Affect dysregulation in the mother–child relationship in the toddler years: Antecedents and consequences

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine child, maternal, and family antecedents of children's early affect dysregulation within the mother-child relationship and later cognitive and socioemotional correlates of affect dysregulation. Children's affect dysregulation at 24 and 36 months was defined in the context of mother-child interactions in semistructured play and toy cleanup. Dyads were classified as dysregulated at each age based on high negative affect. Affect dysregulation was associated with less maternal sensitivity and stimulation, more maternal depressive symptoms, and lower family income over the first 36 months of life. Children with early negative mood, lower Bayley Mental Development Index scores and insecure-avoidant~15 months! or insecure-resistant attachment classifications~36 months! were more likely to be in an affect-dysregulated group. Controlling for family and child variables, affect-dysregulated children had more problematic cognitive, social, and behavioral outcomes at 54 months, kindergarten, and first grade. The findings are discussed in terms of the early role played by parents in assisting children with affect regulation, the reciprocal nature of parent-child interactions, and the contribution of affect regulation to children's later cognitive, social, and behavioral competence. This study is directed by a Steering Committee and supported by NICHD through a cooperative agreement~U10!, which calls for scientific collaboration between the grantees and the NICHD staff. Participating investigators, listed in alphabetical order, are Virginia Allhusen,

Maternal behavior predicts infant neurophysiological and behavioral attention processes in the first year.

“…Maternal education was included as a covariate; as expected based on previous work (e.g. Bernier et al, in press; Mills-Koonce et al, 2007; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004) it was associated with our observed measures of maternal positive affect (β= .19) and intrusiveness (β= −.13) here as well (see Figure 1). Moreover, because baseline EEG power is used in the calculation of EEG power change and may also be individually associated with attention behavior, baseline EEG power values at 5 and 10 months were entered into the model as control variables.…”

“…As education level and income have both been associated with maternal sensitivity in a variety of other work (e.g. Bernier et al, in press; Mills-Koonce et al, 2007; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004) and were related to our measures of maternal positive affect and intrusiveness here, an important goal for future work will be to recruit mother-infant dyads with more variability in these measures.…”

Maternal sensitivity and infant response to frustration: The moderating role of EEG asymmetry

“…An important goal for future work will be to recruit mothers with more variability in education level and/or income, as both of these have consistently been associated with maternal sensitivity in a variety of other work (e.g. Mills-Koonce, Propper, Gariepy, Blair, Garrett-Peters & Cox, 2007; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004). Finally, these data were not designed to address questions of maternal mental health or parenting style, but both of these factors are known to influence maternal sensitivity and parenting behavior.…”

Resilience as Regulation of Developmental and Family Processes

“…These coregulatory processes are elemental to sensitive, responsive parent – child relationships, which are salient forces in young children’s adaptation to adversity (e.g., Gewirtz, Forgatch, &Wieling, 2008; Wyman et al, 1999; Yates, Egeland, & Sroufe, 2003). Of particular import is affect regulation in the parent – child dyad, which is consistently found to mediate the association between rearing practices and child outcomes (e.g., NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004). Not surprisingly, parents’ emotion coaching predicts better emotion regulation – especially of anger – in children, which is in turn associated with lower levels of externalizing behaviors (Shortt, Stoolmiller, Smith-Shine, Eddy, & Sheeber, 2010).…”