رابطه تبادلی بین فرزندپروری و تنظیم احساسات در کودکان با و بدون تأخیر رشد

Researchers have identified numerous internal and external factors that contribute to individual differences in emotion regulation (ER) abilities. To extend these findings, we examined the longitudinal effects of a significant external predictor (parenting) on children's ER abilities in the context of an internal predictor (intellectual functioning). We used cross-lagged panel modeling to investigate the transactional relationship between parenting and ER in children with or without developmental delays (DD) across three time points in early and middle childhood (age 3, 5, and 8). Participants were 225 families in the Collaborative Family Study, a longitudinal study of young children with or without DD. Child ER ability and maternal scaffolding skills were coded from mother–child interactions at ages 3, 5, and 8. Compared to children with typical development (TD), children with DD were significantly more dysregulated at all time points, and their mothers exhibited fewer scaffolding behaviors in early childhood. In addition, cross-lagged panel models revealed a significant bidirectional relationship between maternal scaffolding and ER from ages 3 to 5 in the DD group but not the TD group. These findings suggest that scaffolding may be a crucial parenting skill to target in the early treatment of children with ER difficulties.

The ability to monitor, evaluate, and modify the intensity and duration of emotional reactions is crucial for competent social functioning and psychological well-being. People are exposed to a variety of emotionally arousing stimuli on a daily basis and therefore need regulatory mechanisms to curtail reactions that would be deemed as socially inappropriate or extreme. Competence in emotion regulation (ER) is associated with better health outcomes and interpersonal relationships, and improved academic and work performance (Aldao, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Schweizer, 2010).