Examining the Relation Between Prenatal Emotion Dysregulation and Toddler Vocabulary Development: A Biobehavioral...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Maternal Mental Health
• Child Language Acquisition

Background:

• Early language development is influenced by parent-child interactions.
• Maternal psychopathology and parenting stress are known factors affecting child development.
• The specific link between maternal emotion dysregulation and toddler vocabulary requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the associations between prenatal maternal emotion dysregulation, postpartum perceived everyday stress, and toddler vocabulary development.
• To investigate the indirect pathway from maternal emotion dysregulation to vocabulary via stress.
• To explore the direct impact of prenatal physiological measures of emotion regulation on vocabulary.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study design with 289 mother-infant dyads.
• Maternal emotion dysregulation assessed prenatally via self-report and resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA).
• Maternal perceived everyday stress and child's vocabulary measured at 7 and 18 months postpartum, respectively, using questionnaires and path analysis.

Main Results:

• Mothers' self-reported emotion dysregulation was indirectly linked to toddlers' expressive vocabulary through increased postpartum perceived everyday stress.
• Prenatal maternal resting RSA directly predicted larger toddler expressive vocabulary size.
• Findings highlight distinct pathways influencing early language outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Maternal emotion dysregulation during pregnancy can impact toddler language through increased postpartum stress.
• Prenatal physiological regulation (RSA) offers a direct protective factor for vocabulary development.
• Interventions targeting maternal emotion dysregulation in the perinatal period may support early language acquisition.