Prenatal Emotion Dysregulation, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia, and Mindfulness Predict tTddler Socioemotional...

Socioemotional skills are essential for healthy development, shaping emotional health, interpersonal functioning, and long-term academic success. Disruptions in socioemotional development can emerge as early as infancy and may have lasting consequences. This study examined how prenatal maternal emotion dysregulation, assessed via self-report and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), related to toddler socioemotional outcomes at 18 months, and whether maternal mindfulness, measured via everyday mindful attention and awareness, moderated these associations. Participants were 385 mother-toddler dyads from a longitudinal study on maternal emotion dysregulation. Toddler socioemotional outcomes were assessed at 18 months through parent report. We tested associations between maternal emotion dysregulation and toddler outcomes, with mindfulness examined as a moderator. Findings suggest that higher self-reported maternal emotion dysregulation is associated with toddler socioemotional difficulties (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, and dysregulation), while higher prenatal baseline RSA predicts greater toddler competence. Additionally, maternal mindfulness moderated these associations, amplifying the positive association between prenatal RSA and toddler competence and the negative association between self-reported prenatal emotion dysregulation and competence. These findings underscore the critical role of maternal well-being during pregnancy and highlight that prenatal mindful attention and awareness plays a role in toddler socioemotional development.