Developmental Trajectories of Emotion Regulation Across Infancy: Do Age and the Social Partner Influence Temporal Patterns

Abstract

The ability to effectively regulate emotions is a critical component of early socio-emotional development. This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of emotion regulation in a sample of 3-, 5-, and 7-month-olds during an interaction with mothers and fathers. Infants’ negative affect and use of behavioral strategies, including distraction, self-soothing, and high intensity motor behaviors were rated during the still-face episode of the Still-Face Paradigm. Longitudinal mixed-effects models were tested to determine whether strategies were followed by an increase or decrease in negative affect. Results from mother-infant and father-infant dyads indicated that focusing attention away from the unresponsive parent and engaging in self-soothing behaviors were associated with a subsequent decline in negative affect and the strength of these temporal associations were stable across infancy. In contrast, high-intensity motor behaviors were followed by an increase in negative affect and this effect declined over time. No significant effects were found for the behavioral strategy of looking at the parent. Results underscore the importance of considering infant age and the social partner when studying the effectiveness of emotion regulatory strategies in early infancy.

Attachment in the making: Mother and father sensitivity and infants’ responses during the Still-Face Paradigm

“…Previous work stemming from these data include three publications examining attachment but not infant SFP responses (Lickenbrock, Braungart-Rieker, Ekas, Zentall, Oshio, & Planalp, in press; Planalp & Braungart-Rieker, 2013; and Zentall, Braungart-Rieker, Ekas, & Lickenbrock, 2012), one examining second-by-second associations between affective and behavioral responses within the SFP but not attachment (Ekas, Lickenbrock, & Braungart-Rieker, 2013), and two looking neither at attachment nor infant SFP responses (Ekas, Braungart-Rieker, Lickenbrock, Zentall, & Maxwell, 2011; Planalp, Braungart-Rieker, Lickenbrock, & Zentall, S. (in press). For the purposes of this study, data from all but the last visit were examined.…”

Trajectories of Regulatory Behaviors in Early Infancy: Determinants of Infant Self‐Distraction and Self‐Comforting

“…In addition, these two regulatory behaviors (self‐comforting and self‐distraction) have been found to decrease infant negative affect during laboratory tasks. Specifically, using the same sample as the current study, Ekas et al () found that an infants’ use of self‐comforting and self‐distraction can lessen the amount of distress they exhibit. They found that negative affect during the still‐face episode of the SFP decreased within three‐seconds of the use of those regulatory strategies.…”

“…Two behavioral regulation strategies have been empirically supported as regulatory where the occurrence of the behavior relieves negative arousal (Ekas, Lickenbrock, & Braungart‐Rieker, ). Infants use self‐comforting behaviors, such as lip smacking or thumb sucking, to regulate arousal (Stifter & Braungart, ).…”

“…Specifically, infants tend to look away from intense or inconsistent stimuli to regulate arousal. Self‐distraction has been found to increase as infants develop (Ekas et al., ; Rothbart, Ziaie, & O'Boyle, ). This developmentally appropriate shift in regulatory strategy could be due to the fact that by about 4 months of age, infants are better able to disengage their attention from faces and focus on other objects (Rothbart et al., ).…”

Current themes in understanding children's emotion regulation as developing from within the parent–child relationship

“…When the caregiver is uncharacteristically unresponsive, the infant must attempt to self-regulate. When either mothers or fathers were instructed to be unresponsive, 3 to7-month-olds employed similar strategies to regulate their emotions (e.g., looking to the parent, distraction, self-soothing), and these strategies proved equally effective for reducing negative affect over a three second period with each parent [4]. However, when comparing infants’ displays of negative affect to parental unresponsiveness across the 3, 5, and 7-month assessments, reductions in negative affect across that time period were only found for paternal unresponsiveness.…”