Poster #145 - Infant Emotion Regulation during Triadic Interactions with Both Parents at 3 and 12 months

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Introduction: The regulation of emotion shapes children’s social relationships and is an important social skill (Denham, 1998). Emotion regulation is a progressively emerging capacity with early development dependent on and shaped by both the child’s own evolving capacity to self-regulate and adult sensitivity in reading the infant’s cues and meeting her regulatory needs (Rothbart et al., 1992; Thompson, 1994; Tronick, 1989). Co-regulation has typically been conceptualized as a dyadic process and studied in dyadic contexts, but infants must also learn to co-regulate in multi-parent contexts (Parke, 1986). This study examined developing patterns of communicative signals exchanged between infants and two parents during triadic play to maintain regulatory equilibrium, especially during communicative ruptures and mismatch repair (Tronick & Beeghly, 2011). It was predicted that there would be an increase in infants’ emerging triangular capacities for emotional coordination during triangular interactions with both parents from 3 to 12 months.

Method: 34 African-American families (15 boys, 19 girls) were observed when babies were 3 and/or 12 months old, with a subsample of 12 families observed on both occasions. Children’s triangular emotion regulation was recorded at 3 and 12 months as mother, father and child played en-face in the Lausanne Trilogue Play Paradigm (Fivaz-Depeursinge & Corboz-Warnery, 1999). A coding scheme for analysis of triadic interactions building on the mutual regulation model (MRM; Gianino & Tronick, 1988) and expanding upon the work of Fivaz-Depeursinge et al. (2005) examined both infant gaze and affect configurations. Three raters coded all interactions to assess reliability, and ICCs for all variables were all good to excellent (.5-.75).

Results: Three-month-olds engaged in interactive dyadic affective communication with their two parents, evidenced by number of social engagement looks at either parent (see Table 1), and this capacity increased with age t (11) = -5.48, p = .001. Additionally, triangular emotional coordination could be seen as early as three months (M=.9, SD=.26) and this capacity likewise increased at twelve months (M=.52, SD=.73), t (11) = -2.39, p = .05. Infants’ triangular tension bids similarly increased from three (M=.45, SD=.13) to twelve months (M=2.86, SD=.83), t (11) = -2.37, p = .05. Finally, there was a significant increase in both dyadic emotion regulation and in self-regulation from three to twelve months (Table 2). Unexpectedly, higher unsuccessful assisted emotion regulation was tied to higher self-regulation at 12 months (r=.4, p=.05).

Discussion: This study advances the burgeoning literature on the social context of emotion regulation in young children by examining infants’ regulation during interactions with both coparents. Results document developmental advances in infants’ emotion regulation capacities in the context of these triangular interactions with their coparents. Specifically, infants become more attuned to the social cues of the dual interaction partners and utilize the regulatory support both offer. However, when either interaction partner fails to correctly read the infants’ cues, they increasingly employ their self-regulatory capacities to maintain emotional equilibrium. Finally, infants’ triangular capacities are evident as early as at three months and are an integral part of the child’s efforts in maintenance of emotional equilibrium.

Authors

• Yana Segal Sirotkin, Univeristy of South Florida
  Presenting Author

• James McHale, USF St. Petersburg
  Non-Presenting Author

• Pieter Wiemken, Univeristy of South Florida
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nicholas D’Souza, Univeristy of South Florida
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michael Nickas, University of South Florida
  Non-Presenting Author

• Corell Kimer, Univeristy of South Florida
  Non-Presenting Author