Skip to main content
Log in

Parent-Child Interactions in Relation to Critical and Emotionally Overinvolved Expressed Emotion (EE): Is EE a Proxy for Behavior?

  • Published:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Expressed emotion measures, encompassing dimensions of criticism (CRIT), and emotional overinvolvement (EOI) are increasingly being used to assess the parent–child relationship in child clinical populations, despite the lack of studies assessing their validity. We examined the correspondence between CRIT, EOI, and parent–child interactions as observed by neutral coders in a sample of 252 clinic-referred children and adolescents, ages 7–17 years. We found support for the validity of the CRIT code, with high critical parents showing more antagonism, negativity, disgust, harshness, and less responsiveness, compared to parents who scored in the low or borderline ranges. In contrast, none of the observed behaviors were found to correspond with parental EOI, suggesting either that this construct lacks validity with juvenile samples or that behaviors that correspond to EOI are difficult to observe. We conclude that high parental CRIT can be used as an index of problematic parent–child interactions.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Cheklist/4-18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, K. E., Lytton, J., & Romney, D. M. (1986). Mothers' interactions with normal and conduct-disordered boys: Who affects whom? Developmental Psychology, 22, 415-419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asarnow, J. R., Tompson, M., Woo, S., & Cantwell, D. P. (2001). Is expressed emotion a specific risk factor for depression or a nonspecific correlate of psychopathology? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 573-583.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrera, M., & Garrison-Jones, C. (1992). Family and peer social support as specific correlates of adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 20, 1-16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Weber, W. Rater, R. L., & Park, K. (1997). Correspondence between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1682-1687.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butzlaff, R. L., & Hooley, J. M. (1998). Expressed emotion and psychiatric relapse. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 547-552.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambless, D. L., Bryan, A. D., Aiken, L. S., Steketee, G., & Hooley, J. M. (1999). The structure of expressed emotion: A three-construct representation. Psychological Assessment, 11, 67-76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambless, D. L., & Steketee, G. (1999). Expressed emotion and behavior therapy outcome: A prospective study with obsessive-compulsive and agoraphobic outpatients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 658-665.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, A., & Margolin, G. (1988). Conflict and alliance in distressed and non-distressed families. In R. A. Hinde & J. Stevenson-Hinde (Eds.), Relationship with families: Mutual influences (pp. 263-282). London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1968). Weighted kappa: Nominal scale agreement provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit. Psychological Bulletin, 70, 213-220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, W., Strachan, A., Goldstein, M., & Miklowitz, D. (1989). Expressed emotion and reciprocal affective relationships in families of disturbed adolescents. Family Process, 28, 337-348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daley, D., Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S. & Thompson, M (2003). Assessing expressed emotion in mothers of pre-school AD/HD children: Psychometric properties of a modified speech sample in a clinical group. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 42, 53-69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doane, J. A., West, K. L., Goldstein, M. J., Rodnick, E. H. & Jones, J. E. (1981). Parental communication deviance and affective style: Predictors of subsequent schizophrenia spectrum disorders in vulnerable adolescents. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 679-685.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, S. S., Rubenstein, J. L., & Rubin, C. (1988). Depressive affect and restraint in early adolescents: Relationships with family structure, family process, and friendship support. Journal of Early Adolescence, 8, 279-296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, P. W., Schaffer, D., Piacentini, J. C., Lapkin, J., Kafantaris, V., Leonard, H., et al. (1993). Sensitivity of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, (2nd ed.; DISC 2.1) for specific diagnoses of children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 666-673.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forehand, R., Brody, G. H., Slotkin, J., Fauber, R., McCombs, A. & Long, N. (1988). Young adolescent and maternal depression: Assessment, interrelations, and family predictors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 422-426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottman, J. M. (1979). Marital interaction: Experimental investigations. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grotevant, H. D. & Cooper, C. R. (1985). Patterns of interaction in family relationships and the development of identity exploration in adolescence. Child Development, 56, 415-428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hahlweg, K., Goldstein, M. J., Nuechterlein, K. H., Magana, A. B., Mintz, J., Doane, J. A., et al. (1989). Expressed emotion and patient-relative interaction in families of recent-onset schizophrenics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 11-18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hermanns, J., Florin, I., Dietrich, M., Rieger, C., & Hahlweg, K. (1989). Maternal criticism, mother-child interaction, and bronchial asthma. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 33, 469-476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hetherington, E., & Martin, B. (1986). Family factors and psychopathology in children. In H. Quay and J. Werry (Eds.), Psychopathological disorders of childhood (3rd ed., pp. 332-390). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hibbs, E. D., Hamburger, S. D., Kruesi, M. J. P., & Lenane, M. (1993). Factors affecting expressed emotion in parents of ill and normal children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63, 103-112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hibbs, E. D., Hamburger, S. D., Lenane, M., Rapoport, J. L., Kruesi, M. J. P., Keysor, C. S., et al. (1991). Determinants of expressed emotion in families of disturbed and normal children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 757-770.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirshfeld, D. R., Biederman, J., Brody, L., & Faraone, S. V. (1997). Associations between expressed emotion and child behavioral inhibition and psychopathology: A pilot study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 205-213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubschmid, T., & Zemp, M. (1989). Interactions in high-and low-EE families. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 24, 113-119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall, P. C., & Warman, M. J. (1996). Anxiety disorders in youth: Diagnostic consistency across DSM-III-R and DSM-IV. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 10, 453-463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, G. P., Tein, J. Y., Shell, R., & Roosa, M. (1992). The cross-ethnic equivalence of parenting and family interactions among Hispanic and Anglo-American families. Child Development, 63, 1392-1403.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magana, A. B., Goldstein, M. J., Karno, M., Miklowitz, D. J., Jenkins, J., & Falloon, R. H. (1986). A brief method for assessing expressed emotion in relatives of psychiatric patients. Psychiatry Research, 17, 203-212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, V. G., Longwell, L., Goldstein, M. J., & Swanson, J. M. (1990). Family factors associated with aggressive symptomatology in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31, 629-636.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty, C. A., Lau, A. S., & Valeri, S. M. (2001). Global coding interpretive manual: UCLA clinic study. Unpublished manuscript.

  • McCarty, C. A., & Weisz, J. R. (2002). Correlates of expressed emotion in mothers of clinically-referred youth: An examination of the five minute speech sample. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 43, 759-768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miklowitz, D. J., Goldstein, M. J., Falloon, I. R. H., & Doane, J. A. (1984). Interactional correlates of expressed emotion in the families of schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 482-487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueser, K. T., Bellack, A. S., Wade, J. H., Sayers, S. L., Tierney, A., & Morrison, R. L. (1993). Expressed emotion, social skill, and response to negative affect in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 339-351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mundt, C., Fiedler, P., Ernst, S., & Backenstrab, M. (1996). Expressed emotion and marital interaction in endogenous depressive patients. In C. Mundt, M. J. Goldstein, K. Hahlweg, & P. Fiedler (Eds.), Interpersonal factors in the origin and course of affective disorders (pp. 240-256). London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (1991). The NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Rockville, MD.

  • Patterson, G. (1982). Family coercive process. Eugene, OR: Castalia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelham, W. E., Lang, A. R., Atkeson, B., Murphy, D. A., Gnagy, E. M., Greiner, A. R., et al. (1998). Effects of deviant child behavior on parental alcohol consumption: Stress-induced drinking in parents of ADHD children. American Journal on Addictions, 7, 103-114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelham, W. E., Lang, A. R., Atkeson, B., Murphy, D. A., Gnagy, E. M., Greiner, A. R., et al. (1997). Effects of deviant child behavior on parental distress and alcohol consumption in laboratory interactions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 25, 413-424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puig-Antich, J., Kaufman, J., Ryan, N. D., Williamson, D. E., Dahl, R. E., Lukens, E., et al. (1993). The psychosocial functioning and family environment of depressed adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 244-253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff, A. J. (1975). Early influences on development: Fact or fancy? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 21, 267-294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, M. R., Dadds, M. R., & Bor, W. (1989). Contextual analysis of child oppositional and maternal aversive behaviors in families of conduct-disordered and nonproblem children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 18, 72-83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaefer, E. S. (1965). A configurational analysis of children's reports of parent behavior. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 29, 552-557.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schludermann, S., & Schludermann, E. (1983). Sociocultural change and adolescents' perceptions of parent behavior. Child Development, 19, 674-685.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwab-Stone, M., Shaffer, D., Dulcan, M. K., Jensen, P. S., Fisher, P., Bird, H. R., et al. (1996). Criterion validity of the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version 2.3 (DISC 2.3). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 878-888.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, J. C., Barton-Henry, M. L., Pruzinsky, T. (1985). Assessing child-rearing behaviors: A comparison of ratings made by mother, father, child, and sibling on the CRPBI. Child Development, 56, 462-479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Dulcan, M. K., & Davies, M. (1996). The NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version 2.3 (DISC 2.3): Description, acceptability, prevalence rates, and performance in the MECA study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 865-877.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simoneau, T. L., Miklowitz, D. J., & Saleem, R. (1998). Expressed emotion and interactional patterns in the families of bipolar patients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 497-507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strachan, A. M., Goldstein, M. J., & Miklowitz, D. J. (1986). Do relatives express expressed emotion? In M. J. Goldstein, I. Hand, & K. Hahlweg (Eds.). Treatment of Schizophrenia: Family Assessment and Intervention. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strodbeck, F. (1951). Husband-wife interaction over revealed differences. American Sociological Review, 16, 57-68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stubbe, D. E., Zahner, G. E. P., Goldstein, M. J., & Leckman, J. F. (1993). Diagnostic specificity of a brief measure of expressed emotion: A community study of children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 139-154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornberry, T. P. (1987). Toward an interactional theory of delinquency. Criminology, 25, 863-891.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valone, K., Norton, J. P., Goldstein, M. J., & Doane, J. A. (1983). Parental expressed emotion and affective style in an adolescent sample at risk for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 399-407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vostanis, P., Nicholls, J., & Harrington, R. (1994). Maternal expressed emotion in conduct and emotional disorders of childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 35, 365-376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wamboldt, F. S., O'Connor, S. L., Wamboldt, M. Z., Gavin, L. A., & Klinnert, M. D. (2000). The five minute speech sample in children with asthma: Deconstructing the construct of expressed emotion. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 887-898.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wamboldt, F. S., Wamboldt, M. Z., Gavin, L. A., Roesler, T. A., & Brugman, S. M. (1995). Parental criticism and treatment outcome in adolescents hospitalized for severe, chronic asthma. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 39, 995-1005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wierson, M., Forehand, R., & McCombs, A. (1988). The relationship of early adolescent functioning to parent-reported and adolescent-perceived interparental conflict. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 707-718.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, C. A., & Forehand, R. (1984). An examination of predictor variables for child compliance and noncompliance. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 12, 491-504.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carolyn A. McCarty.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McCarty, C.A., Lau, A.S., Valeri, S.M. et al. Parent-Child Interactions in Relation to Critical and Emotionally Overinvolved Expressed Emotion (EE): Is EE a Proxy for Behavior?. J Abnorm Child Psychol 32, 83–93 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JACP.0000007582.61879.6f

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JACP.0000007582.61879.6f

Navigation