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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
08:09

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

Emotion regulation and attachment: relationships with children's secure base, during different situational and social

Lisa Roque1, Manuela Veríssimo, Marília Fernandes

  • 1UIPCDE, Unidade de Investigação em Psicologia Cognitiva, do Desenvolvimento e da Educação, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal. lisa.roque.psychologist@gmail.com

Infant Behavior & Development
|April 2, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Children's secure base attachment influences how toddlers regulate emotions and express feelings. Securely attached toddlers show different behaviors and emotional expressions based on context and maternal interaction.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychology
  • Attachment Theory

Background:

  • Secure base is crucial for child development.
  • Emotion regulation is key to social and emotional competence.
  • Understanding early emotion regulation in context is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the link between secure base and emotion regulation in toddlers.
  • To explore how situational and social contexts affect emotion regulation.
  • To analyze behavioral strategies and emotional expressiveness in relation to attachment.

Main Methods:

  • Study involved 55 toddlers (18-26 months) and their mothers.
  • Naturalistic settings were used to observe children.
  • Children experienced fear, positive affect, frustration/anger, maternal constraint, and maternal involvement contexts.

Main Results:

  • Toddlers' behavioral strategies varied with emotion-eliciting context, maternal involvement, and attachment quality.
  • Emotional expressiveness was influenced by situational contexts, maternal involvement, and attachment security.
  • Attachment quality played a significant role in both behavioral strategies and emotional expressiveness.

Conclusions:

  • Secure base significantly impacts toddlers' emotion regulation strategies and expression.
  • Maternal involvement and situational contexts moderate the relationship between attachment and emotion regulation.
  • Findings highlight the importance of secure attachment for developing adaptive emotion regulation skills in early childhood.

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