Naomi V. Ekas, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by candidate): Emotion regulation is a critical component of social development and disruptions in the development of emotion regulation underlie many disorders. Although there is much research investigating the early development of emotion regulation in typically developing children, there is a paucity of research investigating these processes in children at risk for developmental disabilities. Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit lower levels of emotion regulation as compared to typically developing children. Infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder are at an increased risk for the development of disorders and subclinical deficits that impair emotional functioning. Using a developmental psychopathology perspective, this longitudinal project proposes to examine the developmental trajectories of emotion regulation across the first three years of life in two groups of children: low-risk infants with a typically developing older sibling and high- risk infants with an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder. At 6 months of age infants and their mothers will participate in the face-to-face/still-face paradigm and the temporal associations between infant facial expressions and gaze direction will be examined. It is hypothesized that infants in the high-risk group will be less effective in regulating their emotions. For example, high-risk infants are expected to show higher negative affect during and after looking away from their parent during the still-face episode. Similar relationships will also be examined during the second and third year when toddlers participate in a frustrating prohibition task. The developmental trajectories of emotion regulation from 6 months to the third year will be examined. It is hypothesized that there will be developmental continuity in both groups. Finally, the project will use infant and toddler emotion regulation to predict individual differences in developmental outcomes during the third year, including social competence. The role of intrinsic (e.g. temperament) and extrinsic (e.g. parental sensitivity) factors in conditioning the aforementioned relationships will be explored. To achieve these goals, 150 infant siblings of typically developing children and 75 infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder will participate in the project. This project is the first to systematically examine the emergence of emotion regulation in children at-risk for the development of varying levels of autism symptomatology. The present project is an important first step to understanding the origins of individual differences that set infants on diverse paths of vulnerability or resilience to later risk, and will provide the trainee with exceptional research experience and development in areas related to child health. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Investigating the emergence of emotion regulation among both low risk and high risk children will provide insight into how these processes go awry in children with autism spectrum disorder. Examination of the developmental trajectories of emotion regulation may help to inform early intervention programs and shed light on the emergence of autism symptomatology.

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk for internalizing symptoms?which are the leading burden of disease worldwide among children?and their families are at greater risk of experiencing family conflict and marital discord. However, researchers have not systematically investigated the link between lower quality family relationships and children's internalizing symptoms. Moreover, there is also a knowledge gap in how heterogeneity in ASD symptom severity may place some children with ASD at increased risk for internalizing symptoms. These knowledge gaps are critical because, until they are filled, society's ability to understand the complexities of, and ultimately prevent, comorbid internalizing symptoms will remain beyond reach. The long-term goal is to reduce the rates of comorbid internalizing symptoms in children with ASD. The objective in this application is to explicate the longitudinal link between family relationships?which are often affected in families raising a child with ASD?and children's comorbid internalizing symptoms. The central hypothesis is that accounting for heterogeneity in ASD symptom severity and investigating children's responses to negative family interactions will increase understanding of how and for whom lower quality family relationships pose a risk for internalizing symptoms. The rationale for the proposed research is that its successful completion will contribute new knowledge critical for developing interventions that are targeted toward children most at risk for elevated comorbid internalizing symptoms and address mechanisms most salient for children with ASD. The following two specific aims will be pursued: 1) Identify those children with ASD who are most vulnerable to exhibiting comorbid internalizing symptoms in the context of lower quality family relationships based on ASD symptom severity; and 2) Identify the extent to which mechanisms underlying the longitudinal association between lower quality family relationships and comorbid internalizing symptoms, previously identified in typically-developing children, extend to children with ASD, and the extent to which ASD symptom severity moderates these relations. The PIs' preliminary data indicates strong feasibility of recruiting a heterogeneous sample of children with variability in ASD symptom severity, and assessing children's responses to family interactions. Building on this data, 130 children with ASD and their parents will participate in a two-wave longitudinal study over 6 months. Teachers will complete an online survey about the child at each wave. The approach is innovative because it examines heterogeneity in ASD symptom severity as a key moderating variable for identifying those children with ASD most at risk for elevated comorbid internalizing symptoms, and in comparison to the status quo of research in this area, the study utilizes a longitudinal, multi-method, multi-informant design. The proposed research is significant because this knowledge is expected to have translational importance in the prevention of internalizing symptoms in children with ASD.