Validation of the Structured Interview for the Assessment of Expressed Emotion (E5) in a Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults From the General Population

Expressed emotion (EE) is an index of significant others’ attitudes, feelings, and behavior toward an identified patient. EE was originally conceptualized as a dichotomous summary index. Thus, a family member is rated low or high on how much criticism, hostility, and emotional overinvolvement (EOI) s/he expresses toward an identified patient. However, the lack of brief, valid measures is a drawback to assess EE. To cover this gap, the E5 was designed. The objective of this study is to provide psychometric properties of a recent measured in adolescents to be used to tap perceived high levels of EE. The sample was composed by 2,905 adolescents aged from 11–19years; 57% girls. Results demonstrate good factor structure, reliability, construct validity and invariance across gender and age revealed a good fit. As a result, E5 is a brief, valid and reliable measure for assessing expressed emotion in parents of adolescent children.

Teacher Overinvolvement and Student Depression among Junior High School Students in Taiwan

This study examines depression in students at public high schools in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to examine which student-level and teacher-level variables affect student depression due to teacher emotional overinvolvement and other factors. A survey instrument adapted and translated from existing surveys was distributed to 1,479 Taiwanese adolescents aged 13—15 years and 172 teachers from 10 public junior high schools in the city of Taipei. The hierarchical linear model (HLM) was used for a cross-level analysis of the data. The HLM shows that student-level measures account for most of the variance. Teacher emotional overinvolvement and core self-evaluations are the preponderant influences on student ratings. In terms of teacher-level variables, the effects of teacher involvement, teacher depression, and teacher educational background on student-level variables are strong and significant. The findings of this study recommend the development of a comprehensive counseling system for teachers and students.

The shaping of individuals’ mental structures and dispositions by others

Expressed emotion (EE) is a measure of the family environment that has been demonstrated to be a reliable, cross-culturally valid psychosocial predictor of relapse in patients with schizophrenia, mood disorders, and other — also somatic — illnesses. Assessed during the Camberwell Family Interview CFI, relatives are classified as being high in EE if they make more than a specified threshold number of critical comments or show any signs of hostility or marked emotional overinvolvement. In schizophrenia, the median relapse rate for patients returning after hospital discharge to a high EE environment is 48%, compared with 21% in a low EE-environment. In this article, the history of EE research will be outlined, and the evidence for the association between family EE and the course of schizophrenia and mood disorders will be presented. Conclusions about the treatment of major mental disorders are discussed as well as the directions of future studies.