Relationships between affective states and childhood internalizing disorders

Inmaculada Montoya-Castilla; Silvia Postigo; Vicente Prado-Gascó; Marian Pérez-Marín

doi:10.1016/j.apnu.2018.03.013

Relationships between affective states and childhood internalizing disorders

Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2018 Aug;32(4):591-598. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2018.03.013. Epub 2018 Mar 14.

Authors

Inmaculada Montoya-Castilla¹, Silvia Postigo², Vicente Prado-Gascó³, Marian Pérez-Marín⁴

Affiliations

¹ Personality, Assesment and Psychological Treatment Department, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de València, Spain. Electronic address: inmaculada.montoya@uv.es.
² Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, European University of Valencia, Spain.
³ Social Psychology Department, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de València, Spain.
⁴ Personality, Assesment and Psychological Treatment Department, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de València, Spain.

PMID: 30029753
DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2018.03.013

Abstract

Internalizing disorders are mainly defined as psychosomatic, anxiety and depression problems. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between dairy affective states and internalizing disorders in early adolescence (10-12 years old), considering the influence of sex. The participants of the study were 367 children aged between 10 and 12 (190 girls and 177 boys). The results showed that fear was the best predictor for all internalizing disorders, and the only common predictor for all of them. The prediction of boys' internalizing disorders was based only in fear, whereas the prediction for girls involved more variables besides fear. An early detection/regulation of these affective states (particularly fear) may be useful for the prevention and treatment of child internalizing disorders.

Keywords: Affect/emotion; Anxiety; Depression; Early adolescence; Internalizing disorders.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anxiety / etiology*
Child
Depression / etiology*
Emotions / physiology*
Fear / physiology
Fear / psychology
Female
Humans
Male
Sex Factors