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Review
. 2015 Dec;17(4):403-10.
doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2015.17.4/kmclaughlin.

What develops during emotional development? A component process approach to identifying sources of psychopathology risk in adolescence

Katie A McLaughlin  1 , Megan C Garrad  2 , Leah H Somerville  2
Affiliations
Review

What develops during emotional development? A component process approach to identifying sources of psychopathology risk in adolescence

Katie A McLaughlin et al. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2015 Dec.

Abstract
in English, Spanish, French

Adolescence is a phase of the lifespan associated with widespread changes in emotional behavior thought to reflect both changing environments and stressors, and psychological and neurobiological development. However, emotions themselves are complex phenomena that are composed of multiple subprocesses. In this paper, we argue that examining emotional development from a process-level perspective facilitates important insights into the mechanisms that underlie adolescents' shifting emotions and intensified risk for psychopathology. Contrasting the developmental progressions for the antecedents to emotion, physiological reactivity to emotion, emotional regulation capacity, and motivation to experience particular affective states reveals complex trajectories that intersect in a unique way during adolescence. We consider the implications of these intersecting trajectories for negative outcomes such as psychopathology, as well as positive outcomes for adolescent social bonds.

La adolescencia es una fase de la vida que se asocia con cambios generalizados en la conducta emotional, lo que se piensa refleja tanto cambios ambientales y de estresores, como desarrollo psicológico y neurobiológico. Sin embargo, las emocíones en sí mismas son fenómenos complejos que están compuestos por múltiples subprocesos. En este artículo se postula que el examen del desarrollo emocional desde una perspectiva a nivel de procesos facilita importantes conocimientos acerca de los mecanismos que subyacen a las emocíones cambiantes de los adolescentes y al aumento del riesgo de psicopatología. En contraste con el progreso del desarrollo, los antecedentes de la emoción, la reactividad fisiológica a la emoción, la capacidad de regulación emocíonal y la motivacíon para experimentar determinados estados afectivos revelan complejas trayectorias que se intersectan de manera singular durante la adolescencia. Se consideran las implicancias de estas intersecciones, tanto en términos de consecuencias negativas como la psicopatología, así como de resultados positives para los vínculos sociales de los adolescentes.

L'adolescence est un moment de la vie associé à des changements amples du comportement émotionnel, supposés refléter des modifications de l'environnement et des facteurs de stress ainsi que le développement psychologique et neurobiologique. Les émotions elles-mêmes sont cependant des phénomènes complexes composés de sous-processus multiples. Dans cet article, nous pensons que l'examen du développement émotionnel par niveau du processus permet d'avoir une meilleure idée des mécanismes sous-tendant les changements d'émotion des adolescents et intensifiant le risque d'apparition d'une psychopathologie. Opposer les progressions du développement pour les antécédents émotionnels, la réactivité physiologique à l'émotion, la capacité de régulation émotionnelle et la motivation à expérimenter des états affectifs particuliers révèle des trajectoires complexes qui se croisent de façon unique à l'adolescence. Nous analysons les implications de ces trajectoires croisées pour des résultats négatifs comme une psychopathologie, ainsi que pour des résultats positifs comme les liens sociaux à l'adolescence.

Keywords: adolescents; brain; development; emotion; risk; trajectory.

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