Poster #210 - Temporal Dynamics of Infant Physiological Regulation with Mothers and Fathers

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Introduction: The ability to regulate emotions is a hallmark of socio-emotional development. During the first year, infants use behaviors to regulate emotions. Shifting attention away from a stimulus is associated with a decline in negative emotion, suggesting that this behavior is a regulatory strategy. This research relied upon behavioral indices of negative emotion; however, physiological reactivity should be studied. Heart rate generally increases during frustrating situations. There is no research examining whether the behavioral strategies that infants use also affect their physiological reactivity.
Aims of Study: The first aim is to examine whether behavioral strategies are associated with a change in heart rate in infants. The second aim is to determine whether the effectiveness of a strategy differs according to whether infants are interacting with their mother or father.
Material and Methods: Six-month-old infants and their mothers (n = 77) and fathers (n = 73) participated in the Still-Face Paradigm. Infant behaviors (look at parent, look away from parent, self-soothing) and heart rate were measured each second.
Results: Infant regulatory behavior and heart rate at time t were entered as predictors of infant heart rate at time t + 1. Looking away from the mother was associated with a subsequent decline in infant heart rate (b = -.45, t = -4.41, p < .001). Looking at the mother was associated with an increase in infant heart rate (b = .28, t = 2.67, p = .008). Self-soothing was not significantly associated with infant heart rate. There were no significant associations with fathers.
Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate that infant behaviors regulate physiology. Similar to previous studies of affect regulation, looking away from the source of frustration (i.e., unresponsive mother) was associated with declines in infant heart rate; however, this was only the case when interacting with mothers.

Authors

• Lauren Tidman, Texas Christian University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Naomi Ekas, Texas Christian University
  Presenting Author

• Deborah Rafferty, Texas Christian University
  Non-Presenting Author