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COVID-19 presents significant social, economic, and medical challenges. Because COVID-19 has already begun to precipitate huge increases in mental health problems, clinical psychological science must assert a leadership role in guiding a national response to this secondary crisis. In this article, COVID-19 is conceptualized as a unique, compounding, multidimensional stressor that will create a vast need for intervention and necessitate new paradigms for mental health service delivery and training. Urgent challenge areas across developmental periods are discussed, followed by a review of psychological symptoms that likely will increase in prevalence and require innovative solutions in both science and practice. Implications for new research directions, clinical approaches, and policy issues are discussed to highlight the opportunities for clinical psychological science to emerge as an updated, contemporary field capable of addressing the burden of mental illness and distress in the wake of COVID-19 and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Developmental models of borderline personality disorder (BPD) emphasize the effects of youths' biological vulnerabilities and their experiences of parental responses to emotion, as well as the interaction between these two elements. The current study evaluated the independent and interactive effects of two indices of autonomic nervous system response and parental responses to youth negative emotions on severity and exacerbation of youths' BPD features during the transition to adolescence. The sample consisted of 162 psychiatric youth (10–14 years; 47.2% female) and their parents. At baseline, youth and their parents completed a lab-based conflict discussion during which parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system response were measured and indices of sympathetic-parasympathetic balance and coactivation/coinhibition were calculated. Youth also reported on supportive and non-supportive parental responses. At baseline and after 9 months, youth self-reported on their BPD features. Results demonstrated that shifting toward sympathetic dominance independently predicted exacerbation of BPD across 9 months. Additionally, fewer experiences of supportive parental responses and more non-supportive parental responses were associated with greater severity of BPD features in youth. This study highlights the role of autonomic response to parent-child conflict as well as the significance of parental responses to youth emotion for the development of BPD during this developmental window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aggression is a transdiagnostic indicator of risk and represents one of the most common reasons children are referred for mental health treatment. Theory and research highlight the impact of maternal invalidation on child aggression and suggest that its influence may vary based on differences in child physiological reactivity. Moreover, the interaction between these risk factors may be particularly pronounced among children of mothers with emotion regulation (ER) difficulties. The current study examined the independent and interactive effects of maternal invalidation and child physiological reactivity to frustration on teacher-reported aggression in an at-risk sample of preschool children. Method: Participants included 77 mothers (M age = 33.17 years, s.d. = 4.83; 35% racial/ethnic minority) and their children (M age = 42.48 months; s.d. = 3.78; 56% female; 47% racial/ethnic minority). Groups of mothers with and without clinician-rated ER difficulties reported on maternal invalidation, and child respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was assessed continuously during a frustration task as an indicator of physiological reactivity. Teachers or daycare providers reported on child aggression. Results: Results demonstrated positive associations between maternal ER difficulties and both maternal invalidation and child RSA reactivity to frustration. As expected, the interaction between maternal invalidation and child RSA reactivity was significant, such that higher maternal invalidation and greater child RSA reactivity to frustration predicted more aggression in a daycare or preschool setting. Importantly, this effect was demonstrated while controlling for demographic covariates and baseline RSA. Conclusions: Findings are in line with diathesis–stress and biosocial models of risk and point to multiple targets for prevention and early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Individual variability in tonic (resting) and phasic (reactivity) respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) may underlie risk for dysregulated emotion and behavior, two transdiagnostic indicators that permeate most psychological disorders in youth. The interaction between tonic and phasic RSA may specify unique physiological profiles during the transition to adolescence. The current study utilized clinically referred youth (Mage = 12.03; s.d. = 0.92) to examine baseline RSA, RSA reactivity, and their interaction as predictors of dysregulated emotion and behavior in daily life. Method: Participants were 162 youth (47% female; 60% minority) in psychiatric treatment for any mood or behavior problem. RSA was assessed during three, 2-minute baselines and an 8-minute parent-child conflict discussion task. Dysregulated emotion and behavior were assessed during a 4-day ecological momentary assessment protocol that included 10 time-based prompts over a long weekend. Results: Greater RSA withdrawal to the conflict was associated with dysregulated basic emotion (sadness, anger, nervousness, stress) in daily life. Two distinct interactions also emerged, such that baseline RSA was related to dysregulated complex emotion (shame, guilt, loneliness, emptiness) and dysregulated behavior as a function of RSA reactivity to conflict. Lower baseline RSA and greater RSA withdrawal were associated with dysregulated complex emotion, while higher baseline RSA and greater RSA withdrawal were associated with dysregulated behavior. Conclusions: Findings point to physiological profiles that increase the risk of dysregulated emotion and behavior during the transition to adolescence. Excessive RSA withdrawal uniquely, and in combination with baseline RSA, increased risk for dysregulation in daily life, underscoring the role of autonomic stress responding as a risk factor for psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Parental invalidation is central to etiological models of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Previous studies relied on retrospective accounts or laboratory observations to examine these associations. There is a dearth of research assessing these constructs in daily life, and limited studies have tested the effect of parental invalidation on BPD symptoms during early adolescence, when BPD onsets. The current study took a dynamic approach to assess parents' validating and invalidating behavior and its effect on youths' BPD symptom expression in daily life, while accounting for parent‐perceived helpfulness of these behaviors and youth‐perceived support. Methods: A psychiatric sample of 162 early adolescents (age range = 10–14 years; 47% female) and their parent completed a four‐day ecological momentary assessment study. Parents reported on the use of validating and invalidating (e.g. punishing and ignoring) behaviors during parent–child conflict, as well as perceived helpfulness of these behaviors. Youth reported on their BPD symptoms and perceived parental support. Multilevel models were used to test the between‐ and within‐person effects of parents' validating and invalidating behaviors, parent‐perceived helpfulness and youth‐perceived support, and their interaction on youth's momentary expression of BPD symptoms. Results: At the between‐person level, invalidating behaviors, specifically punishing behaviors, were related to greater BPD symptoms in daily life, while ignoring behaviors were associated with fewer BPD symptoms. Youth‐perceived support predicted fewer BPD symptoms. Conclusions: Results underscore the importance of parental invalidation for the expression of BPD symptoms in daily life and also highlight the importance of youth's subjective experience of parental support. Findings are discussed in terms of etiological and intervention models that emphasize a dyadic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early threat exposure is a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology, and evidence suggests that genetic variation in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) moderates this association. However, it is unclear if this gene-by-environment (G×E) interaction is tied to unique risk for disorder-specific outcomes or instead increases shared risk for general psychopathology. Moreover, little is known about how this G×E interaction increases risk. The current study utilized a prospective, longitudinal sample of females (n = 2,020) to examine: (a) whether the interaction between early threat exposure and OXTR variation (rs53576, rs2254298) confers risk for disorder-specific outcomes (depression, anxiety, borderline and antisocial personality disorders) and/or general psychopathology in early adulthood; and (b) whether social–emotional deficits (emotion dysregulation, callousness, attachment quality) during adolescence constitute mediating mechanisms. Consistent with hypotheses, the interactive effects of early threat exposure and OXTR variation (rs53576) predicted general psychopathology, with threat-exposed women carrying at least one copy of the rs53576 A-allele at greatest risk. This interaction was mediated via emotional dysregulation in adolescence, with threat-exposed A-allele carriers demonstrating greater emotion dysregulation, and greater emotion dysregulation predicting general psychopathology in early adulthood. Findings suggest that this G×E places women at risk for a broad range of psychopathology via effects on emotion dysregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research suggests that labelling emotions, or describing affective states using emotion words, facilitates emotion regulation. But how much labelling promotes emotion regulation? And which emotion regulation strategies does emotion labelling promote? Drawing on cognitive theories of emotion, we predicted that labelling emotions using fewer words would be less confusing and would facilitate forms of emotion regulation requiring more cognitively demanding processing of context. Participants (N = 82) mentally immersed themselves in an emotional vignette, were randomly assigned to an exhaustive or minimal emotion labelling manipulation, and then completed an emotion regulation strategy planning task. Minimal (vs. exhaustive) emotion labelling promoted higher subjective emotional clarity. Furthermore, in terms of specific emotion regulation strategies, minimal emotion labelling prompted more plans for problem solving and marginally more plans for reappraisal, but did not affect plans for behavioural activation or social support seeking. We discuss implications for the cognitive mechanisms supporting the generation of emotion regulation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined the interactive role of affectivity and stress in substance use severity among ethnic minority, emerging adult males, using linguistic indicators of affect obtained through social media.Method: Participants were 119 emerging adult, ethnic minority males (ages 18-25) who provided access to their mobile phone text messaging and Facebook activity for 6-months. Computerized text analysis (LIWC2015) was used to obtain linguistic indices of positive and negative affect from texts and Facebook posts. The Perceived Stress Scale was used to measure stress, and items from the Drug Abuse Screening Test were used to measure substance use severity.Results: Generalized estimating equations showed that higher negative affect in texts was associated with greater substance use severity. Stress moderated the relationship between positive affect expressed in Facebook posts and substance use such that higher positive affect in Facebook posts was associated with less substance use at higher stress and greater substance use at lower stress.Conclusions: Findings highlight the complexities of interactions between stress and affectivity. Findings could inform development of substance use interventions for young males that employ social technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is associated with subjective difficulties identifying one's emotions, known as low emotional clarity, but the mediators and moderators of this relationship are not well understood. We hypothesized that the role of emotional clarity in emotion regulation and, in turn, depression depends on individual differences in negative affect intensity. In Study 1, conducted in an unselected sample (N = 119), low emotional clarity more strongly predicted depression symptoms among individuals higher in affect intensity. In Study 2, conducted in a clinically diagnosed, treatment-seeking sample ( N = 245), we examined whether affect intensity moderated an indirect path of clarity through emotion regulation strategy use that has emerged in previous work. Except when affect intensity was very low, emotional clarity predicted reappraisal, and except when affect intensity was very high, emotional clarity predicted non-acceptance and experiential avoidance. By contrast, rumination mediated associations of emotional clarity with depressive symptoms regardless of affect intensity. Findings support a process model of low emotional clarity in depression that integrates (1) emotion regulatory mediators and (2) moderation by negative affect intensity. Trait differences in affect intensity may determine whether and how emotional clarity and regulation processes factor into mood psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion differentiation (ED; the ability to distinguish discrete internal emotion states) may reflect or benefit from knowledge of linguistic labels. The present study uses natural language processing to examine how emotion vocabulary (EV; diversity of unique emotion terms within active vocabulary) relates to ED and depression in an adolescent sample. We tested two competing preregistered (https://osf.io/4j75w/) models regarding the EV-ED link. In the lexical facilitation hypothesis , we posited that larger EV may inform ED, perhaps resulting in larger EVs being associated with greater ED. In the emotional concision hypothesis , we theorized that ED may reflect narrower emotional experiences that are more succinctly labelled, which could result in larger EV being associated with lower ED. A community sample of adolescents (N = 241, ages 14-17, predominantly White) completed interviews, self-report measures, and ecological momentary assessments as part of a larger study conducted between 2014 and 2016. EV was derived using speech samples from transcribed recordings of life stress interviews. In line with the emotion concision hypothesis, EV and ED were inversely related for negative emotions. Moreover, larger negative EV and lower negative ED were each uniquely associated with depression, casting further doubt on whether diverse negative EVs within spontaneous language are fundamentally adaptive for emotional functioning. Replication in more diverse samples is needed to extend generalizability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).