The impacts of anxiety and depressive symptoms on emotional processing in children and their parents: an event-related potential study

Abstract

Background: Anxiety and depressive symptoms are associated with dysregulated emotional processing. However, less is known about the intra-personal and inter-personal impacts of anxiety and depressive symptoms on emotional processing in children and their parents. Methods: In a community sample of 36 parent-child dyads (total N = 72), the current study investigated the intra- and inter-personal effects of anxiety and depressive symptoms on the child’s and the parent’s neurophysiological responses to emotional (i.e., pleasant and unpleasant) stimuli, indexed by the late positive potential (LPP). Results: The results indicated that children’s anxiety symptoms were correlated with their enhanced LPPs to pleasant versus neutral pictures. Additionally, children’s depressive symptoms related to their increased LPPs to unpleasant stimuli. Importantly, children’s anxiety symptoms were associated with their parents’ increased LPPs to both unpleasant and pleasant information. Conclusions: These findings suggest that anxiety symptoms in community children were related to their own as well as their parents’ emotional processing. The findings contribute to cognitive and family models of anxiety and depression and further highlight the potential role of dyadic interventions for the alleviation of impairing symptoms in children and their caregivers.