Emotional Security Theory and Developmental Psychopathology

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T. Davies ◽  
Meredith J. Martin ◽  
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychopathology ◽  
Emotional Security ◽  
Emotional Security Theory

scholarly journals The reformulation of emotional security theory: The role of children's social defense in developmental psychopathology

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (4pt2) ◽  
pp. 1435-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T. Davies ◽  
Meredith J. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Child Psychopathology ◽  
Developmental Psychopathology ◽  
Emotional Security ◽  
Social Defense ◽  
Behavioral System ◽  
Family Discord ◽  
Interpersonal Threat ◽  
Evolutionary Foundation ◽  
Emotional Security Theory ◽  
Interparental Relationship

AbstractAlthough children's security in the context of the interparental relationship has been identified as a key explanatory mechanism in pathways between family discord and child psychopathology, little is known about the inner workings of emotional security as a goal system. Thus, the objective of this paper is to describe how our reformulation of emotional security theory within an ethological and evolutionary framework may advance the characterization of the architecture and operation of emotional security and, in the process, cultivate sustainable growing points in developmental psychopathology. The first section of the paper describes how children's security in the interparental relationship is organized around a distinctive behavioral system designed to defend against interpersonal threat. Building on this evolutionary foundation for emotional security, the paper offers an innovative taxonomy for identifying qualitatively different ways children try to preserve their security and its innovative implications for more precisely informing understanding of the mechanisms in pathways between family and developmental precursors and children's trajectories of mental health. In the final section, the paper highlights the potential of the reformulation of emotional security theory to stimulate new generations of research on understanding how children defend against social threats in ecologies beyond the interparental dyad, including both familial and extrafamilial settings.

scholarly journals Identifying the temperamental roots of children's patterns of security in the interparental relationship

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T. Davies ◽  
Rochelle F. Hentges ◽  
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Effortful Control ◽  
Interparental Conflict ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Emotional Security ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Subsequent Change ◽  
Behavioral Observations ◽  
Social Opportunities ◽  
Emotional Security Theory

AbstractGuided by emotional security theory, this study examined the temperamental precursors of distinctive profiles of children's responses to interparental conflict. Participants included 243 children (M = 4.6 years) and their parents across two annual measurement occasions. Temperamental constructs of frustration proneness, approach, positive affect, activity level, and effortful control were assessed through multiple methods, informants, and contexts. Behavioral observations of children's responses to interparental conflict at each wave yielded four profiles: secure (i.e., efficiently address direct threat), mobilizing (i.e., vigilance to potential threat and social opportunities), dominant (i.e., directly defeat threat), and demobilizing (i.e., reduce salience as a target of hostility). Results supported hypotheses on the distinct constellations of temperament in predicting subsequent change in the four security profiles.

Emotional Security Theory

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Mark Cummings ◽  
Laura E. Miller-Graff
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Security ◽  
Emotional Security Theory

scholarly journals The distinctive sequelae of children’s coping with interparental conflict: Testing the reformulated emotional security theory.

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 1646-1665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T. Davies ◽  
Meredith J. Martin ◽  
Melissa L. Sturge-Apple ◽  
Michael T. Ripple ◽  
Dante Cicchetti
Keyword(s):  
Interparental Conflict ◽  
Emotional Security ◽  
Children's Coping ◽  
Emotional Security Theory
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