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Updated: Sep 24, 2025

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

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Attachment and brooding rumination during children's transition to adolescence: the moderating role of effortful

Jallu Lindblom1,2, Guy Bosmans1

  • 1Clinical Psychology,KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Attachment & Human Development
|May 10, 2022
PubMed

Insights

High cognitive self-regulation (EC) helps children with secure attachment reduce brooding. However, children with anxious attachment brood regardless of EC, suggesting insecurity overrides self-regulation benefits.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

  • Brooding rumination is a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy linked to psychopathology.
  • Insecure attachment and low cognitive self-regulation (effortful control, EC) are known risk factors for brooding.
  • The developmental interaction between attachment and EC in predicting brooding remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the interplay between children's attachment styles and cognitive self-regulation (EC) in predicting brooding.
  • To examine how different attachment dimensions (avoidance, anxiety) moderate the relationship between EC and brooding.
  • To understand the developmental pathways linking attachment, EC, and maladaptive emotion regulation in children.

Main Methods:

  • A three-wave longitudinal study involving 157 children (aged 10-14) and their mothers.
  • Children self-reported on attachment and brooding behaviors.
  • Mothers reported on their children's effortful control (EC).

Main Results:

  • Children with low avoidance and high EC showed reduced brooding.
  • Children with high anxiety exhibited persistent brooding, irrespective of their EC levels.
  • High EC appeared to support constructive emotion regulation in securely attached children, but its benefits were diminished by attachment insecurity.

Conclusions:

  • Cognitive self-regulation (EC) plays a differential role in modulating brooding based on attachment strategy.
  • Attachment insecurity, particularly anxiety, may override the positive effects of EC on emotional regulation.
  • Findings highlight the importance of considering the interaction between attachment and self-regulation for understanding and intervening in maladaptive emotion regulation.

Keywords:
Attachmentbroodingeffortful controlmiddle childhoodrumination

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