What Factors Influence Emotion
Regulation in Infancy?
Just an example
Abstract
• The most common strategies are passive
disengagement and physical regulation.
• Highly reactive infants show deficiencies
in emotion regulation development.
• When caregivers are unavailable, infants
use more regulation.
• Father-infant avoidant attachment is
associated with employment of distraction
and self-soothing.
• Physical stimulation can contribute to the
negative emotional state of the infant.
What Is Emotion Regulation?
• Definition
– Intrinsic and extrinsic processes responsible for
identifying, supervising, evaluating, and altering
emotional reactions (Thompson, 1994).
• Function
– To manage arousal, control behaviors and reactions, and
thereby define and adjust interactions to fit both
individual and social demands.
– If unable to master the task of emotion regulation,
“deleterious emotional arousal and the misleading
identification and misdirection of emotions” (Kostuik &
Fouts, 2002) can result, possibly leading to socially
inappropriate behaviors and a limited ability to adapt to
spontaneous experiences.
Strategies of Self Emotion Regulation
In Infancy
Regulation
Strategy
Mother
Face-to-Face
Mother
Still-Face
Mother
Reengagement
Stranger
Face-to-Face
Total
Self-Soothing
5
11
5
4
25
Scanning
9
7
11
9
36
Passive
Disengagement
15
18
20
18
71
Distraction
5
9
2
10
26
Physical
1
14
9
17
41
Total
35
59
47
58
Temperament
• Anger and Frustration
(Calkins, et al., 2002)
– Results
• Easily frustrated infants used more physical
regulation, scanning, and mother orienting, and less
distraction.
• In addition, they received lower scores on
attention task exercises and were observed to
have higher activity levels.
– Conclusions
• A “lack of focused attention coupled with a
tendency to be very active and easily distressed
may predispose the child to be unable to exert
control over his or her behavior.” (Calkins, et al.,
2002)
Temperament
• Effects of Excessive Crying
(Stifter & Spinrad, 2002)
– Results
• Excessive criers exhibited significantly lower levels
of self-regulation even after controlling for negative
reactivity.
• Higher levels of regulation were associated with less
negativity.
– Conclusions
• Inattention that results from excessive crying
inhibits infants’ ability to internalize regulation
techniques, hence disturbing emotion regulation
development.
– Findings supported by Calkins, et al. (2002).
Infant-Caregiver Interactions
• Parent Availability (Bridges, et al., 1997)
– Parent Active
• Infants’ negative expression significantly decreased.
• Infants’ levels of active engagement increased.
– Parent Passive
• More physical and self-soothing techniques observed.
• Infants utilized more object focus.
• Infants’ distress levels significantly higher in
mother-passive than in father-passive situations.
– Cross parent analysis reveal possible influence of type of
parent-infant interaction (caregiver sensitivity (?))
experienced on emotion regulation.
Attachment Quality
(Diener, et al., 2002)
• Infant-Father Attachment
– Avoidant Attachment
• Distraction and self-soothing most common
techniques.
– Secure Attachment
• Infants exhibited fewer self-soothing behaviors.
• Infant-Mother Attachment
– No association between attachment quality
and emotion regulation strategy found.
– Similar to Bridges, et al., implies a role of caregiver
interaction type on regulation.
Physical Stimulation
• Effects of Maternal Touch
(Hernstein & Campos, 2001)
– Negative Expression
• Tension Increase
– Infants demonstrated more negative emotional
displays.
» Less initiation of play.
» Decrease duration of play.
• Relaxation
– Infants exhibited no differences from control
infants in initiation or duration of play.
– Positive Emotion
• No major changes or differences in infants’ disposition
for either condition.
Summary
• The most common methods of emotion regulation in infants
at 4 months are passive disengagement and physical
strategies.
• Highly frustrated infants exhibit deficiencies in emotion
regulation development.
• Tension increase in physical stimulation via maternal touch
increases negativity (regulates emotion) and hence emotion
regulation in infants.
• The level of emotion regulation necessary and the type of
regulation utilized depends on parent availability in
stressful situations.
• The use of particular regulation techniques is associated
with attachment quality in infant-father relationships.
References
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Bridges, Lisa J. (1997). Infant Emotion Regulation with Mothers
and Fathers. Infant Behavior and Development 20(1). 47-57.
Calkins, Susan D., Dedmon, Susan E., Gill, Kathryn L., Lomax, Laura
E., and Johnson, Laura M. Frustration in Infancy: Implications for
Emotion Regulation, Physiological Processes, and Temperament.
Infancy, 3(2). 175-197.
Diener, Marissa L., Mangelsdorf, Sarah C., McHale, Jean L.,
Frosch, Cynthia A. Infants’ Behavioral Strategies for Emotion
Regulation With Fathers and Mothers: Associations With
Emotional Expressions and Attachment Quality. Infancy 3(2). 15317.
Hertenstein, Mathew J., Campos, Joseph J. (2001). Emotion
Regulation via Maternal Touch. Infancy 2(4). 549-566.
Stifter, Cynthia A., Spinrad, Tracy L. (2002). The Effect of
Excessive Crying on the Development of Emotion Regulation.
Infancy 3(2). 133-152.
Kostiuk, Lynne M., Fouts, Gregory T. (2002). Understanding of
Emotion Regulation in Adolescent Females with Conduct Problems:
A Qualitative Analysis. The Qualitative Report 7(1).
www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR7-1/kostiuk.html