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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

When crying turns to hitting: Examining maternal responses to negative affect.

Brooke Edelman¹, Tamara Del Vecchio¹

¹Department of Psychology, St. John's University, New York, NY, United States.

Infant Behavior & Development

|January 10, 2024

Summary

Maternal harsh responses to toddler negative affect predict subsequent aggression. Soothing or distraction did not influence this link, suggesting targeted interventions for parental responses are key for preventing toddler aggression.

Keywords:

Aggression Emotion Negative affect Parent-child interactions Parenting Toddler

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Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Child Psychiatry

Background:

Physical aggression in toddlers is linked to negative affect and influenced by parenting.
Parents act as external regulators of their child's emotions.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine if parental responses mediate the link between toddler negative affect and aggression.
Investigate the role of maternal negative affect, harsh, soothing, and distracting responses.

Main Methods:

Observed 69 mother-toddler dyads in a structured laboratory interaction task.
Analyzed the relationship between toddler negative affect, maternal responses, and child aggression.

Main Results:

Toddler negative affect predicted aggression, mediated by maternal harsh responses.
Maternal soothing or distraction did not significantly alter the escalation from negative affect to aggression.

Conclusions:

Maternal harshness is a key factor in the development of toddler aggression.
Interventions targeting coercive parent-child interaction patterns are recommended for prevention and treatment.