TY - JOUR
T1 - Preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation
T2 - Links with maternal psychological distress and child behavior problems
AU - Tsotsi, Stella
AU - Borelli, Jessica L
AU - Backer, Mumtaz
AU - Veragoo, Noraini
AU - Abdulla, Nurshuhadah
AU - Tan, Kok Hian
AU - Chong, Yap Seng
AU - Chen, Helen
AU - Meaney, Michael J
AU - Broekman, Birit
AU - Rifkin-Graboi, Anne
N1 - Funding Information: This research is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under its Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Programme and administered by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore- NMRC/TCR/004-NUS/2008; NMRC/TCR/012-NUHS/2014. Additional funding is provided by the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) Strategic Positioning Fund (SPF) [Grant ID: SPF2013/002]; the NMRC [NMRC/CBRG/0039/2013]; and the Young Investigator Award at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences [SICS/YIG/2013/002]. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Maladaptive offspring emotion regulation has been identified as one pathway linking maternal and child psychological well-being in school-aged children. Whether such a pathway is present earlier in life still remains unclear. The present study investigated the role of preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation in the association between maternal psychological distress and child internalizing and externalizing problems. Children's emotion reactivity and regulation were assessed through both observed behavior and physiology. At 42 months of age, children (n = 251; 128 girls) completed a fear induction task during which their heart-rate variability was assessed and their behavior was monitored, and maternal self-reports on depressive mood and anxiety were collected. At 48 months mothers and fathers reported on their children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Higher maternal depressive mood was associated with lower child fear-related reactivity and regulation, as indexed by heart-rate variability. The latter mediated the association between higher maternal depressive mood and higher preschoolers' externalizing problems. Overall, our findings support the role of preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation in the relationship between maternal psychological distress and children's socio-emotional difficulties. This role may also depend on the discrete emotion to which children react or seek to regulate as, here, we only assessed fear-related reactivity and regulation.
AB - Maladaptive offspring emotion regulation has been identified as one pathway linking maternal and child psychological well-being in school-aged children. Whether such a pathway is present earlier in life still remains unclear. The present study investigated the role of preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation in the association between maternal psychological distress and child internalizing and externalizing problems. Children's emotion reactivity and regulation were assessed through both observed behavior and physiology. At 42 months of age, children (n = 251; 128 girls) completed a fear induction task during which their heart-rate variability was assessed and their behavior was monitored, and maternal self-reports on depressive mood and anxiety were collected. At 48 months mothers and fathers reported on their children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Higher maternal depressive mood was associated with lower child fear-related reactivity and regulation, as indexed by heart-rate variability. The latter mediated the association between higher maternal depressive mood and higher preschoolers' externalizing problems. Overall, our findings support the role of preschoolers' emotion reactivity and regulation in the relationship between maternal psychological distress and children's socio-emotional difficulties. This role may also depend on the discrete emotion to which children react or seek to regulate as, here, we only assessed fear-related reactivity and regulation.
KW - Keywords:
KW - depressive mood
KW - externalizing problems
KW - fear-related regulation
KW - respiratory sinus arrhythmia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119613070&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421000936
DO - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421000936
M3 - Article
C2 - 34779373
SN - 0954-5794
VL - 35
SP - 1079
EP - 1091
JO - Development and psychopathology
JF - Development and psychopathology
ER -