Development of Emotion Regulation in Children of Bipolar Parents: Putative Contributions of Socioemotional and Familial Risk Factors.

[Clin Psychol Sci Prac 17: 169-186, 2010] Children of bipolar parents (CBP) are at increased risk to develop psychopathology, especially a mood disorder. Several factors may contribute to the increased risk for psychopathology in CBP, including family environmental variables (e.g., high levels of family conflict and dysfunctional parenting) and socioemotional cue processing deficits (e.g., inaccurate detection of facial social cues). A proposed model posits that family risk factors and socioemotional cue processing deficits may interact in conferring risk for psychopathology for CBP via their effects on the development of emotion regulation and the neural circuitry that governs this development. A developmental, transactional perspective on the impact of these risk factors provides a framework within which to examine their dynamic interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]