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Children's skin conductance reactivity as a mechanism of risk in the context of parental depressive symptoms
Author(s) -
Cummings E. Mark,
ElSheikh Mona,
Kouros Chrystyna D.,
Keller Peggy S.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01713.x
Subject(s) - psychology , skin conductance , context (archaeology) , mechanism (biology) , depressive symptoms , reactivity (psychology) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , anxiety , pathology , philosophy , epistemology , paleontology , alternative medicine , biomedical engineering , biology
Background: Children's physiological reactivity was examined as a moderator of relations between parental dysphoria and child adjustment problems, addressing gaps in the study of child characteristics as risk processes. Method: One hundred fifty‐seven children (86 boys, 71 girls) were assessed twice over a two‐year interval. Skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) to inter‐adult argument and problem‐solving tasks was observed. Results: SCLR moderated longitudinal predictions of children's internalizing, externalizing and social adjustment problems, especially for paternal rather than maternal dysphoria. Higher SCLR predicted greater vulnerability to parental depressive symptomatology. Conclusions: Findings highlight that individual differences in children's physiological reactivity may relate to risk for adjustment problems in the context of parental depressive symptoms.