Intergenerational transmission of self-regulation: A multidisciplinary review and integrative conceptual framework.

Abstract

This review examines mechanisms contributing to the intergenerational transmission of self-regulation. To provide an integrated account of how self-regulation is transmitted across generations, we draw from over 75 years of accumulated evidence, spanning case studies to experimental approaches, in literatures covering developmental, social, and clinical psychology, and criminology, physiology, genetics, and human and animal neuroscience (among others). First, we present a taxonomy of what self-regulation is and then examine how it develops – overviews that guide the main foci of the review. Next, studies supporting an association between parent and child self-regulation are reviewed. Subsequently, literature that considers potential social mechanisms of transmission, specifically parenting behavior, inter-parental (i.e., marital) relationship behaviors, and broader rearing influences (e.g., household chaos) are considered. Finally, literature providing evidence that prenatal programming may be the starting point of the intergenerational transmission of self-regulation is covered, along with key findings from the behavioral and molecular genetics literatures. To integrate these literatures, we introduce the Self-Regulation Intergenerational Transmission Model, a framework that brings together prenatal, social, and neurobiological mechanisms (spanning endocrine, neural, and genetic levels, including gene-environment interplay and epigenetic processes) to explain the intergenerational transmission of self-regulation. This model also incorporates potential transactional processes between generations (e.g., children’s self-regulation and parent-child interaction dynamics that may affect parents’ self-regulation) that further influence intergenerational processes. In pointing the way forward, we note key future directions and ways to address limitations in existing work throughout the review and in closing. We also conclude by noting several implications for intervention work.

Investigating the association between parental reflective functioning and distress tolerance in motherhood

“…These findings suggest that neurocognitive faculties may support emotional reactivity and regulation to infant affective cues, and may be shaped by being in the parenting role (Bridgett, Burt, Edwards, & Deater-Deckard, 2015; Crandall, Deater-Deckard, & Riley, 2015; Rutherford, Wallace, Laurent, & Mayes, 2015). In particular, there has been significant interest in how reflective functioning may help scaffold adaptive parent-child interactions (Slade, 2005).…”

Adolescent Substance Use and Comorbid Psychopathology: Emotion Regulation Deficits as a Transdiagnostic Risk Factor

“…Current definitions of “emotion regulation” vary quite dramatically both within and across disciplines (a thorough review of the construct of emotion regulation is beyond the scope of this report, but see [15–17, 18•, 19] for recent reviews). For parsimony, our definition of emotion regulation for the current review includes the following: efforts, strategies, and responses, whether conscious or not, involved in modifying or maintaining an emotional state and associated behaviors [e.g., 15, 19–21].…”

“…For parsimony, our definition of emotion regulation for the current review includes the following: efforts, strategies, and responses, whether conscious or not, involved in modifying or maintaining an emotional state and associated behaviors [e.g., 15, 19–21]. This definition allows for inclusion of multiple dimensions of emotionally-salient processes and regulation of these processes, including but not limited to: emotional reactivity, arousal, sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, impulsivity, effortful control, behavioral and emotional inhibition, emotional awareness, and features of temperament [e.g., 16, 17, 18•, 22]. We employ this more versatile definition of emotion regulation in order to maximize inclusion of findings from research which spans across various emotionally-salient domains as they relate to substance use and comorbid psychopathology.…”

“…Development of self-control and adaptive emotion regulation strategies is an ongoing process that progresses rapidly through the preschool years [23] and continues to develop and emerge through adolescence [24] and into emerging adulthood [18•] (see [15] for a review of emotion regulation development). Emotion regulation is a relatively stable construct with known behavioral and neurobiological correlates that reliably predict individual differences in self-regulation and impulse control across the lifetime [e.g., 25].…”

Partnership Cultures: Beginning at the Beginning through Parenting

“…2, Art. 1 http://pubs.lib.umn.edu/ijps/vol3/iss2/1 expectations of children, while others need to learn to regulate themselves (Bridgett, Burt, Edwards & Deater-Deckard, 2015). Depression, anxiety, and addictions affect parenting and may lead to emotional dysregulation and stress in children (Beebe, et al,2011;Brennen, et al, 2000;Field, 2010;Tronick & Reck, 2009).…”