Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dyadic Affective Flexibility and Emotional Inertia in Relation to Youth Psychopathology: An Integrated Model at Two Timescales

  • Published:
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The current review examines characteristics of temporal affective functioning at both the individual and dyadic level. Specifically, the review examines the following three research questions: (1) How are dyadic affective flexibility and emotional inertia operationalized, and are they related to youth psychopathology? (2) How are dyadic affective flexibility and emotional inertia related, and does this relation occur at micro- and meso-timescales? and (3) How do these constructs combine to predict clinical outcomes? Using the Flex3 model of socioemotional flexibility as a frame, the current study proposes that dyadic affective flexibility and emotional inertia are bidirectionally related at micro- and meso-timescales, which yields psychopathological symptoms for youth. Specific future directions for examining individual, dyadic, and cultural characteristics that may influence relations between these constructs and psychopathology are also discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ackard, D. M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., & Perry, C. (2005). Parent–child connectedness and behavioral and emotional health among adolescents. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30(1), 59–66. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2005.09.013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, L. J., Camacho, S., Silver, E. J., Hudis, J., & Draimin, B. (2002). Behavioral problems in school-aged children of mothers with HIV/AIDS. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 7(1), 39–54. doi:10.1177/1359104502007001004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A., Lalande, K., Westphal, M., & Coifman, K. (2004). The importance of being flexible: The ability to enhance and suppress emotional expression as a predictor of long-term adjustment. Psychological Science, 15, 482–487.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss. Vol. 1, Attachment. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brose, A., Schmiedek, F., Koval, P., & Kuppens, P. (2015). Emotional inertia contributes to depressive symptoms beyond perseverative thinking. Cognition and Emotion, 29, 527–538.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, E. A. (2011). Temporal interpersonal emotion systems: The “TIES” that form relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 367–393.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, E. A., & Randall, A. K. (2013). Emotional coregulation in close relationships. Emotion Review, 5, 202–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campos, J. J., Mumme, D. L., Kermoian, R., & Campos, R. G. (1994). A functionalist perspective on the nature of emotion. In N. A. Fox (Ed.), The development of emotion regulation: Biological and behavioral considerations. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59 (2–3, Serial no. 240).

  • Cerezo, M. A., Trenado, R. M., & Pons-Salvador, G. (2012). Mother–infant interaction and quality of child’s attachment: A nonlinear dynamical systems approach. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 16, 243–267.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, P. M., Michel, M. K., & Teti, L. O. D. (1994). The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation: A clinical perspective. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(2–3), 73–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, A. M., Hughes-Scalise, A., Klostermann, S., & Azem, T. (2011). Maternal depression and the heart of parenting: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and affective dynamics during parent–adolescent interactions. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 653–662.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flannery, D. J., Montemayor, R., Eberly, M., & Torquati, J. (1993). Unraveling the ties that bind: Affective expression and perceived conflict in parent–adolescent interactions. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 10, 495–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottman, J. M., McCoy, K., Coan, J., & Collier, H. (1996). The specific affect coding system (SPAFF) for observing emotional communication in marital and family interaction. In J. M. Gottman (Ed.), What predicts divorce (pp. 112–195). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottman, J., Swanson, C., & Swanson, K. (2002). A general systems theory of marriage: Nonlinear difference equation modeling of marital interaction. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6(4), 326–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granic, I., & Hollenstein, T. (2003). Dynamic systems methods for models of developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 641–669.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Granic, I., Hollenstein, T., Dishion, T. J., & Patterson, G. R. (2003). Longitudinal analysis of flexibility and reorganization in early adolescence: A dynamic systems study of family interactions. Developmental Psychology, 39, 606–617.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Granic, I., & Lamey, A. V. (2002). Combining dynamic systems and multivariate analyses to compare the mother–child interactions of externalizing subtypes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30(3), 265–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granic, I., Meusel, L., Lamm, C., Woltering, S., & Lewis, M. D. (2012). Emotion regulation in children with behavior problems: Linking behavioral and brain processes. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 1019–1029.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Granic, I., O’Hara, A., Pepler, D., & Lewis, M. D. (2007). A dynamic systems analysis of parent–child changes associated with successful “real-world” interventions for aggressive children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 845–857. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9133-4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (1999). Emotion regulation: Past, present, future. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 551–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haken, H. (1983). Synergetics: An introduction. Berlin: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein, T. (2007). State space grids: Analyzing dynamics across development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 384–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein, T. (2013). State space grids: Depicting dynamics across development. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein, T. (2015). This time, it’s real: Affective flexibility, time scales, feedback loops, and the regulation of emotion. Emotion Review, 7(4), 308–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein, T., Granic, I., Stoolmiller, M., & Snyder, J. (2004). Rigidity in parent–child interactions and the development of externalizing and internalizing behavior in early childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 595–607.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein, T., & Lewis, M. D. (2006). A state space analysis of emotion and flexibility in parent–child interactions. Emotion, 6, 656–662.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein, T., Lichtwarck-Aschofff, A., & Potworowski, G. (2013). A model of socioemotional flexibility at three time scales. Emotion Review, 5, 397–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jabson, J., Venkatraman, S., & Dishion, T. (2003). The simple affect coding system. Unpublished observation coding manual. Available from the Child and Family Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401.

  • Jack, R. E., Garrod, O. G., Yu, H., Caldara, R., & Schyns, P. G. (2012). Facial expressions of emotion are not culturally universal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109, 7241–7244.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • John, O. P., & Gross, J. J. (2004). Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. Journal of Personality, 72, 1301–1333.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kashani, J. H., Allan, W. D., Dahlmeier, J. M., Rezvani, M., & Reid, J. C. (1995). An examination of family functioning utilizing the circumplex model in psychiatrically hospitalized children with depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 36(1–2), 65–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keltner, D., & Gross, J. (1999). Functional accounts of emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 467–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kochanska, G., Murray, K. T., & Harlan, E. T. (2000). Effortful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development. Developmental Psychology, 56, 220–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koval, P., & Kuppens, P. (2011). Changing emotion dynamics: Individual differences in the effect of anticipatory social stress on emotional inertia. Emotion, 12, 256–267. doi:10.1037/a0024756.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koval, P., Kuppens, P., Allen, N. B., & Sheeber, L. (2012). Getting stuck in depression: The roles of rumination and emotional inertia. Cognition and Emotion, 26, 1412–1427.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koval, P., Pe, M. L., Meers, K., & Kuppens, P. (2013). Affect dynamics in relation to depressive symptoms: Variable, unstable, or inert? Emotion, 13(6), 1132–1141. doi:10.1037/a0033579.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuppens, P., Allen, N. B., & Sheeber, L. (2010). Emotional inertia and psychological adjustment. Psychological Science, 21, 984–991.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kuppens, P., Sheeber, L. B., Yap, M. B. H., Whittle, S., Simmons, J. G., & Allen, N. B. (2012). Emotional inertia prospectively predicts the onset of depressive disorder in adolescence. Emotion, 12, 283–289.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamey, A., Hollenstein, T., Lewis, M.D., & Granic, I. (2004). GridWare (Version 1.1.) [Computer software]. http://statespacegrids.org.

  • Laursen, B., Coy, K. C., & Collins, W. A. (1998). Reconsidering changes in parent–child conflict across adolescence: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 69, 817–832.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Levin, N., Rolleri, L. A., Bean, S., & Taylor, J. (2004). Parent–child connectedness: Implications for research, interventions, and positive impacts on adolescent health. Santa Cruz, CA: ETR Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Kunnen, S. E., & van Geert, P. L. C. (2009). Here we go again: A dynamic systems perspective on emotional rigidity across parent–adolescent conflicts. Developmental Psychology, 45(5), 1364–1375. doi:10.1037/a0016713.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lodewyckx, T., Tuerlinckx, F., Kuppens, P., Allen, N. B., & Sheeber, L. (2011). A hierarchical state space approach to affective dynamics. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 55, 68–83. doi:10.1016/j.jmp.2010.08.004.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lopes, P. N., Salovey, P., Côté, S., & Beers, M. (2005). Emotion regulation abilities and the quality of social interaction. Emotion, 5, 113–118.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lunkenheimer, E. (2009) Dyadic Interaction Coding System. Unpublished observation coding manual.

  • Lunkenheimer, E. S., Albrecht, E. C., & Kemp, C. J. (2013). Dyadic flexibility in early parent–child interactions: Relations with maternal depressive symptoms and child negativity and behaviour problems. Infant and Child Development, 22, 250–269.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lunkenheimer, E. S., Hollenstein, T., Wang, J., & Shields, A. M. (2012). Flexibility and attractors in context: Family emotion socialization patterns and children’s emotion regulation in late childhood. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 16, 269–291.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lunkenheimer, E. S., Olson, S. L., Hollenstein, T., Sameroff, A. J., & Winter, C. (2011). Dyadic flexibility and positive affect in parent–child coregulation and the development of child behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 577–591.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., Yoo, S. H., & Nakagawa, S. (2008). Culture, emotion regulation, and adjustment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 925–937.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. A., Powers, C. J., Bass, A. J., Cohn, J. F., Propper, C. B., Allen, N. B., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2013). Dyadic interaction: Greater than the sum of its parts? Infancy, 18, 490–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D. H., Sprenkle, D. H., & Russell, C. S. (1979). Circumplex model of marital and family systems I: Cohesion and adaptability dimensions, family types, and clinical applications. Family Process, 18, 3–28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rothbart, M. K. (1989). Temperament in childhood: A framework. In G. A. Kohnstamm, J. A. Bates, & M. K. Rothbart (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp. 187–247). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rottenberg, J., Gross, J. J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2005). Emotion context insensitivity for major depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114(4), 627–639. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.114.4.627.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff, A. (1975). Transactional models in early social relations. Human Development, 18, 65–70. doi:10.1159/000271476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipman, K. L., & Zeman, J. (2001). Socialization of children’s emotion regulation in mother–child dyads: A developmental psychopathology perspective. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 317–336.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smets, A. C., & Hartup, W. W. (1988). Systems and symptoms: Family cohesion/adaptability and childhood behavior problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 233–246.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Suls, J., Green, P., & Hillis, S. (1998). Emotional reactivity to everyday problems, affective inertia, and neuroticism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24(2), 127–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (1998). Dynamic systems theories. In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Volume 1. Theoretical models of human development (5th ed., pp. 563–634). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, R. J., Mata, J., Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2012). The everyday emotional experience of adults with major depressive disorder: Examining emotional instability, inertia, and reactivity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121, 819–829.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Tronick, E. (2005). Emotional development: Recent research advances. In J. Nadel & D. Muir (Eds.), (pp. 293-315). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

  • Van der Giessen, D., Branje, S. J. T., Frijns, T., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2013). Dyadic variability in mother–adolescent interactions: Developmental trajectories and associations with psychosocial functioning. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 96–108.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Giessen, D., Branje, S., Keijsers, L., Van Lier, P. A. C., Koot, H. M., & Meeus, W. (2015a). Emotional variability during mother–adolescent conflict interactions: Longitudinal links to adolescent disclosure and maternal control. Journal of Adolescence, 37, 23–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Giessen, D., Hollenstein, T., Hale, W. W., Koot, H. M., Meeus, W., & Branje, S. (2015b). Emotional variability in mother–adolescent conflict interactions and internalizing problems of mothers and adolescents: Dyadic and individual processes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43, 339–353.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Witherington, D. C., & Crichton, J. A. (2007). Frameworks for understanding emotions and their development: Functionalist and dynamic systems approaches. Emotion, 7, 628–637.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Drs. Elizabeth Kiel, Vaishali Raval, Katherine Kuvalanka, and Ginger Wickline for providing helpful suggestions on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Three anonymous reviewers are also thanked for critically reading the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements. Dr. Luebbe is supported by the Robert H. and Nancy J. Blayney Professorship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Miami University of Ohio, 90 N Patterson Avenue, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

    Kathryn J. Mancini & Aaron M. Luebbe

Authors
  1. Kathryn J. Mancini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aaron M. Luebbe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathryn J. Mancini.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The manuscript or the contents herein have not been published previously (including internet publication) and are not being considered for publication elsewhere. All authors have contributed significantly to the manuscript and consent to their names on the manuscript, and we have exercised due care in ensuring the integrity of this work. We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome. We confirm that we have given due consideration to the protection of intellectual property associated with this work and that there are no impediments to publication, including the timing of publication, with respect to intellectual property. In so doing, we confirm that we have followed the regulations of our institutions concerning intellectual property.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mancini, K.J., Luebbe, A.M. Dyadic Affective Flexibility and Emotional Inertia in Relation to Youth Psychopathology: An Integrated Model at Two Timescales. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 19, 117–133 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-016-0200-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-016-0200-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation