Stage-Specific Effects of Parent–Child Relationships in Infancy, Middle Childhood, and Adolescence on Adolescents’ Emotion Regulation

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

The parent–child relationship quality shapes children’s emotion regulation (ER) development in childhood and adolescence. According to contemporary models of development, the early stages from infancy to middle childhood may contain unique sensitive periods during which children’s long-term ER development is exceptionally responsive to experiences within the parent–child relationship (Gee, 2016; Szepsenwol & Simpson, 2019). However, the role of timing in the parent–child relationship effects remains unclear, as prospective studies across multiple developmental stages are rare. Moreover, previous research has mainly targeted the role of mother–child relationship while ignoring the salience of the father–child relationship in children’s ER development (Morris et al., 2017).

In this prospective study, our aim was to test the stage-specific effects of parent-child relationship quality in infancy, middle childhood, and adolescence on adolescents’ ER. High parent–child relationship quality was conceptualized in terms of high relational autonomy and intimacy regarding both mother–child and father–child relationships. Adolescents’ ER was conceptualized as habitual reliance on the strategies of reappraisal, suppression, and rumination. Our main hypothesis was that high parent–child relationship quality in each developmental stage of infancy, middle childhood, and adolescence has unique effects on adolescents’ more constructive ER, involving greater reappraisal and less suppression and rumination. Moreover, we hypothesized that both mother–child and father–child relationships contribute to adolescents’ ER.

The participants were 885 Finnish families followed from pregnancy to children’s age of 18 years. This pre-registered study (https://osf.io/nehmf) used data from the children’s age of 1 year (n=546), 7 to 8 years (n=532), and 18 years (n=558). The autonomy and intimacy of mother–child and father–child relationships were assessed using parents’ self- and partner reports of the Subjective Family Picture Test (Mattejat and Scholz, 1994). Adolescents’ ER was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross and John, 2003) and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski et al., 2001). Four hypothetical developmental timing models were built and compared in the structural equation modeling framework to test the hypotheses. The developmental timing models differed in how the parent–child relationship quality in infancy and middle childhood was defined to predict adolescents’ ER. These differences reflected the potential sensitive periods in which the parent–child relationship quality had a long-lasting, stage-specific impact on adolescents’ ER.

Against our hypotheses, the comparisons of developmental timing models indicated no stage-specific effects of the mother–child or father–child relationship quality in infancy and middle childhood on adolescents’ ER. Moreover, further model comparisons indicated that mother–child and father–child relationship quality in adolescence had no effects on adolescents’ ER. The results were consistent irrespective of both the relationship dimension (i.e., autonomy or intimacy) and the reporter (i.e., self or partner). Thus, entirely against our hypotheses, we found no effects of parent–child relationship quality in infancy, middle childhood, or adolescence on adolescents’ ER.

Our findings contradict the models of sensitive periods during which parent–child relationship quality has disproportionate effects on children’s long-term ER development, at least when the focus is on habitual reliance on ER strategies. Instead, the findings may indicate that the developmental plasticity of ER remains high from infancy to adolescence.

Authors

• Jaakko Tammilehto, Tampere University
  Presenting Author

• Raija-Leena Punamäki-Gitai, Tampere University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marjo Flykt, Tampere University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mervi Vänskä, Tampere University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lotta Marianne Heikkilä, Tampere University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jari Lipsanen, University of Helsinki
  Non-Presenting Author

• Piia Poikkeus, University of Helsinki
  Non-Presenting Author

• Aila Tiitinen, University of Helsinki
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jallu Lindblom, University of Turku
  Non-Presenting Author