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Updated: Jul 30, 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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Parents' physiological reactivity to child distress and associations with parenting behaviour: A systematic review

Shaylea D Badovinac1, Cheryl H T Chow1, Miranda G Di Lorenzo-Klas1

  • 1Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.

Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
|May 17, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Parents show small to moderate decreases in cortisol levels when their young child is distressed. Physiological and behavioral stress responses were inconsistently linked, highlighting the need for more research.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Parental Stress Research
  • Physiological Psychology

Background:

  • Understanding parental physiological stress responses to child distress is crucial for child development.
  • Existing research presents a complex picture of parental stress, with varying physiological and behavioral outcomes.
  • This review synthesizes current evidence on parental stress reactivity during early childhood distress.

Approach:

  • Systematic review and narrative synthesis of 55 studies.
  • Included studies focused on parents of children aged 0-3 years experiencing distress.
  • Analyzed physiological markers like cortisol and heart rate variability (HRV), and behavioral responses.

Key Points:

  • Most studies measured parental cortisol or HRV, with small to moderate cortisol decreases observed.
  • Other physiological markers (salivary alpha amylase, electrodermal activity) showed weak or inconsistent responses.
  • Stronger links between parental physiological and behavioral stress responses were found during dyadic frustration tasks and with insensitive parenting.

Conclusions:

  • Parental physiological stress responses to child distress are variable, with cortisol showing modest decreases.
  • Associations between parental physiological and behavioral stress responses are context-dependent.
  • Significant limitations in risk of bias across studies necessitate cautious interpretation and future research.

Keywords:
CortisolDistressEarly childhoodElectrodermal activityHeart rate variabilityInfancyNarrative synthesisParent-child relationshipSalivary alpha amylaseSystematic review

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