Parental sensitivity, infant affect, and affect regulation: predictors of later attachment.

This longitudinal study on 94 families examined the extent to which parent sensitivity, infant affect, and affect regulation at 4 months predicted mother-infant and father-infant attachment classifications at 1 year. Parent sensitivity was rated from face-to-face interaction episodes; infant affect and regulatory behaviors were rated from mother-infant and father-infant still-face episodes at 4 months. Infants' attachment to mothers and fathers was rated from the Strange Situation at 12 and 13 months. MANOVAs indicated that 4-month parent and infant factors were associated with infant-mother but not infant-father attachment groups. Discriminant Function Analysis further indicated that two functions, "Affect Regulation" and "Maternal Sensitivity," discriminated infant-mother attachment groups; As and B1-B2s showed more affect regulation toward mothers and fathers than B3-B4s and Cs at 4 months, and mothers of both secure groups were more sensitive than mothers of Cs. Finally, the association between maternal sensitivity and infant-mother attachment was partially mediated by infant affect regulation.

Toward a developmental model of child compliance: the role of emotion regulation in infancy.

The present study examined the relation between early emotion regulation and later compliance. When infants were 5, 10, and 18 months of age, they participated in a frustration task. The degree to which they reacted negatively to the stimuli and the behaviors they used to regulate that response were coded. Baseline heart rate also was recorded and a measure of cardiac vagal tone (VNA) was derived. Several tasks (electrode placement, toy clean-up, and test situation) were administered to elicit compliance/noncompliance when the participants were 30 months of age. Results revealed that infants who demonstrated low levels of regulatory behavior were more likely to be noncompliant as toddlers. Several interaction effects suggested that the prediction to later noncompliance was also dependent upon the infants' level of reactivity. Cardiac vagal tone also was related to compliance but in a contradictory fashion. High VNA was related to noncompliance to toy clean-up, whereas low VNA was related to noncompliance to electrode placement. The data provide support for a developmental model of compliance that includes the ability to regulate emotional arousal.

Infants' responses to frustrating situations: continuity and change in reactivity and regulation.

We examined continuity, stability, and change in behaviors reflecting infant reactivity and regulation. Healthy infants were observed in laboratory situations designed to elicit frustration when they were 5 (N = 87) and 10 months of age (N = 82). Behaviors indicative of reactivity included objective ratings of average intensity cry, peak intensity cry, and latency to cry. In addition, durations of orienting, avoidant, and nonnegative communicative behaviors were assessed as measures of regulation at each age. Results showed that several behaviors changed in level over time. In addition, Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed both structural continuity and discontinuity: Behaviors were organized into 2 similar factors at 5 and 10 months (Reactivity and Regulation), but the relation between reactivity and regulation became increasingly independent over time, such that reactivity and regulation were negatively correlated at 5 months but not at 10 months. Finally, model-fitting revealed cross-dimension but not within-dimension stability (5-month reactivity predicted 10-month regulation).