Mother-Child Emotion Regulation, Parenting, and Stress: Integrating Psychological, Biological, and Behavioural Perspectives

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Background: Strong emotion regulation (ER) skills—the set of processes through which individuals modulate their emotional experiences and expressions—are essential to achieving positive developmental outcomes (Gross et al., 2006; Thompson, 1994). Research suggests that mothers impact children’s ER development via parenting, socialization, and biological mechanisms (Morris et al., 2011), but few studies have investigated these influences from an integrative perspective. Associations between specific mother-child ER strategies and relations with maternal parenting characteristics remain understudied. Furthermore, the role of chronic stress in the mother-child ER relations is not well-understood.

Purpose: Given these gaps in the literature, the present study aimed to: a) Examine relationships between specific ER strategies used by mothers and their children; b) Understand associations between maternal parenting quality and child ER abilities; and c) Explore the moderating effects of prolonged stress, as indicated by hair cortisol, on a) and b).

Methods: Eighty-two mother-child dyads (mean child age = 5.10 ± 0.18 years) completed the fourth and fifth home visits of the Maternal Executive Processes & Parenting study. Mothers completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to assess their use of the cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression ER strategies, and dyads completed a challenging, cooperative drawing task intended to elicit ER behaviours. Child affect and the ER strategies of disengagement, self-comforting, cognitive reappraisals, and seeking maternal help were coded during the task. Parenting responsiveness was coded using the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales and Cognitive Sensitivity (CS) scheme, which were combined to create a composite measure of maternal sensitivity. Hair samples were collected and assayed for hair cortisol concentration (HCC) to measure prolonged physiological stress. Bivariate correlations were conducted to assess relationships between mother-child ER and parenting, and the moderating role of cortisol was explored using linear regression.

Results: No significant correlations between child ER behaviours and maternal ERQ scores emerged. However, maternal responsiveness was negatively associated with children’s use of the disengagement ER strategy (r = -.33, p = .003) and displays of negative child affect (r = -.30, p = .006). Child HCC levels were significantly correlated with self-comforting ER behaviours (r = .24, p = .038) and positive affect (r = .25, p = .034). In regression analyses, maternal responsiveness and maternal HCC interacted significantly to predict children’s use of the cognitive restructuring ER strategy (β = -.56, SE = .15, p < .05).

Conclusions: Findings supported previously documented maternal influences on children’s ER abilities. Maternal responsiveness had particularly strong effects on children’s ER strategy use, both independently and in combination with adrenocortical stress responses. Increased maternal awareness of optimal parenting practices and stress modulation may thus benefit children’s ER abilities and lead to positive socioemotional outcomes later in life. Overall, results converged to support an integrative framework for understanding how mothers affect children’s ER development.

Authors

• Jasmine Zhang, University of Waterloo
  Presenting Author

• Andrea Gonzalez, McMaster University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer E. Khoury, McMaster University
  Non-Presenting Author