Emotion regulation from infancy to toddlerhood: Individual and group trajectories of full‐term and very‐low‐birthweight preterm infants

Abstract

Adaptive emotion regulation begins with infants operating jointly with their parents to regulate their emotions, which fosters the development of independent regulation. Little is known about when or how this transition occurs, or the impact of factors such as parental availability or premature birth status. The current study examined the use of selfsoothing, attentional distraction, and dyadic regulation in full-term and healthy very-low-birthweight (VLBW) preterm infant-mother dyads at 5 ½, 12, and 18 months of age. At 5 ½ months, dyads participated in the Still-Face procedure. At 12 and 18 months, dyads participated in two free-play interactions, a puzzle task, and an interference task. Emotion regulation behaviors were coded using two systematic, observational systems. Results indicated that infants used less self-soothing and attentional distraction and more dyadic regulation as they aged. Increased use of self-soothing at earlier ages predicted increased use of dyadic regulation at subsequent ages. Toddlers used more independent, attention-seeking, and escape behavior during periods of maternal unavailability. There were no significant differences between full-term and VLBW/preterm toddlers' emotion regulation behaviors. Results from the current study contribute to the understanding of normative development of emotion regulation and the risk associated with prematurity.

Children’s emotion regulation strategies in facing the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) World: A systematic narrative review

“…different age categories (Hipson et al 2019, Boldt et al 2020, Kao et al 2020, Oeri & Roebers 2020. A total of n=3 studies were conducted that aimed to examine the use of emotional regulation strategies in various contexts (family, peers, school) and within different ranges of age groups (Rao & Gibson 2018, Parsafar et al 2019, Atkinson et al 2020. In addition, a total of n=2 studies looked into the parental, caregivers, or environmental influence on the children's application of emotion regulation strategies (Liu et al 2019, Schoppmann et al 2022.…”

A dynamic, developmental systems approach to emotional self-regulation in the still-face paradigm reveals effects of preterm birth

“…However, differences in the latter behaviours may be present in younger infants (Chiodelli et al, 2021;Fuertes et al, 2022;Provenzi et al, 2017). Differences in dyadic, socially-oriented strategies identified in older infants (Evrard et al, 2011) are also important to understand further as these increase only after the first year of life, and are predicted by greater self-comforting at 6 months (Atkinson et al, 2021).…”

“…In this view, emotional self-regulation is not a modular cognitive skill that infants gain, but the result of complex interactions between developing systems (Karmiloff-Smith, 2018;Whitall et al, 2020). It enables consideration of the range of strategies that infants use in response to distress, including not just early-occurring oraltactile ("self-comforting") strategies, but attentional, motor stimulatory and social-seeking strategies that develop later (Atkinson et al, 2021;Moore et al, 2001;. Behaviours are seen as the result of interacting processes involved in expressing or regulating emotions.…”

“…However, at three months old, fewer objectmanipulation strategies were observed in preterm-born infants relative to term-peers, but no differences at six to nine months old. No differences in self-comforting behaviours, or social gaze and social-seeking behaviours were observed by six to nine months old, but the pattern of differences were contradictory earlier in infancy (Atkinson et al, 2021;Chiodelli et al, 2021;Jean & Stack, 2012;. Only one study has looked at the effect of preterm birth on motor activity when under distress in the still-face paradigm, and did not find an effect at three to four months old (Chiodelli et al, 2021).…”

How parents assist children’s emotion regulation in Turkey: The Turkish adaptation of the parental assistance with child emotion regulation (PACER) questionnaire

“…The significant inter-relations between expression, regulation, and understanding of emotion indicate a unified competence (Denham et al, 2003). Emotion regulation changes across development, from seeking a soother in infancy to self-soothing in toddlerhood (Atkinson et al, 2021). Adapting emotional reactions to social and cultural norms becomes the central theme of childhood (Thompson, 1994).…”