Culture-specific development of early mother–infant emotional co-regulation: Italian, Cameroonian, and West African immigrant dyads.

Abstract

Studies conducted in Western countries document the special role of mother-infant face-to-face exchanges for early emotional development including social smiling. A few cross-cultural studies have shown that the Western pattern of face-to-face communication is absent in traditional rural cultures, without identifying other processes that promote emotional Co-regulation. The present study compared three different samples: Western middle-class families in Italy, rural traditional Nso farmer families in Cameroon, and West African sub-Saharan immigrant families in Italy using biweekly observations of 20 mother-infant dyads from each cultural context from age 4 to 12 weeks. Longitudinal sequential analysis of maternal and infant behaviors showed that from as early as 4 weeks, in Italian dyads maternal affectionate talking is linked with infant active attention to mother in sequences of face-to-face contact; this link fosters the subsequent emergence of infant smiling/cooing, and then sequences of positive feedback between infant and maternal emotional expressions that, by the 3rd month, dynamically stabilize. In contrast, for Cameroonian/Nso dyads over the 2nd and 3rd month, maternal motor stimulation marked by rhythmic vocalizing is linked with infant active attention to surroundings. The relatively few smiling/cooing actions of Nso babies at their mothers were answered mainly with tactile stimulation that did not foster the maintenance of face-to-face visual contact. Finally, West African immigrant dyads showed a combination of both face-to-face and sensorimotor coregulated exchanges observed in their new and native cultures. These findings suggest that emotional Co-regulation in early infancy can occur via multiple, culture-specific pathways that may be substantially different from the western pattern of face-to-face communication.

Sculpting Culture: Early Maternal Responsiveness and Child Emotion Regulation – A UK-Italy Comparison

“…Learning about such maternal preferences could be important in predicting the acquisition of particular ER strategies which might be integrated in the children’s own future repertoire: for instance, responses to positive affective cues may promote a sense of well-being and self-autonomy, which could serve to promote the use of autonomous coping strategies, whereas responses embedded in communicative exchanges may promote more social, communicative regulatory strategies. In line with this hypothesis, a recent study comparing Italian and African dyads found that Italian mothers tended to encourage infant smiles during early interactions more than African ones, a pattern of responses that was suggested to promote independence and autonomy, both highly valued in Italian culture (Lavelli et al, 2019). However, because this study concerned emotional exchanges between mothers and infants in only the first 2 months, it is not clear whether the same pattern of responses could have specific effects on later child socio-emotional outcomes.…”

“…The pattern of face-to-face communication between infants and caregivers in the first few weeks has been found to show a highly organized “functional architecture” (Murray et al, 2016) that fosters child socio-emotional development (Gergely & Watson, 1999; Lavelli & Fogel, 2013; Lavelli et al, 2019; Murray et al, 2016). For example, mothers selectively respond to specific infant socio-emotional cues (i.e., smiles, pre-speech, vocalizations) with mirroring and with “positive marking”—that is, the highlighting of certain infant expressions with clear ostensive cues such as eyebrow raising and smiles (Lavelli et al, 2019; Murray et al, 2016). These two forms of contingent maternal responses are particularly salient for infants (Gergely & Watson, 1999; Meltzoff, 2007), and not only facilitate further infant social communication during the interaction, but also support later socio-emotional skills (Bigelow et al, 2018; Gunning et al, 2004; Murray et al, 2016).…”

“…These two forms of contingent maternal responses are particularly salient for infants (Gergely & Watson, 1999; Meltzoff, 2007), and not only facilitate further infant social communication during the interaction, but also support later socio-emotional skills (Bigelow et al, 2018; Gunning et al, 2004; Murray et al, 2016). Thus, they predict the later emergence of infant social expressiveness (Lavelli et al, 2019; Murray et al, 2016), neural responses to facial expressions of emotion at 9 months (Rayson et al, 2017), and infants’ attempts to socially re-engage their partner when the interaction is interrupted (Bigelow et al, 2018; Bigelow & Walden, 2009).…”

“…Research on the acquisition of social rules for the expression and suppression of emotions shows that ER is influenced by both wider cultural background and proximal social experiences (Jaramillo et al, 2017). For instance, it has been reported that mothers from contexts where the well-being of the social group and interdependence with others are prioritized (such as in African and Asian societies), mothers are likely to encourage their children to suppress both positive and negative emotional states to avoid disruption of group harmony; by contrast, in contexts where personal autonomy is highly valued (such as in Euro-American societies), the expression of a broad range of emotions is encouraged by parents as a positive sign of individuality (Diaz & Eisenberg, 2015; Keller & Otto, 2009; Lavelli et al, 2019; Trommsdorff, 2012). However, even within Western cultures, there are important variations in the acceptability of emotional expressiveness.…”

Progress in understanding the emergence of human emotion.

“…Their use of temporal microanalyses in a longitudinal design represents a powerful method for addressing how interaction regulates infant behavior. Although cross-cultural studies of mother-infant interaction are not new, Lavelli et al (2019) advance understanding of cultural influences by studying immigrant West African dyads residing in Italy. By comparing their social exchanges with those of Cameroonian Nso and Italian dyads, they examine whether the new culture modifies the traditional ways immigrant mother-infant dyads would interact in their native community.…”