RESEARCH
FAMILY-WIDE EMOTION DYNAMICS
Emotions are central to our behaviours, interactions with others, and day-to-day functioning. Children who do not develop good emotion-related skills (i.e., the ability to identify, label, and properly regulate emotional experiences) are at great risk for poor academic, social, and psychological functioning. It is thus critical to understand how society can facilitate children’s development of good emotion skills and the precise processes underlying this development. In this research, we apply longitudinal methods and innovative, state-of-the-art technology to answer complex and substantive questions about how emotion dynamics in the family contribute to children’s emotional development. Family emotion dynamics refers to the patterns and trajectories with which family members’ emotions, or one or more of their subcomponents (i.e., experiential, physiological, and behavioural components) fluctuate across time. The family-wide approach is concerned with how each family members’ emotions unfold in real-time, influence one another, and influence other family members. Overarching objectives of the proposed research are: Objective 1: Understand how family emotion dynamics develop longitudinally and contribute to children’s development of emotion regulation skills. Objective 2: Understand how family members’ day-to-day emotion experiences co-occur, influence one another, and influence children’s emotion regulation. This research is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant.
EMOTION REGULATION AS A MECHANISM OF CHANGE IN YOUTH PSYCHOTHERAPY
Mental health problems are a pressing concern facing children today. Research shows that evidence-based psychotherapies for children’s mental health problems are only moderately effective, and as many as 50% of children will fail to respond to treatment or will drop out of treatment. There is thus significant room for improvement. One way to improve outcomes for children and their families is to understand how psychotherapy works for children and to make personalized adjustments to optimize their effectiveness. The proposed research will investigate the biobehavioral regulation of negative emotion as a mechanism of children’s response to psychotherapy for anxiety, depression, and behaviour problems. We will apply machine learning models to characterize how emotion regulation varies throughout the course of treatment. The research brings together an interdisciplinary research team of highly qualified researchers and knowledge users with expertise in child psychopathology, clinical research, machine learning, and knowledge translation. The proposed research is of utmost importance to the health sector, and particularly to children with lived experience and mental health agencies who serve these children and their families. The application of machine learning to mental health research is an innovative and leading-edge approach that stands to directly inform ways to tailor and personalize child psychotherapies. This is a necessary first step towards patient-oriented care pathways that tailor combinations of interventions to patient mental health needs to lead to a stronger (i.e., more effective and efficient) mental healthcare system. This research is funded by a CIHR Project Grant.
DEVELOPMENTAL COURSE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL REGULATION CAPACITY IN YOUTH
The proposed research will examine the stability of autonomic nervous system activity and its functional impact on the biobehavioural regulation of emotion in youth spanning middle childhood to adolescence. The research will also examine a construct proposed to be closely related to regulation – emotion granularity (i.e., the ability to identify nuanced distinctions between emotions). Together, these objectives will inform integrated models of normative emotion regulation in youth during an essential developmental
period. To achieve these aims, youth will visit the laboratory and participate in a range of well-established tasks designed during which real-time observations of behaviour, autonomic nervous system activity (i.e., heart rate variability and skin conductance level), and self ratings of emotion will be collected. Then, youth will be followed longitudinally to measure the developmental course of biobehavioural emotion regulation. Finally, real-life, day-to-day variation in emotion and physiology will be examined in youth’s natural environment by having youth wear the innovative Empatica E4 wristband during 10 consecutive days. This wristband acquires physiological signals and will shed light on the nuanced interplay between physiological functioning, regulation and emotion granularity. This research is funded by a NSERC Discovery Grant.
period. To achieve these aims, youth will visit the laboratory and participate in a range of well-established tasks designed during which real-time observations of behaviour, autonomic nervous system activity (i.e., heart rate variability and skin conductance level), and self ratings of emotion will be collected. Then, youth will be followed longitudinally to measure the developmental course of biobehavioural emotion regulation. Finally, real-life, day-to-day variation in emotion and physiology will be examined in youth’s natural environment by having youth wear the innovative Empatica E4 wristband during 10 consecutive days. This wristband acquires physiological signals and will shed light on the nuanced interplay between physiological functioning, regulation and emotion granularity. This research is funded by a NSERC Discovery Grant.
EFFICACY OF EMOTION-FOCUSED FAMILY THERAPY
Influenced by Emotion Focused Therapy and a family-systems approach to treatment, EFFT is an experiential and skill-based intervention that aims to support parents in actively supporting their child to overcome their mental health symptoms, with a focus on the role of emotion processing in their child’s symptomology. Previous research has shown promise for a 2-day group modality of EFFT, but further empirical investigation is required to assess the efficacy of EFFT, especially through different modes of delivery. In this project, parents of children with a variety of mental health difficulties will be recruited to participate in the newly developed multiple week group EFFT intervention at the Maplewoods Centre for Family Therapy and Child Psychology at the University of Guelph. To assess the efficacy of this EFFT modality, parents’ functioning (parent emotion regulation, symptoms, self-efficacy, emotional blocks) and emotion parenting practices, their child’s emotion regulation and symptoms, and parent-child co-regulation will be measured pre- and post-treatment. Outcomes will also be measured four months post-treatment to examine whether parent and child gains from EFFT are maintained.
PARENTAL BELIEFS ABOUT EMOTION
Children’s emotional functioning is key to their adaptation, and the ways children learn about emotions is largely shaped by parents through a process called emotion socialization. A considerable amount of research has been conducted on parents’ emotion socialization practices, which has led to significant advances in the study of child emotion and parenting. Globalization has led to significant economic and social changes, which have undoubtedly impacted the family domain (Simon & Nath, 2004). The discrete boundaries that once existed between traditional gender roles are now less distinct. It is therefore critical to continue building on standing parenting research in hopes of delineating ways parenting practices may have transformed through shifts in modern day society. The initial project, funded by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, is completed. However, the lab is continuing research on parental emotion beliefs in other projects.
USE OF THE TRIER SOCIAL STRESS TEST (TSST) IN RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
This project entails an extensive review of the literature looking at the use of the Trier Social Stress Test in research with children and adolescents. The TSST is a lab task that requires participants to deliver a speech in front of a panel of “experts and evaluators.” As you can imagine, this task is used to induce anxiety in participants. Students working on this project participate in standardized searches for articles that have used this task. Students also code articles for inclusion/exclusion criteria in this meta-analytic review. Finally, students can focus on a research question of interest related to the use of this task in research and can write their thesis in the form of a review addressing this question. Opportunities to learn about and observe the coding of videos where children and adolescents participate in this task might also be available.
USING PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF EMOTION IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
This project consists of an ongoing treatment effectiveness trial being completed in collaboration with John R. Weisz at Harvard University. As part of the trial, children/adolescents and their caregivers are monitored throughout their course of outpatient mental health treatment. At pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 18 months after the start of treatment, children’s symptoms are assessed. Children also participate in a variety of tasks designed to examine their emotions and capacity for regulating emotions. These variables are measured using questionnaires, behavioral observations, and physiological measures.
EXAMINATION OF NONSUICIDAL SELF INJURY IN AN INPATIENT SAMPLE OF ADOLESCENT YOUTH
Data collection for this study is complete. As part of this project, students have access to a dataset consisting of a host of variables related to adolescent emotion, coping, and self-harm, which were obtained from questionnaires completed by adolescents during their stay on an acute care inpatient unit. Students interested in this opportunity will be asked to participate in literature reviews, preparation of data, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.