Assessing Biobehavioural Self‐Regulation and Coregulation in Early Childhood: The Parent‐Child Challenge Task

Abstract

Researchers have argued for more dynamic and contextually relevant measures of regulatory processes in interpersonal interactions. In response, we introduce and examine the effectiveness of a new task, the Parent-Child Challenge Task, designed to assess the self-regulation and coregulation of affect, goal-directed behavior, and physiology in parents and their preschoolers in response to an experimental perturbation. Concurrent and predictive validity was examined via relations with children’s externalizing behaviors. Mothers used only their words to guide their 3-year-old children to complete increasingly difficult puzzles in order to win a prize (N = 96). A challenge condition was initiated mid-way through the task with a newly introduced time limit. The challenge produced decreases in parental teaching and dyadic behavioral variability and increases in child negative affect and dyadic affective variability, measured by dynamic systems-based methods. Children rated lower on externalizing showed respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression in response to challenge, whereas those rated higher on externalizing showed RSA augmentation. Additionally, select task changes in affect, behavior, and physiology predicted teacher-rated externalizing behaviors four months later. Findings indicate the Parent-Child Challenge Task was effective in producing regulatory changes and suggest its utility in assessing biobehavioral self-regulation and coregulation in parents and their preschoolers.

Harsh parenting, child behavior problems, and the dynamic coupling of parents’ and children’s positive behaviors.

“…Mothers were asked to help their children complete three successive puzzle designs in a guidebook using a 3-D wooden puzzle, once again using only their words, in order to win a prize (but all children received the prize regardless). Please see Lunkenheimer et al (2016) for more detailed information regarding the PCCT.…”

It’s OK to Fail: Individual and Dyadic Regulatory Antecedents of Mastery Motivation in Preschool

“…A problem-solving task was used to assess observed dyadic persistence during a challenging situation; please see Lunkenheimer, Kemp, Lucas-Thompson, Cole, & Albrecht (2016) for a detailed task description. Mothers were instructed to help their children complete three 3D puzzle designs that increased in difficulty over time using only their words in order to win a prize (all children received the prize regardless).…”

Can We Fix This? Parent–Child Repair Processes and Preschoolers' Regulatory Skills

“…Dyadic repair was operationalized via observational coding of parent–child interactions during two tasks: free play and a challenging puzzle task (Lunkenheimer, Kemp, Lucas-Thompson, Cole, & Albrecht, 2016). During the 7-minute free-play task, the experimenter provided a box of developmentally appropriate toys to the dyad, including a cash register, several puzzles, puppets, cars, and blocks.…”