tion; Feng et al., 2008) or combine the two domains (e.g., Hill
et al., 2006) to index childrens emotion regulation, our findings
suggest that they are indeed distinct constructs. These constructs
may involve different brain mechanisms. Executive control may
reflect a top-down cognitive control neural circuitry of increased
activations in the prefrontal regions. Regulation of frustration
may reflect a neutral circuitry of decreased activation in the amyg-
dala, which is associated with processing of negative emotions
(Buhle et al., 2014; Kohn et al., 2014; Ochsner, Silvers, & Buhle,
2012), whereas delay of gratification may reflect a neural circuitry
of decreased activation in the ventral striatum, which is associated
with processing of reward or compelling cues (Casey et al., 2011).
Although it is beyond the scope of our study, examining the neu-
ral correlates of these self-regulatory constructs in early childhood
is needed to corroborate whether they are distinct or overlapping
constructs. Nonetheless, our study highlights the importance of
conceptualizing self-regulation as a multidimensional construct
and that each construct may have differentiated consequences
for childrens behavioral development.
Notably, the goal of our study was not to create or invent new
constructs. Rather by identifying and establishing RDoC con-
structs in early childhood based on past literature, we aimed to
provide solid behavioral evidence for future researchers to under-
stand the underlying mechanisms supporting the development of
these RDoC constructs.
Self-regulatory antecedents of the co-development of
internalizing and externalizing trajectories
Our primary aim was to examine early antecedents of the co-
development of internalizing and externalizing symptom
trajectories. Using multinomial logistic regression, we found
that poor executive control at age 3 significantly increased the
odds of being in the high risk (both severe-decreasing and rising
classes), relative to normative (low and low-moderate) classes of
co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems from
early preschool years to pre-adolescence. Our findings are consis-
tent with prior studies suggesting the critical role of EC in adap-
tive behavioral development (Eiden, Colder, Edwards, & Leonard,
2009b; Eisenberg et al., 2009; Olson et al., 2017). Our findings
further extend the literature by showing that the coolsub-
component of EC (i.e., executive control) uniquely predicted
the co-occurring of internalizing and externalizing growth trajec-
tories, even after accounting for the effect of IQ, gender, other
self-regulatory processes (delay of gratification and regulation of
frustration), and EK (emotion recognition and understanding),
suggesting the robustness of the finding.
Interestingly, Kim et al. (2013) found that preschoolersdiffi-
culties with delay of gratification uniquely predicted disruptive
behavioral problems in middle childhood (Kim et al., 2013); how-
ever, we did not find that childrens ability to delay immediate
gratification predicted the development of co-occurring internal-
izing and externalizing symptoms after accounting for other self-
regulation skills, EK and covariates. Further research is needed to
understand how the interplay of different self-regulation skills in
young children may be differentially predictive of pure versus
co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptoms.
It is worth noting that we also found some evidence suggesting
that poor regulation of frustration increases the odds of being in the
severe-decreasing relative to the low class, although the result is
marginal and we did not observe the same effect in the rising
class. Although our finding converges with prior studies suggesting
that deficits in regulating anger and tolerating frustration are linked
to early childhood internalizing and externalizing problems
(Calkins, 2009; Hill et al., 2006), emotion regulation (including reg-
ulation of frustration) has been proposed to be contextually depen-
dent (Aldao, 2013). Future studies that include combinative
measures of frustrative regulation outside the controlled-laboratory
setting (such as asessing in school and home environment), and
assess specific strategies (e.g., reappraisal vs. suppression; Gross,
1998) maybe better able to capture childrens variability in regulat-
ing negative emotions across different contexts.
In sum, our study pinpoints specific self-regulation deficits in
executive control (and potentially regulation of frustration) as risk
mechanisms for the long-term co-development of internalizing
and externalizing problems.
The role of EK in the co-development of internalizing and
externalizing trajectories
Whereas better emotion recognition marginally decreased the
odds of being in the severe-decreasing than low-moderate class,
better emotion understanding significantly increased the odds
of being in the severe-decreasing compared with the normative
(low and low-moderate) and rising classes. Although there have
been mixed cross-sectional findings on the role of EK and early
behavioral problems (see Trentacosta & Fine, 2010, for a review),
this was surprising given that prior studies have consistently
shown that better EK in general was associated with better social
competence during early childhood (Denham et al., 2003,2012;
Schultz, Izard, Ackerman, & Youngstrom, 2001). Our finding is
consistent with a study showing that better EK was associated
with higher risk of peer victimization Garner & Lemerise,
14 K. I. Ip et al.
2007). We speculate that children who develop superior emotion
understanding of others in early ages (either because of genetic or
environmental impact or both) might be oversensitive to others
emotions and behaviors (and also possibly threat), which may
in turn lead to increased peer victimization (Garner &
Lemerise, 2007). It is also possible that these children character-
ized with clinical but decreasing levels of behavioral problems
are subjected to early adversity such as maltreatment or neglect;
therefore, these children might develop heightened sensitivity to
threat and othersemotions as a compensatory mechanism to
adapt to adverse caregiving environments. Future longitudinal
studies are needed to replicate this finding. Studies that include
measures of parental psychopathology, trauma, and neglect
are necessary to dissect the counterintuitive relationship between
emotion understanding and later behavioral problems. Moreover,
the finding that emotion understanding did not predict the like-
lihood of being in the rising class suggests that it is not a risk fac-
tor, but rather it may serve as a protective or compensatory factor
for children who are in the severe-decreasing class. Finally, our
finding solidified the importance of differentiating emotion recog-
nition and emotion understanding as two separate processes
(Bassett et al., 2012) because these two processes were distinctly
(and even oppositely) related to co-development of internalizing
and externalizing problems.
The role of gender on the co-development of internalizing and
externalizing trajectories
We found that boys were more likely than girls to be in the rising
compared to the low and severe-decreasing class. Although few
investigators have studied gender differences in the occurring of
internalizing and externalizing problems, gender differences in
levels of early onset externalizing problems have been consistently
reported (Keenan et al., 2011; Zahn-Waxler et al., 2008). These
findings may be attributable to many different factors, such as
boysrelatively slower language development (Keenan & Shaw,
1997; Lahey et al., 2006) and lower levels of inhibitory control
(Else-Quest, Hyde, Goldsmith, & Van Hulle, 2006) between
early through middle childhood. Else-Quest et al.s(2006) meta-
analysis of gender differences in temperament revealed that
boys showed higher levels of impulsivity, activity, and high-
intensity pleasure (i.e., surgency) than girls, whereas girls showed
relatively higher levels of EC than boys. Moreover, between
infancy through adolescence, girls showed better social sensitivity,
empathy, prosociality, and ER than boys (Else-Quest et al., 2006;
Zahn-Waxler et al., 2008). These benefits in conjunction with
faster cognitive maturation and language development may
explain why female gender was a protective factor for behavioral
problems across the preschool and school-age years. Because our
study did not account for environmental factors such as parenting
and parental psychopathology however, these similarities and dif-
ferences between boys and girls may also be attributed to environ-
mental influences that were beyond the scope of the current
report. Therefore, interactions between child gender and environ-
mental factors should be studied to better understand the role of
child gender in the co-development of these problems.
Strengths and limitations
Developmental psychopathology as a field has long championed
using person-centered approaches to augment variable-centered
analyses. To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify specific
constructs of early EK and self-regulation that predicted the
co-development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms from
early preschool years to preadolescence using person-centered anal-
yses. Our study also included both mothersand fathersreports to
represent multi-informant assessments of childs behavioral prob-
lems across development. Moreover, we included both parent-report
and laboratory-based measures with a data-driven approach to iden-
tify different constructs of early EK and self-regulation.
We also wish to acknowledge several limitations of our study.
First, our sample contained predominantly European American
children and thus the findings may not be generalizable to children
from other ethnic or racial groups. Second, our study only included
three time points and therefore we were unable to capture more dis-
tal outcomes of co-developing behavior problems. Previous studies
have shown that the early childhood onset pathways to externalizing
problems were associated with worse adaptive outcomes in adult-
hood (e.g., Fergusson, Horwood, & Ridder, 2005; Moffitt, 2003).
Thus, young children with co-occurring internalizing and external-
izing symptoms may be at even higher risk for later maladaptive out-
comes. Third, because of power considerations, we were only able to
include SES as an index of environmental influence. Although it is
beyond the scope of this paper, other environmental measures
(such as parental psychopathology and child adversity) may inter-
act with child self-regulation/EK in relation to later adjustment out-
comes. Fourth, because of low prevalence of pure internalizing/
externalizing trajectories in our sample, we were unable to examine
whether predictors of growth are the same or different across the
developmental trajectories of pure and co-occurring symptoms.
Fifth, there were relatively small numbers of children in the
severe-decreasing and rising classes. Finally, our sample contained
predominantly two-parent middle-income families, and therefore
our findings are not generalizable to children living in other family
constellations or under conditions of extreme economic hardship.
Conclusion
Our study is among the first to integrate RDoC constructs into a
developmental psychopathology framework by illuminating poten-
tial etiological factors in early childhood that underlie common
behavior problems. The applicability of RDoC criteria for develop-
mental psychopathology research has been limited because of a lack
of validated, feasible, and standardized assessment batteries to
examine RDoC domains in young children. Our findings suggest
that measures of self-regulation may serve as transdiagnostic assess-
ment tools for identifying young children at high risk for later mal-
adaptive outcomes. More important, our findings suggest an
intervention target for behavioral self-regulation training, particu-
larly childrens executive control skills, as preventive efforts to
reduce risk for both internalizing and externalizing problems before
the onset of clinically significant symptoms in young children.
Financial support. This research was supported by National Institute of
Mental Health grant RO1MH057489 awarded to Sheryl L. Olson and Arnold
J. Sameroff.
Conflicts of interest. We have no disclosure of any conflicts of interest with
regard to the submitted work.
Ethical standards. Our study complied with APA ethical standards in the
treatment of our participants and has been continuously approved by the
University of Michigan Institutional Review Board since 1999.
Author ORCIDs. Ka I. Ip 0000-0001-7543-3669.
Development and Psychopathology 15
References
Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL/4-18, YSR, and
TRF profiles. Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Burlington.
Achenbach, T. M. (1992). Child Behavior Checklist for ages 2-3. University of
Vermont, Center for Children, Youth, and Families.
Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. (2001). ASEBA school-age forms & profiles.
Burlington, VT: Aseba.
Ahadi, S. A., Rothbart, M. K., & Ye, R. (1993). Childrens temperament in the
US and China: Similarities and differences. European Journal of Personality,
7, 359378.
Aldao, A. (2013). The future of emotion regulation research: Capturing con-
text. Perspectives on Psychological Science,8, 155172.
Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Erkanli, A. (1999). Comorbidity. Journal of Child
Psychology and Psychiatry,40,5787.
Asparouhov, T., & Muthen, B. O. (2013). Auxiliary variables in mixture mod-
eling: 3-step approaches using Mplus. Mplus Web Notes: No. 15. Retrieved
from http://www.statmodel.com.
Bassett, H. H., Denham, S., Mincic, M., & Graling, K. (2012). The structure of
preschoolersemotion knowledge: Model equivalence and validity using a
structural equation modeling approach. Early Education & Development,
23, 259279.
Beauchaine, T. P., & McNulty, T. (2013). Comorbidities and continuities as
ontogenic processes: Toward a developmental spectrum model of external-
izing psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology,25, 15051528.
Beyers, J. M., & Loeber, R. (2003). Untangling developmental relations
between depressed mood and delinquency in male adolescents. Journal of
Abnormal Child Psychology,31, 247266.
Bongers, I. L., Koot, H. M., Van Der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (2004).
Developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors in childhood and ado-
lescence. Child Development,75, 15231537.
Broeren, S., Muris, P., Diamantopoulou, S., & Baker, J. R. (2013). The course of
childhood anxiety symptoms: Developmental trajectories and child-related
factors in normal children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,41,
8195.
Broidy, L. M., Nagin, D. S., Tremblay, R. E., Bates, J. E., Brame, B., Dodge, K.
A., Vitaro, F. (2003). Developmental trajectories of childhood disruptive
behaviors and adolescent delinquency: A six-site, cross-national study.
Developmental Psychology,39, 222.
Buhle, J. T., Silvers, J. A., Wager, T. D., Lopez, R., Onyemekwu, C., Kober, H.,
Ochsner, K. N. (2014). Cognitive reappraisal of emotion: A meta-
analysis of human neuroimaging studies. Cerebral Cortex,24, 29812990.
Calkins, S. D. (2009). Regulatory competence and early disruptive behavior
problems: The role of physiological regulation. Biopsychosocial Regulatory
Processes in the Development of Childhood Behavioral Problems,86115.
Capaldi, D. M. (1992). Co-occurrence of conduct problems and depressive
symptoms in early adolescent boys: II. A 2-year follow-up at Grade 8.
Development and Psychopathology,4, 125144.
Casey, B. J., Somerville, L. H., Gotlib, I. H., Ayduk, O., Franklin, N. T.,
Askren, M. K., Shoda, Y. (2011). Behavioral and neural correlates of
delay of gratification 40 years later. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences,108, 1499815003.
Cole, P. M., Bruschi, C. J., & Tamang, B. L. (2002). Cultural differences in
childrens emotional reactions to difficult situations. Child Development,
73, 983996.
Cole, P. M., Hall, S. E., & Hajal, N. J. (2008). Emotion dysregulation as a
risk factor for psychopathology. Child and Adolescent Psychopathology,2,
341373.
Cole, P. M., Martin, S. E., & Dennis, T. A. (2004). Emotion regulation as a sci-
entific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child devel-
opment research. Child Development, 317333.
Cole, P. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., Fox, N. A., Usher, B. A., & Welsh, J. D. (1996).
Individual differences in emotion regulation and behavior problems in pre-
school children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,105, 518.
Cuthbert, B. N. (2014). The RDoC framework: Facilitating transition from
ICD/DSM to dimensional approaches that integrate neuroscience and psy-
chopathology. World Psychiatry,13,2835. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.
20087
Denham, S. A. (1986). Social cognition, prosocial behavior, and emotion in
preschoolers: Contextual validation. Child Development, 194201.
Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., Brown, C., Way, E., & Steed, J. (2015). I Know
How You Feel: Preschoolersemotion knowledge contributes to early
school success. Journal of Early Childhood Research,13, 252262.
Denham, S. A., Blair, K. A., DeMulder, E., Levitas, J., Sawyer, K.,
Auerbach-Major, S., & Queenan, P. (2003). Preschool emotional compe-
tence: Pathway to social competence? Child Development,74, 238256.
Denham, S. A., Caverly, S., Schmidt, M., Blair, K., DeMulder, E., Caal, S.,
Mason, T. (2002). Preschool understanding of emotions: Contributions to
classroom anger and aggression. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry,43, 901916.
Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., Way, E., Mincic, M., Zinsser, K., & Graling, K.
(2012). Preschoolersemotion knowledge: Self-regulatory foundations, and
predictions of early school success. Cognition & Emotion,26, 667679.
Dennis, T. A., Brotman, L. M., Huang, K.-Y., & Gouley, K. K. (2007). Effortful
control, social competence, and adjustment problems in children at risk for
psychopathology. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology,36,
442454.
Di Maggio, R., Zappulla, C., & Pace, U. (2016). The relationship between emo-
tion knowledge, emotion regulation and adjustment in preschoolers: A
mediation model. Journal of Child and Family Studies,25, 26262635.
Eiden, R. D., Colder, C., Edwards, E. P., & Leonard, K. E. (2009a). A longitu-
dinal study of social competence among children of alcoholic and nonalco-
holic parents: Role of parental psychopathology, parental warmth, and
self-regulation. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,23, 36.
Eiden, R. D., Colder, C., Edwards, E. P., & Leonard, K. E. (2009b). A longitu-
dinal study of social competence among children of alcoholic and nonalco-
holic parents: Role of parental psychopathology, parental warmth, and
self-regulation. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,23, 36.
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Guthrie, I. K., & Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional
emotionality and regulation: their role in predicting quality of social func-
tioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,78, 136.
Eisenberg, N., Sadovsky, A., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Losoya, S. H.,
Valiente, C., Shepard, S. A. (2005). The relations of problem behavior
status to childrens negative emotionality, effortful control, and impulsivity:
Concurrent relations and prediction of change. Developmental Psychology,
41, 193.
Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Eggum, N. D. (2010). Emotion-related self-
regulation and its relation to childrens maladjustment. Annual Review of
Clinical Psychology,6, 495.
Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Reiser, M., Cumberland, A.,
Shepard, S. A., Thompson, M. (2004). The relations of effortful control
and impulsivity to childrens resiliency and adjustment. Child Development,
75,2546.
Eisenberg, N., Valiente, C., Spinrad, T. L., Cumberland, A., Liew, J., Reiser, M.,
Losoya, S. H. (2009). Longitudinal relations of childrens effortful con-
trol, impulsivity, and negative emotionality to their externalizing, internal-
izing, and co-occurring behavior problems. Developmental Psychology,45,
988.
Else-Quest, N. M., Hyde, J. S., Goldsmith, H. H., & Van Hulle, C. A. (2006).
Gender differences in temperament: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin,
132, 33.
Fanti, K. A., & Henrich, C. C. (2010). Trajectories of pure and co-occurring
internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 to age 12: Findings
from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Study of Early Child Care. Developmental Psychology,46, 1159.
Feng, X., Shaw, D. S., & Silk, J. S. (2008). Developmental trajectories of anxiety
symptoms among boys across early and middle childhood. Journal of
Abnormal Psychology,117, 32.
Fergusson, D. M., John Horwood, L., & Ridder, E. M. (2005). Show me the
child at seven: The consequences of conduct problems in childhood for psy-
chosocial functioning in adulthood. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry,46, 837849.
Franklin, J. C., Jamieson, J. P., Glenn, C. R., & Nock, M. K. (2015). How devel-
opmental psychopathology theory and research can inform the research
domain criteria (RDoC) project. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent
Psychology,44, 280290.
16 K. I. Ip et al.
Garner, P. W., & Lemerise, E. A. (2007). The roles of behavioral adjustment
and conceptions of peers and emotions in preschool childrens peer victim-
ization. Development and Psychopathology,19,5771.
Gilliom, M., & Shaw, D. S. (2004). Codevelopment of externalizing and inter-
nalizing problems in early childhood. Development and Psychopathology,
16, 313333.
Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: an integrative
review. Review of General Psychology,2, 271.
Hankin, B. L., Wetter, E., & Cheely, C. (2008). Sex differences in child and
adolescent depression: A developmental psychopathological approach.
Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2008-01178-016.
Heinze, J. E., Miller, A. L., Seifer, R., Dickstein, S., & Locke, R. L. (2015).
Emotion knowledge, loneliness, negative social experiences, and internaliz-
ing symptoms among low-income preschoolers. Social Development,24,
240265.
Hill, A. L., Degnan, K. A., Calkins, S. D., & Keane, S. P. (2006). Profiles of exter-
nalizing behavior problems for boys and girls across preschool: The roles of
emotion regulation and inattention. Developmental Psychology,42,913.
Hinnant, J. B., & El-Sheikh, M. (2013). Codevelopment of externalizing and
internalizing symptoms in middle to late childhood: Sex, baseline respira-
tory sinus arrhythmia, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity as predic-
tors. Development and Psychopathology,25, 419436.
Insel, T., Cuthbert, B., Garvey, M., Heinssen, R., Pine, D. S., Quinn, K.,
Wang, P. (2010). Research domain criteria (RDoC): Toward a new classifi-
cation framework for research on mental disorders. American Journal of
Psychiatry,167, 748751.
Insel, T. R. (2014). The NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project:
Precision Medicine for Psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry,171,
395397. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14020138
Izard, C., Fine, S., Schultz, D., Mostow, A., Ackerman, B., & Youngstrom, E.
(2001). Emotion knowledge as a predictor of social behavior and academic
competence in children at risk. Psychological Science,12,1823.
Jung, T., & Wickrama, K. A. S. (2008). An introduction to latent class growth
analysis and growth mixture modeling. Social and Personality Psychology
Compass,2, 302317.
Keenan, K., Feng, X., Babinski, D., Hipwell, A., Hinze, A., Loeber, R., &
Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2011). Developmental comorbidity of depression
and conduct problems in girls. In M Kerr, J Stattin, R. C. M. E. Engles,
G. Overbeek, and G. Stouhamer-Loeber (Eds.), Understanding girlsproblem
behaviors (pp. 117137). Wiley.
Keenan, K., & Shaw, D. (1997). Developmental and social influences on young
girlsearly problem behavior. Psychological Bulletin,121, 95.
Keiley, M. K., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., & Pettit, G. S. (2000). A cross-domain
growth analysis: Externalizing and internalizing behaviors during 8 years of
childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,28, 161179.
Kim, J., & Cicchetti, D. (2010). Longitudinal pathways linking child maltreat-
ment, emotion regulation, peer relations, and psychopathology. Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry,51, 706716.
Kim, S., Nordling, J. K., Yoon, J. E., Boldt, L. J., & Kochanska, G. (2013).
Effortful control in hotand cooltasks differentially predicts childrens
behavior problems and academic performance. Journal of Abnormal
Child Psychology,41,4356.
Kochanska, G., Murray, K., Jacques, T. Y., Koenig, A. L., & Vandegeest, K. A.
(1996). Inhibitory control in young children and its role in emerging inter-
nalization. Child Development, 490507.
Kohn, N., Eickhoff, S. B., Scheller, M., Laird, A. R., Fox, P. T., & Habel, U.
(2014). Neural network of cognitive emotion regulationan ALE meta-
analysis and MACM analysis. Neuroimage,87, 345355.
Lahey, B. B., Van Hulle, C. A., Waldman, I. D., Rodgers, J. L., DOnofrio, B. M.,
Pedlow, S., Keenan, K. (2006). Testing descriptive hypotheses regarding
sex differences in the development of conduct problems and delinquency.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,34, 730748.
Lengua, L. J. (2006). Growth in temperament and parenting as predictors of
adjustment during childrens transition to adolescence. Developmental
Psychology,42, 819.
Miner, J. L., & Clarke-Stewart, K. A. (2008). Trajectories of externalizing
behavior from age 2 to age 9: Relations with gender, temperament, ethnic-
ity, parenting, and rater. Developmental Psychology,44, 771.
Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Peake, P. K. (1988). The nature of adolescent com-
petencies predicted by preschool delay of gratification. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology,54, 687.
Moffitt, T. E. (2003). Life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial
behavior: a 10-year research review and a research agenda. In B. B. Lahey, T.
E. Moffitt, & A. Caspi (Eds.), Causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delin-
quency (pp. 4975). New York: Guilford Press.
Morris, S. E., & Cuthbert, B. N. (2012). Research domain criteria: Cognitive
systems, neural circuits, and dimensions of behavior. Dialogues in Clinical
Neuroscience,14, 29.
Murray, K. T., & Kochanska, G. (2002). Effortful control: Factor structure and
relation to externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Journal of Abnormal
Child Psychology,30, 503514.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2012). Mplus: The comprehensive modelling
program for applied researchers: Users guide,5.
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2004). Affect dysregulation in
the mother-child relationship in the toddler years: Antecedents and conse-
quences. Development and Psychopathology,16, 43.
Nigg, J. T. (2017). Annual Research Review: On the relations among self
regulation, selfcontrol, executive functioning, effortful control, cognitive
control, impulsivity, risktaking, and inhibition for developmental psycho-
pathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,58(4), 361383.
Ochsner, K. N., Silvers, J. A., & Buhle, J. T. (2012). Functional imaging studies
of emotion regulation: A synthetic review and evolving model of the cogni-
tive control of emotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1251,
E21E24.
Oldehinkel, A. J., Hartman, C. A., Ferdinand, R. F., Verhulst, F. C., & Ormel, J.
(2007). Effortful control as modifier of the association between negative
emotionality and adolescentsmental health problems. Development and
Psychopathology,19, 523539.
Olson, S. L., Choe, D. E., & Sameroff, A. J. (2017). Trajectories of child exter-
nalizing problems between ages 3 and 10 years: Contributions of childrens
early effortful control, theory of mind, and parenting experiences.
Development and Psychopathology,29, 13331335.
Olson, S. L., Sameroff, A. J., Kerr, D. C., Lopez, N. L., & Wellman, H. M.
(2005). Developmental foundations of externalizing problems in young
children: The role of effortful control. Development and Psychopathology,
17,2545.
Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (2000). Developing mechanisms of self-
regulation. Development and Psychopathology,12, 427441.
Proctor, L. J., Skriner, L. C., Roesch, S., & Litrownik, A. J. (2010). Trajectories
of behavioral adjustment following early placement in foster care: Predicting
stability and change over 8 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child
& Adolescent Psychiatry,49, 464473.
Rothbart, M. K., Posner, M. I., & Kieras, J. (2006). Temperament, attention,
and the development of self-regulation. In K. McCartney & D. Phillips
(Eds.), Blackwell handbook of early childhood development. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing.
Schultz, D., Izard, C. E., Ackerman, B. P., & Youngstrom, E. A. (2001).
Emotion knowledge in economically disadvantaged children: Self-
regulatory antecedents and relations to social difficulties and withdrawal.
Development and Psychopathology,13,5367.
Shaw, D. S., Hyde, L. W., & Brennan, L. M. (2012). Early predictors
of boysantisocial trajectories. Development and Psychopathology,24,
871888.
Sterba, S. K., Prinstein, M. J., & Cox, M. J. (2007). Trajectories of internalizing
problems across childhood: Heterogeneity, external validity, and gender dif-
ferences. Development and Psychopathology,19, 345366.
Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., Cicchetti, D., Hentges, R. F., & Coe, J. L.
(2017). Family instability and childrens effortful control in the context of
poverty: Sometimes a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Development and Psychopathology,29, 685696.
Tremblay, R. E. (2010). Developmental origins of disruptive behaviour prob-
lems: The original sinhypothesis, epigenetics and their consequences for
prevention. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,51, 341367.
Trentacosta, C. J., & Fine, S. E. (2010). Emotion knowledge, social competence,
and behavior problems in childhood and adolescence: A metaanalytic
review. Social Development,19(1), 129.
Development and Psychopathology 17
Trim,R.S.,Meehan,B.T.,King,K.M.,&Chassin,L.(2007).Therelationbetween
adolescent substance use and young adult internalizing symptoms: Findings
from a high-risk longitudinal sample. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,21,97.
Vermunt, J. K. (2010). Latent class modeling with covariates: Two improved
three-step approaches. Political Analysis,18, 450469.
Wechsler, D. (1989). WPPSI-R: Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.
San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Wiggins, J. L., Mitchell, C., Hyde, L. W., & Monk, C. S. (2015). Identifying
early pathways of risk and resilience: The codevelopment of internalizing
and externalizing symptoms and the role of harsh parenting.
Development and Psychopathology,27, 12951312.
Wu, J., Witkiewitz, K., McMahon, R. J., Dodge, K. A., & Conduct Problems
Prevention Research Group. (2010). A parallel process growth mixture
model of conduct problems and substance use with risky sexual behavior.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence,111, 207214.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Shirtcliff, E. A., & Marceau, K. (2008). Disorders of child-
hood and adolescence: Gender and psychopathology. Annual Review of
Clinical Psychology,4, 275303.
18 K. I. Ip et al.
... In depression, blunted positive affect and anhedonia are associated with altered reward sensitivity [12], resulting in risk aversion [13], whereas individuals with anxiety may struggle to learn from reward-response contingencies due to heightened sensitivity to loss and punishment [14]. Therefore, positioning SR within the RDoC framework and studying processes within each domain (cognitive, positive/negative valence) could offer a consistent terminology to integrate findings and operationalise areas of difficulty which may be associated with problems in regulating cognition, attention, emotions and behaviour in children with emerging clinical symptoms [15,16]. ...
... The current study utilised a sample of children identified by teachers as having cognitive, emotional or behavioural problems at school to (1) examine to what extent young children exhibit difficulties in cognitive control and decision-making, (2) identify constructs extracted from a range of cognitive control and decision-making task-based measures and (3) examine how these constructs are dimensionally linked to severity of ADHD, ODD, anxiety and depression whilst controlling for co-occurring symptoms. There is limited research which has used a factor analytic approach to collectively examine cognitive, positive and negative valence RDoC processes in primary school-aged children identified by teachers; thus, no strong hypotheses were made [16]. However, we expected to be able to extract constructs that would tap into cognitive, positive and negative valence system functioning and be specifically associated with different clinical symptom dimensions. ...
... In line with previous studies, a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation was used to create constructs from the different tasks [16]. All moderate-tohigh risk children were included in this analysis (n = 212). ...
Article
Full-text available
Self-regulation (SR) difficulties are implicated in a wide range of disorders which develop in childhood, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiance disorder (ODD), anxiety and depression. However, the integration of the existing research evidence is challenging because of varying terminology and the wide range of tasks used, as well as the heterogeneity and comorbidity within and across diagnostic categories. The current study used the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework to guide the examination of different SR processes in young children showing a wide range of symptomatology. Children (aged 4–8) referred by teachers for moderate-to-high conduct, hyperactivity and/or emotional problems at school (assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) subscales; n = 212), and children in SDQ typical ranges (n = 30) completed computerised cognitive control and decision-making tasks. Parents completed questionnaires to assess ADHD, ODD, anxiety and depression symptoms (n = 191). Compared to children with no teacher-reported difficulties, those with moderate-to-high problems showed poorer visuomotor control and decision-making. A factor analysis revealed that task variables adhered to RDoC dimensions and predicted variance in specific disorders: difficulties in cognitive control predicted ADHD symptoms, low reward-seeking was associated with depression and high reward-seeking was associated with ODD. This study highlights how the assessment of cognitive processes positioned within the RDoC framework can inform our understanding of disorder-specific and transdiagnostic difficulties in SR which are associated with diverse clinical symptoms in children.
... Likewise, C. Izard et al. (2001) found that both emotion recognition and labeling at age 5 predicted internalizing, but not externalizing behavior problems, at age 9. In a recently study, Ip et al. (2019) found that a composite of emotion labeling and situation knowledge assessed from ages 2.5 to 4 years, but not a measure of emotion recognition during this same timeframe, increased the likelihood that a child would show initially severe but decreasing externalizing and internalizing problems from ages 3 to 10. In a meta-analysis across 11 emotion knowledge studies with children ages 3-5, Trentacosta and Fine (2010) found nearly identical effect sizes for preschoolers' externalizing and internalizing behavior problems (r = −.15 vs. −.17), ...
... Consistent with prior research highlighting the adaptive nature of emotion knowledge (Trentacosta & Fine, 2010), children's emotion labeling, but not recognition, skills predicted decreased behavior problems over time. This pattern is consistent with those of Ip et al. (2019) who found that a composite of preschoolers' emotion labeling and situation knowledge, but not a measure of emotion recognition, increased the likelihood that a child would show decreasing externalizing and internalizing problems across childhood (ages 3-10). As compared to other emotion knowledge facets, children's capacities to correctly label emotions may be especially important for self-regulation (Halberstadt et al., 2001). ...
Article
Full-text available
Children’s emotion knowledge encompasses abilities to recognize and label emotions in the service of positive adaptation. Drawing on a sociodemographically diverse sample of 250 children (50% female sex assigned at birth; Mage_W1 = 49.02 months, SD = 2.99) and their maternal caregivers (55.6% Latina; 37.6% poverty), this study evaluated a multiple mediation model to integrate heretofore distinct bodies of research examining (a) parenting effects on the development of emotion knowledge and (b) emotion knowledge effects on socioemotional adaptation. Observations of maternal supportive presence at age 4 predicted increases in children’s emotion recognition and labeling from ages 4 to 8. However, only emotion labeling skills explained children’s behavioral adjustment outcomes with a significant pathway from supportive parenting at age 4 to fewer externalizing and internalizing behavior problems at age 10 via improved emotion labeling skills. These findings suggest that emotion knowledge, particularly labeling skills, partially explains the protective impact of supportive parenting on behavioral adaptation across childhood. Prevention and intervention efforts should target both supportive parenting practices and emotion knowledge skill development to support children’s socioemotional functioning and reduce behavior problems.
... Children with more developed socio-emotional and selfregulation competencies are also more likely to engage in behaviors that support their own learning such as asking questions and persevering on difficult tasks. Children with less developed socio-emotional competencies are less likely to have positive peer and school experiences and are at increased risk of academic failure and poorer mental health outcomes (e.g., Ip et al., 2019). ...
Article
Full-text available
For parents of preschoolers, parent education typically aims to support children's transition to school. A module of the Tender Shoots parent-mediated preventive intervention called Rich Reading and Reminiscing (RRR) encourages elaborative parent-child interactions during shared reading and reminiscing. One year after participation in a preschool randomized controlled trial, RRR was compared as part of an RCT to another shared reading module focusing on phonological awareness (Strengthening Sound Sensitivity; SSS) and a non-shared reading activity-based control (ABC) to evaluate benefits after school entry. Parents and children (N = 55) reminisced about a positive and a negative past event. Teachers completed ratings of children's competencies, and children completed a battery of socio-emotional and self-regulation tasks. Compared to the activity-based control, participation in RRR was associated with greater parental evaluative language in the positive event and higher teacher ratings of some socio-emotional measures. Findings highlight specific benefits of RRR one year after implementation, including benefits for starting school. Educational relevance statement: Parents who participated in a preventive intervention, Rich Reading and Reminiscing, with their preschool children displayed higher quality reminiscing conversations with their children one year later compared to parents who participated in other conditions with their preschool children. Children who participated in Rich Reading and Reminiscing as preschoolers received higher ratings of participating and contributing in their classrooms by their primary school teachers compared to children who participated in the other conditions. Findings of benefits for children's engagement as learners in their primary school classrooms add to the educational relevance of the evaluation of preventive interventions with parents of preschool children. Educational implications include recognition of parent-child interactions as early learning contexts for young children, providing opportunities for family engagement efforts that can yield benefits for children as learners in the classroom.
... Alternatively, the finding could reflect that internalizing problems may be characterized by over-regulation (Murray & Kochanska, 2002). The finding that there was no association between immediacy preference and unique externalizing problems was contrary to what many studies have found (e.g., Ip et al., 2019;Krueger et al., 1996). However, these studies have not examined the association between immediacy preference and unique externalizing problems by controlling for the general factor of psychopathology. ...
Article
Full-text available
Reactive and control processes – e.g., negative emotionality and immediacy preference – may predict distinct psychopathology trajectories. However, externalizing and internalizing problems change in behavioral manifestation across development and across contexts, thus necessitating the use of different measures and informants across ages. This is the first study that created developmental scales for both internalizing and externalizing problems by putting scores from different informants and measures onto the same scale to examine temperament facets as risk factors. Multidimensional linking allowed us to examine trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems from ages 2 to 15 years (N = 1,364) using near-annual ratings by mothers, fathers, teachers, other caregivers, and self report. We examined reactive and control processes in early childhood as predictors of the trajectories and as predictors of general versus specific psychopathology in adolescence. Negative emotionality at age 4 predicted general psychopathology and unique externalizing problems at age 15. Wait times on an immediacy preference task at age 4 were negatively associated with age 15 general psychopathology, and positively associated with unique internalizing problems. Findings demonstrate the value of developmental scaling for examining development of psychopathology across a lengthy developmental span and the importance of considering reactive and control processes in development of psychopathology.
... Existe un consenso acerca de las graves consecuencias que supone la conducta de rechazo escolar para el ámbito personal, académico y social, tanto a corto como a largo plazo (Gonzálvez et al., 2023;Kearney et al., 2019;Maynard et al., 2018). Así pues, la literatura científica ha arrogado evidencias sobre cómo esta afecta al desarrollo de rasgos psicopatológicos (Askeland et al., 2020;Gonzálvez et al., 2022;Leduc et al, 2022;Li et al., 2021;Tekin y Aydin, 2022), los cuales, a su vez, muestran una correlación con la autorregulación emocional disfuncional (Brenning et al., 2022;Ip et al., 2019;Lawler et al., 2023). Sin embargo, poseer una la regulación emocional y ser asertivo durante la infancia y la adolescencia son dos aspectos fundamentales para disfrutar de bienestar mental en la etapa adulta (Plantade-Gipch et al., 2023). ...
Article
Full-text available
El rechazo escolar es una actitud negativa reiterada hacia la asistencia y/o permanencia en el centro durante todo el día escolar. Entre sus graves consecuencias destaca el desarrollo de psicopatologías, las cuales podrían reducirse teniendo una adecuada regulación emocional y siendo asertivo. Acerca de la asertividad, aunque se considera una de las dificultades interpersonales más recurrentes en la adolescencia, no existen evidencias empíricas sobre cómo afecta al rechazo escolar. Por ello, el objetivo principal de este estudio se centró analizar las diferencias entre los perfiles de rechazo escolar y la asertividad en una muestra de 847 adolescentes españoles de entre 15 y 18 años. Para ello, se emplearon la School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised y el Cuestionario de Evaluación de Dificultades Interpersonales en la Adolescencia. Se compararon las puntuaciones medias entre los perfiles con altas y bajas puntuaciones para cada factor de la SRAS-R en base a la dificultad para ser asertivo. Entre los adolescentes que puntuaban alto y bajo en los dos primeros factores, hubo diferencias estadísticamente significativas respecto a la asertividad con magnitudes moderadas y pequeñas, respectivamente. Se discuten las posibles explicaciones e implicaciones para la Psicología de la Educación.
... In our primary analyses, we modeled this sum continuously, with higher scores indicating more problem behaviors. There were three reasons to focus on this single overall metric of problem behavior: we reduced the number of statistical tests; conceptually it is aligned with evidence of co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in young children (Gilliom and Shaw 2004;Ip et al., 2019;Willner et al., 2016); and it has a high reliability at this age (Rescorla et al., 2011). Additionally, we examined the scores dichotomously with cutoffs based on form-specific normalized total problem scores at or above borderline clinical (84th percentile) and clinical (90th percentile) thresholds. ...
Article
Full-text available
Prenatal exposures to chemical and psychosocial stressors can impact the developing brain, but few studies have examined their joint effects. We examined associations between prenatal phthalate exposures and child behavior, hypothesizing that prenatal stressful life events (PSLEs) may exacerbate risks. To do so, we harmonized data from three U.S. pregnancy cohorts comprising the ECHO-PATHWAYS consortium. Phthalate metabolites were measured in single mid-pregnancy urine samples. When children were ages 4–6 years, mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), from which a Total Problems score was calculated. Mothers additionally provided recall on their exposure to 14 PSLEs during pregnancy. Primary models examined problem behaviors in relation to: (1) phthalate mixtures calculated through weighted quantile sums regression with permutation test-derived p-values; and (2) joint exposure to phthalate mixtures and PSLEs (counts) using interaction terms. We subsequently refitted models stratified by child sex. Secondarily, we fit linear and logistic regression models examining individual phthalate metabolites. In our main, fully adjusted models (n = 1536 mother–child dyads), we observed some evidence of weak main effects of phthalate mixtures on problem behaviors in the full cohort and stratified by child sex. Interaction models revealed unexpected relationships whereby greater gestational exposure to PSLEs predicted reduced associations between some phthalates (e.g., the metabolites of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, di-n-octyl phthalate, di-iso-nonyl phthalate) and problem behaviors, particularly in males. Few associations were observed in females. Additional research is needed to replicate results and examine potential mechanisms.
... The transition from childhood to adolescence is one of profound biopsychosocial development (Crone & Dahl, 2012), which is concomitant with increased risk for psychiatric disorders (Kessler et al., 2001). Recent approaches, including the research domain criteria (RDoC) framework (Insel et al., 2010;Ip et al., 2019), advocate for examining dimensionality in symptomology, which has high utility in developmental samples with emergent ...
Article
Full-text available
Psychiatric disorders frequently emerge during adolescence, with girls at nearly twice the risk compared to boys. These sex differences have been linked to structural brain differences in association regions, which undergo profound development during childhood and adolescence. However, the relationship between functional activity in these cortical regions and the emergence of psychiatric disorders more broadly remains poorly understood. Herein, we investigated whether differences in internalizing and externalizing symptoms among youth are related to multispectral spontaneous neural activity. Spontaneous cortical activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 105 typically-developing youth (9-15 years-old; 54 female) during eyes-closed rest. The strength of spontaneous neural activity within canonical frequency bands was estimated at each cortical vertex. The resulting functional maps were submitted to vertex-wise regressions to identify spatially specific effects whereby sex moderated the relationship between externalizing and internalizing symptoms, age, and spontaneous neural activity. The interaction between sex, age, and internalizing symptoms was significant in the theta frequency band, wherein theta activity was weaker for older relative to younger girls (but not boys) with greater internalizing symptoms. This relationship was strongest in the temporoparietal junction, with areas of the cingulate cortex exhibiting a similar relationship. The moderating role of sex on the relationship between age, internalizing symptoms, and spontaneous theta activity predominantly implicated association cortices. The negative relationship between theta and internalizing symptoms may reflect negative rumination with anxiety and depression. The specificity of this effect to older girls may reflect the selective emergence of psychiatric symptoms during adolescence in this subgroup.
Article
Purpose of review Perinatal mental health research provides an important perspective on neurobehavioral development. Here, we aim to review the association of maternal perinatal health with offspring neurodevelopment, providing an update on (self-)regulation problems, hypothesized mechanistic pathways, progress and challenges, and implications for mental health. Recent findings (1) Meta-analyses confirm that maternal perinatal mental distress is associated with (self-)regulation problems which constitute cognitive, behavioral, and affective social-emotional problems, while exposure to positive parental mental health has a positive impact. However, effect sizes are small. (2) Hypothesized mechanistic pathways underlying this association are complex. Interactive and compensatory mechanisms across developmental time are neglected topics. (3) Progress has been made in multiexposure studies. However, challenges remain and these are shared by clinical, translational and public health sciences. (4) From a mental healthcare perspective, a multidisciplinary and system level approach employing developmentally-sensitive measures and timely treatment of (self-)regulation and coregulation problems in a dyadic caregiver-child and family level approach seems needed. The existing evidence-base is sparse. Summary During the perinatal period, addressing vulnerable contexts and building resilient systems may promote neurobehavioral development. A pluralistic approach to research, taking a multidisciplinary approach to theoretical models and empirical research needs to be fostered.
Chapter
This chapter gives an account of the research that has been undertaken on externalising problems concentrating on antisocial/delinquent behaviours, aggression, and psychopathy. The development of these problems is described and their social and biological risk factors assessed. The evidence on genetic influences on each type of externalising problem is reviewed. Studies on the efficacy of a number of interventions to aid children and adolescents experiencing externalising problems are presented. The possible reasons why internalising and externalising problems tend to co-occur are outlined.
Article
Full-text available
Effortful control has been demonstrated to have important ramifications for children's self-regulation and social–emotional adjustment. However, there are wide socioeconomic disparities in children's effortful control, with impoverished children displaying heightened difficulties. The current study was designed to demonstrate how instability within the proximal rearing context of young children may serve as a key operant on the development of children's effortful control in the context of poverty. Two separate studies were conducted that included samples of children living within homes characterized by heightened economic risk. In Study 1, we tested the differential prediction of family instability on two domains of children's effortful control: cool effortful control and delay control. Consistent with hypotheses, elevated instability was associated with decreased hot effortful control but not cool effortful control over the span of 2 years. In Study 2, we examined how children's basal cortisol activity may account for associations between heightened instability and effortful control in reward tasks. The results were consistent with sensitization models, suggesting that elevated cortisol activity arising from increased uncertainty and unpredictability in rearing contexts may influence children's hot effortful control. The findings are interpreted within emerging evolutionary–developmental frameworks of child development.
Article
Full-text available
The study explored the total, direct and indirect effects of emotion knowledge on adjustment in preschoolers and examined whether emotion regulation mediated the relationships between emotion knowledge and adjustment (social competence, and behavioral difficulties, such as anxiety–withdrawal and anger–aggression). Two hundred forty children (118 boys and 122 girls) from 3 to 5 years of age (mean age = 4.23, SD = .80) were administered a vocabulary test to check their verbal ability and a measure of emotion knowledge. Teachers filled out two questionnaires about children’s regulation and adjustment variables. A mediation model was tested combined with an assessment of the indirect effects to evaluate whether emotion knowledge may exert an influence on adjustment through the intervention of emotion regulation. Results showed that all conditions for full mediation were met for social competence and anxiety–withdrawal, confirming the mediation role of emotion regulation in the relationship between emotion knowledge and these variables. Moreover, results indicated that emotion knowledge and anger–aggression were not directly associated as they would be in case of full or partial mediation, but they were however indirectly related through a significant linking with emotion regulation. Findings may have potential implications for prevention and intervention programs in family and school contexts, suggesting how early childhood programs targeting emotion knowledge may be especially beneficial to promote social competence and prevent behavioral problems, above all if they include other emotion-related competences, such as emotion regulation, that may be considered the linking mechanism through which emotion knowledge exerts an influence on adjustment.
Article
Preventing problem behavior requires an understanding of earlier factors that are amenable to intervention. The main goals of our prospective longitudinal study were to trace trajectories of child externalizing behavior between ages 3 and 10 years, and to identify patterns of developmentally significant child and parenting risk factors that differentiated pathways of problem behavior. Participants were 218 3-year-old boys and girls who were reassessed following the transition to kindergarten (age 5–6 years) and during the late school-age years (age 10). Mothers contributed ratings of children's externalizing behavior at all three time points. Children's self-regulation abilities and theory of mind were assessed during a laboratory visit, and parenting risk (frequent corporal punishment and low maternal warmth) was assessed using interview-based and questionnaire measures. Four developmental trajectories of externalizing behavior yielded the best balance of parsimony and fit with our longitudinal data and latent class growth analysis. Most young children followed a pathway marked by relatively low levels of symptoms that continued to decrease across the school-age years. Atypical trajectories marked chronically high, increasing, and decreasing levels of externalizing problems across early and middle childhood. Three-year-old children with low levels of effortful control were far more likely to show the chronic pattern of elevated externalizing problems than changing or low patterns. Early parental corporal punishment and maternal warmth, respectively, differentiated preschoolers who showed increasing and decreasing patterns of problem behavior compared to the majority of children. The fact that children's poor effortful regulation skills predicted chronic early onset problems reinforces the need for early childhood screening and intervention services.
Article
Background: Self-regulation (SR) is central to developmental psychopathology, but progress has been impeded by varying terminology and meanings across fields and literatures. Methods: The present review attempts to move that discussion forward by noting key sources of prior confusion such as measurement-concept confounding, and then arguing the following major points. Results: First, the field needs a domain-general construct of SR that encompasses SR of action, emotion, and cognition and involves both top-down and bottom-up regulatory processes. This does not assume a shared core process across emotion, action, and cognition, but is intended to provide clarity on the extent of various claims about kinds of SR. Second, top-down aspects of SR need to be integrated. These include (a) basic processes that develop early and address immediate conflict signals, such as cognitive control and effortful control (EC), and (b) complex cognition and strategies for addressing future conflict, represented by the regulatory application of complex aspects of executive functioning. Executive function (EF) and cognitive control are not identical to SR because they can be used for other activities, but account for top-down aspects of SR at the cognitive level. Third, impulsivity, risk-taking, and disinhibition are distinct although overlapping; a taxonomy of the kinds of breakdowns of SR associated with psychopathology requires their differentiation. Fourth, different aspects of the SR universe can be organized hierarchically in relation to granularity, development, and time. Low-level components assemble into high-level components. This hierarchical perspective is consistent across literatures. Conclusions: It is hoped that the framework outlined here will facilitate integration and cross-talk among investigators working from different perspectives, and facilitate individual differences research on how SR relates to developmental psychopathology.
Book
Understanding Girls' Problem Behavior presents an overview of recent studies by leading researchers into key aspects of the development of problem behavior in girls. Integrates interdisciplinary research into girls' problem behaviors (e.g. aggression, antisocial behavior, rule breaking). Unique in seeking to understand girls' problem behaviors in their own right. Follows the maturing girl from adolescence to adulthood, concluding at the point where she herself becomes a parent and forms new relationships. Gives attention to the critical contexts of problem behavior development-society and neighborhood, as well as family and peer contexts.
Article
Individual differences in emotionality and regulation are central to conceptions of temperament and personality. In this article, conceptions of emotionality and regulation and ways in which they predict social functioning are examined. Linear (including additive) and nonlinear effects are reviewed. In addition, data on mediational and moderational relations from a longitudinal study are presented. The effects of attention regulation on social functioning were mediated by resiliency, and this relation was moderated by negative emotionality at the first, but not second, assessment. Negative emotionality moderated the relation of behavior regulation to socially appropriate/prosocial behavior. These results highlight the importance of examining different types of regulation and the ways in which dispositional characteristics interact in predicting social outcomes.