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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
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Parenting stress and externalizing behavior symptoms in children: the impact of emotional reactivity

Giulia Buodo1, Ughetta Moscardino, Sara Scrimin

  • 1Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padua, Italy, giulia.buodo@unipd.it.

Child Psychiatry and Human Development
|February 26, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Parenting stress increases externalizing behaviors in children with lower emotional reactivity (indexed by skin conductance responses - SCRs). Children with higher SCRs showed no link between parenting stress and externalizing behaviors.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Psychophysiology

Background:

  • Parenting stress is a known risk factor for child externalizing behaviors.
  • Children's emotional reactivity may influence this relationship.
  • Skin conductance responses (SCRs) are objective physiological measures of emotional reactivity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if children's emotional reactivity moderates the association between parenting stress and externalizing behaviors.
  • To examine the role of skin conductance responses (SCRs) in this moderation.

Main Methods:

  • 61 children (9-12 years) and their mothers participated.
  • Mothers reported on parenting stress and child externalizing symptoms.
  • Children reported their own externalizing behaviors.
  • Children's SCRs were measured during emotional picture viewing.
  • Cluster analysis identified groups with lower and higher SCRs.

Main Results:

  • Children with lower SCRs showed increased externalizing symptoms with higher parenting stress.
  • Children with higher SCRs did not exhibit a significant link between parenting stress and externalizing symptoms.
  • Parenting stress specifically impacted externalizing behaviors in children with lower physiological emotional reactivity.

Conclusions:

  • Children with lower emotional reactivity (lower SCRs) are more vulnerable to externalizing problems when experiencing higher parenting stress.
  • Emotional reactivity, measured by SCRs, plays a moderating role in the parenting stress-externalizing behavior link.
  • Findings highlight the importance of considering physiological emotional responses in understanding child behavior development.

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