Supportive Emotion Socialization Mitigates Risk Between Maternal Emotion Regulation Difficulties and Preschooler Emotion Regulation.

Few studies have examined protective maternal factors that may mitigate the intergenerational transmission of risk of maternal emotion regulation difficulties on child outcomes. The current study tested whether supportive maternal emotion socialization moderated the association between maternal emotion regulation difficulties and child emotion regulation behaviors. Participants were 68 mother-preschooler (aged 36-60 months) dyads that were oversampled for maternal symptoms of borderline personality disorder, in order to achieve greater variability in the range of maternal emotion regulation difficulties. Maternal emotion regulation difficulties and supportive emotion socialization behaviors were measured using self-report questionnaires, and child emotion regulation was coded during a frustration-eliciting blocked goal task. Results partially supported study hypotheses, such that trait maternal emotion regulation difficulties were associated with child displays of sadness at low levels of supportive maternal emotion socialization, but not when mothers engaged in higher levels of supportive emotion socialization. These findings suggest that maternal emotion regulation and emotion socialization are distinctly related to child emotion expression and regulatory actions, and that adaptive maternal emotion socialization may mitigate some of the adverse transgenerational impacts of impaired emotion regulation.

A systematic review of emotion regulation in parent-mediated interventions for autism spectrum disorder.

Autistic individuals are at elevated risk for difficulties with emotion regulation (ER) that emerge early in life and are associated with a range of internalizing and externalizing disorders. Existing interventions that support ER have focused on school-age autistic children and adolescents as well as adults. Proactive approaches to improving ER in early childhood are thus needed, as is understanding the approaches by which ER skills can be feasibly supported in this young population. This review summarizes how ER has been measured within parent-mediated interventions for children at or under the age of 6 years and the extent to which ER is measured concurrently with or distinctly from observable behaviors that have been referenced in existing literature as externalizing or challenging behavior. Using PsycInfo, EBSCOhost, and PubMed databases, we searched for peer-reviewed journal articles published through August 2021, that focused on the use of parent-mediated interventions targeting ER and/or challenging behavior. The systematic search resulted in 4,738 publications; following multi-stage screening, the search yielded 20 studies. Eighteen of 20 studies were designed to target challenging behavior using manualized curricula or behavior analytic methodologies and assessed child outcomes through validated caregiver rating scales and/or direct behavioral observation. One study measured changes in ER as secondary to the social communication skills that were targeted in the intervention. Only one study specifically supported ER skill development and measured changes in ER as the primary intervention outcome. Findings highlight the need for better assessment of ER outcomes within the context of parent-mediated interventions for toddlers and young autistic children.

Relations of Maternal Borderline Personality Disorder Features With Preschooler Executive Functioning and Theory of Mind.

Although children of mothers who have elevated borderline personality disorder (BPD) features are a high-risk group, there remains little research examining developmental mechanisms that place these offspring at risk for emerging psychopathology. The current study included 68 mother-preschooler dyads, in which mothers with elevated BPD features were oversampled. Preschoolers (aged 3 and 4 years) completed a battery of executive functioning (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) measures. Accounting for several covariates (family income, maternal depression, child age, and child cognitive ability), maternal BPD features were associated with preschoolers' poorer EF and, although not associated with the overall ToM measure, were associated with affect perspective taking, a component of ToM.

The Associations Of Maternal Emotion Dysregulation And Early Child Dissociative Behaviors.

Although dissociation is believed to develop in early childhood, there is little research prospectively examining childhood dissociation or parental contributions related to its development. The current study sought to examine parent factors prospectively related to changes in dissociation symptoms in childhood. The current study sampled 68 mother-child dyads at two time points, when children were 3-4 and then 5-6 years, in which mothers with emotion dysregulation were oversampled. Maternal emotion dysregulation was assessed at both time points. Maternal dissociation was assessed only at time two. Child dissociation was assessed at each time point using a modified subscale of the Child Behavioral Checklist. Results showed moderate stability in childhood dissociation across time points. Further, maternal emotion dysregulation and dissociation were both significantly correlated with children's dissociation. Accounting for several covariates, time one maternal emotion dysregulation was prospectively associated with preschoolers' dissociative behaviors at 5-6 years old. The present work suggests that symptoms of dissociation can be observed early in childhood and that maternal factors play an early role in the development of dissociation in children.

Maternal emotion dysregulation and the functional organization of preschoolers' emotional expressions and regulatory behaviors.

Although psychopathology in mothers is known to be a significant risk factor for child outcomes, less is known about how emotion dysregulation, a transdiagnostic feature that cuts across many diagnoses, shapes emotion-related parenting practices and the development of emotion regulation in offspring. Building upon previous research that examined the functional relations between emotions and regulatory actions in children, we sought to examine the association of maternal emotion dysregulation and emotion socialization with these functional links in an at-risk community sample of mother-preschooler (children ages 36-60 months) dyads that oversampled for mothers with elevated symptoms of borderline personality disorder (n = 68). We found that maternal emotion dysregulation was associated with children displaying more sadness and engaging in less problem solving during the Locked Box Task, which is designed to elicit anger. Maternal emotion dysregulation was also associated with children being more distracted and talking less in the context of sadness. Maternal nonsupportive emotion socialization responses were associated with children engaging in more defiant behaviors throughout the task and using less problem solving in the context of happiness, whereas maternal supportive emotion socialization responses were associated with more play throughout the task and less talking in the context of sadness, above and beyond the effect of maternal emotion dysregulation. These findings indicate that maternal emotion dysregulation and nonsupportive emotion socialization practices are both meaningfully associated with the development of aberrant patterns of emotional and behavioral responding during the preschool years. (PsycINFO Database Record