scholarly journals Early adversity and children's emotion regulation: Differential roles of parent emotion regulation and adversity exposure

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1788-1798
Author(s):  
Helen M. Milojevich ◽  
Laura Machlin ◽  
Margaret A. Sheridan
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Early Adversity ◽  
Parental Socialization ◽  
Behavioral Regulation ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Child Exposure ◽  
Socialization Of Emotion ◽  
Children's Emotion ◽  
Parent Socialization ◽  
Foundational Work

AbstractExposure to early life adversity (ELA) is associated with increased rates of psychopathology and poor physical health. The present study builds on foundational work by Megan Gunnar identifying how ELA results in poor long-term outcomes through alterations in the stress response system, leading to major disruptions in emotional and behavioral regulation. Specifically, the present study tested the direct effects of ELA against the role of parent socialization to shed light on the mechanisms by which ELA leads to emotion regulation deficits. Children ages 4–7 years (N = 64) completed interviews about their experiences of deprivation and threat, a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm, and an IQ test. Parents of the children completed questionnaires regarding their own emotion regulation difficulties and psychopathology, their children's emotion regulation, and child exposure to adversity. At the bivariate level, greater exposure to threat and parental difficulties with emotion regulation were associated with poorer emotion regulation in children, assessed both via parental report and physiologically. In models where parental difficulties with emotion regulation, threat, and deprivation were introduced simultaneously, regression results indicated that parental difficulties with emotion regulation, but not deprivation or threat, continued to predict children's emotion regulation abilities. These results suggest that parental socialization of emotion is a robust predictor of emotion regulation tendencies in children exposed to early adversity.

Parent emotion representations and the socialization of emotion regulation in the family

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Meyer ◽  
H. Abigail Raikes ◽  
Elita A. Virmani ◽  
Sara Waters ◽  
Ross A. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Parental Socialization ◽  
Parental Representations ◽  
Socialization Of Emotion ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Children's Emotion ◽  
Mediational Models

There is considerable knowledge of parental socialization processes that directly and indirectly influence the development of children’s emotion self-regulation, but little understanding of the specific beliefs and values that underlie parents’ socialization approaches. This study examined multiple aspects of parents’ self-reported emotion representations and their associations with parents’ strategies for managing children’s negative emotions and children’s emotion self-regulatory behaviors. The sample consisted of 73 mothers of 4–5-year-old children; the sample was ethnically diverse. Two aspects of parents’ beliefs about emotion – the importance of attention to/acceptance of emotional reactions, and the value of emotion self-regulation – were associated with both socialization strategies and children’s self-regulation. Furthermore, in mediational models, the association of parental representations with children’s emotion regulation was mediated by constructive socialization strategies. These findings are among the first to highlight the specific kinds of emotion representations that are associated with parents’ emotion socialization, and their importance to family processes shaping children’s emotional development.

scholarly journals Measurement of Behavioral Emotion Regulation Strategies in Early Childhood: The Early Emotion Regulation Behavior Questionnaire (EERBQ)

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 779
Author(s):  
Nicole B. Perry ◽  
Jessica M. Dollar
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Behavioral Strategies ◽  
Behavioral Regulation ◽  
Critical Gap ◽  
Regulatory Strategies ◽  
Children's Emotion ◽  
Regulation Strategies

The Early Emotion Regulation Behavior Questionnaire (EERBQ) assesses children’s emotion regulation (ER) behavioral strategies in both positive and negative emotional contexts. Psychometric properties and factor structure were tested in a sample of caregivers across the United States (N = 362) with children ages 2–6 years-old (56% male; 73% White). Findings suggest that the EERBQ is psychometrically sound and correlates with other well-established measures of children’s socioemotional functioning. Previously, researchers have only been able to assess children’s emotional behavioral regulatory strategies in a laboratory setting. Thus, use of the EERBQ addresses a critical gap in the current literature by providing researchers and practitioners with an instrument to measure young children’s early emotional functioning outside of a laboratory context. This is particularly salient because early difficulty regulating emotions is often a precursor to persistent adverse developmental outcomes. Thus, the ability to easily to collect rich and predictive behavioral regulation data is imperative for early identification and treatment of youths’ emotional and behavioral problems.

scholarly journals Early adversity and children's regulatory deficits: Does postadoption parenting facilitate recovery in postinstitutionalized children?

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 879-896
Author(s):  
Kalsea J. Koss ◽  
Jamie M. Lawler ◽  
Megan R. Gunnar
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Early Adversity ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Better Regulation ◽  
Postinstitutionalized Children ◽  
Parenting Dimensions

AbstractChildren reared in orphanages typically experience the lack of stable, reliable caregivers and are at increased risk for deficits in regulatory abilities including difficulties in inhibitory control, attention, and emotion regulation. Although adoption results in a radical shift in caregiving quality, there remains variation in postadoption parenting, yet little research has examined postadoption parenting that may promote recovery in children experiencing early life adversity in the form of institutional care. Participants included 93 postinstitutionalized children adopted between 15 and 36 months of age and 52 nonadopted same-aged peers. Parenting was assessed four times during the first 2 years postadoption (at 2, 8, 16, and 24 months postadoption) and children's regulation was assessed at age 5 (M age = 61.68 months) and during kindergarten (M age = 71.55 months). Multiple parenting dimensions including sensitivity/responsiveness, structure/limit setting, and consistency in routines were examined. Both parental sensitivity and structure moderated the effect of preadoption adversity on children's emotion regulation while greater consistency was associated with better inhibitory control and fewer attention problems. Results support the notion that postadoption parenting during toddlerhood and the early preschool years promotes better regulation skills following early adversity.

scholarly journals Does father–child conflict mediate the association between fathers’ postnatal depressive symptoms and children's adjustment problems at 7 years old?

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1719-1733 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Nath ◽  
G. Russell ◽  
W. Kuyken ◽  
L. Psychogiou ◽  
T. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Behavioural Problems ◽  
Emotional And Behavioural Problems ◽  
Postnatal Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Paternal Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Externalizing And Internalizing Problems ◽  
Children's Emotion

BackgroundPaternal depressive symptoms are associated with children's emotional and behavioural problems, which may be mediated by negative parenting. But there is no research on the influence of paternal depressive symptoms on children's emotion regulation and limited literature investigating fathers’ parenting as a mediator in the pathway between paternal depressive symptoms and children's externalizing and internalizing problems. We aimed to investigate the mediating role of father–child conflict (at 3 years) in the association between postnatal paternal depressive symptoms (at 9 months) and children's emotional and behavioural problems (at 7 years) (aim 1). We also examined whether mediation pathways were more pronounced for boys or for girls (aim 2).MethodSecondary data analysis was conducted on the Millennium Cohort Study, when children were 9 months, 3 years and 7 years old (n = 3520). Main study variables were measured by self-report questionnaires. Fathers completed the Rutter Scale (depressive symptoms) and the Parent–Child Relationship Questionnaire (father–child conflict), while mothers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Social Behaviour Questionnaire (child emotional and behavioural problems, emotion regulation). We used structural equation modelling to estimate direct, indirect and total effects of paternal depressive symptoms on child outcomes, mediated by father–child conflict whilst adjusting for relevant covariates (maternal depressive symptoms, child temperament, marital conflict, and socio-economic factors such as poverty indicator and fathers’ education level). Multi-group and interaction analysis was then conducted to determine the differential effect by gender of the association between paternal depressive symptoms on child outcomes via father–child conflict.ResultsFather–child conflict mediated the association between paternal depressive symptoms and emotion regulation problems [standardized indirect effect (SIE) 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.03 to −0.01, p < 0.001; standardized total effect (STE) 95% CI −0.05 to −0.01, p < 0.05] (aim 1). Father–child conflict mediated a larger proportion of the effect in boys (SIE 95% CI −0.03 to −0.01, p < 0.001; STE 95% CI −0.05 to 0.00, p = 0.063) than it did in girls (SIE 95% CI −0.02 to −0.01, p < 0.001; STE 95% CI −0.04 to 0.01, p = 0.216) (aim 2).ConclusionsFather–child conflict may mediate the association between postnatal paternal depressive symptoms and children's emotion regulation problems. Paternal depressive symptoms and father–child conflict resolution may be potential targets in preventative interventions.

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