Relations Among Parent-Child Dyadic Synchrony, Child Temperament, and Toddlers’ Self-Regulation in Ethnically Diverse Families

• In Event: Diversifying a Normative Science of Children’s Self-Regulation

Abstract

Self-regulation (SR), the ability to modulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in a goal-directed manner, is critical for learning, getting along with others, and overall psychological functioning (Robson et al., 2020). Individual differences in SR are due to multiple factors, including child temperament and the degree of reciprocal interactions between parents and children (i.e., dyadic synchrony). During early childhood, dyadic synchrony facilitates the transition from external to independent SR (Feldman, 2007). Yet, most SR studies focus on White middle-class families, in particular mothers. Far fewer studies include samples of ethnically diverse families, including fathers (Owen et al., 2013), leading to potential overestimates of the effect of parents on children. Consequently, examining sources of within-group variability, as well as mechanisms, is important for understanding the association between dyadic synchrony and SR in ethnically diverse families.

Using a sample of Latinx and African American two-parent families (N = 74) and their children participating in an ongoing intervention, we ask: (1) How are mother- and father-child synchrony at 18 months associated with toddlers’ SR performance and SR strategies at 24 months? (2) Is dyadic synchrony associated with SR performance through toddlers’ SR strategy use and is this indirect effect moderated by child temperament? and (3) What are the joint effects of mother- and father-child synchrony on SR? We hypothesized that high mother- and father-child synchrony would be associated with greater self-regulation compared to low mother- and father-child synchrony and that these associations would be stronger for toddlers with lower negative emotionality than for toddlers with greater negative emotionality. Finally, we expected that when both mother- and father-child synchrony are high, toddlers will be better regulated than when only one parent exhibits high synchrony with the child.

Using a global rating scale (Cox & Crnic, 2003), coders rated mother- and father-child dyads on their level of dyadic synchrony during semi-structured interactions at 18 months. At 24 months, toddlers’ SR performance and “hot” (attention to treat) and “cool” SR behaviors (self-talk; active distractions; redirecting attention) were assessed using a video-recorded snack delay task. At 12 months, mothers and fathers reported on toddlers’ negative emotionality using the EAS (Buss, 1991). High emotionality (high levels of distress) and low emotionality (low levels of distress) groups were created using a median split. We controlled for parental education, child sex, and intervention condition.

Mother- and father-child synchrony at 18 months were not associated with SR performance or SR strategies at 24 months, but there was a significant interaction between mother-child synchrony and child emotionality (Figure 1). High mother-child synchrony was associated with greater use of active distraction (i.e., a cool SR strategy) for toddlers high on emotionality compared to toddlers with low emotionality. Moreover, we found support for a moderated mediation effect between mother-child synchrony and SR performance via toddlers’ active distraction. We found no significant joint effects between mother- and father-child synchrony on SR. Together, these results suggest that for toddlers with high negative emotionality, mother-child synchrony may act as a protective factor for adaptive SR strategy use.

Authors

• Angelica Alonso, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine