Individual differences in infant attention skills, joint attention, and emotion regulation behaviour

Abstract

This study examined the concurrent and predictive relations between infant attention skills, joint attention, and emotion regulation. Infants' gaze following skills and duration of orienting were assessed at 6 months of age, and collaborative joint attention and emotion regulation skills were assessed at 24 months of age. The results indicated that infants' ability to follow direction of gaze at 6 months was significantly correlated with emotion regulation strategy use at 24 months of age, and that collaborative joint attention at 24 months was significantly correlated with emotion regulation strategy use at 24 months of age. The results of this study are consistent with previous research finding associations between collaborative joint attention and children's emotion regulation behaviour. These data also suggest that children's preexisting visual attention skills may contribute to their ability to regulate emotion.

Maternal alexithymic traits, prenatal stress, and infant temperament

“…In turn, high duration of orienting could be seen as an infant strategy to manage possibly passive parenting behavior (Morales, Mundy, Crowson, Neal, & Delgado, 2005). This is in line with the findings of family dysfunction (King & Mallinckrodt, 2000) and especially low family expressiveness (e.g.…”

Disgust mediates the relation between attentional shifting and contamination aversion

“…For example, poor attentional control is associated with increased emotional arousal to stressors (Rothbart, Posner, & Boylan, 1990;Rothbart, Ziaie, & O'Boyle, 1992) and decreased abilities to down-regulate affective arousal (Morales, Mundy, Crowson, Neal, & Delgado, 2005;Posner & Rothbart, 1998). Research has also shown that, among highly anxious children, attentional focus (i.e., the ability to concentrate and focus attention on one task) and attentional shifting (i.e., the ability to engage in dual tasks and shift attention from one task to another) predicted severity of trait anxiety above and beyond neuroticism (Muris, de Jong, & Engelen, 2004).…”

In and out of synch: infant childcare teachers’ adaptations to infants' developmental changes

“…Infants use non-verbal joint attention as a means of engaging in social interactions with peers and infant teachers (Dunham & Moore, 1995;Liszkowski, Carpenter, Henning, Striano, & Tomasello, 2004;Morales et al, 2005). Joint attention is an important precursor to the development of understanding others' emotions, intentions, and beliefs, and is viewed as an essential component to establishing synchronous relationships.…”

“…Studies of joint attention, the process by which infants and adults have a common or shared focus on an object or activity, have shown this phenomenon to be a foundational element to language development, socio-cognitive development, and social understanding (Morales, Mundy, Crowson, Neal, & Delgado, 2005;Wittmer & Petersen, 2010). Infants use non-verbal joint attention as a means of engaging in social interactions with peers and infant teachers (Dunham & Moore, 1995;Liszkowski, Carpenter, Henning, Striano, & Tomasello, 2004;Morales et al, 2005).…”