Premium
Toddler parasympathetic regulation and fear: Links to maternal appraisal and behavior
Author(s) -
Cho Sunghye,
Buss Kristin A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21481
Subject(s) - toddler , psychology , developmental psychology , temperament , child discipline , transactional leadership , socialization , distress , child development , biopsychosocial model , clinical psychology , personality , poison control , injury prevention , social psychology , medicine , environmental health , psychiatry
There is a growing recognition that parental socialization influences interact with young children's emerging capacity for physiological regulation and shape children's developmental trajectories. Nevertheless, the transactional processes linking parental socialization and physiological regulatory processes remain not well understood, particularly for fear‐prone toddlers. To address this gap in the literature, the present study investigated the biopsychosocial processes that underlie toddlers’ fear regulation by examining the relations among toddler parasympathetic regulation, maternal appraisal, and parenting behaviors. Participants included 124 mothers and their toddlers ( M age = 24.43 months), who participated in a longitudinal study of temperament and socio‐emotional development. Toddlers’ parasympathetic reactivity was found to moderate the links between maternal anticipatory appraisal of child fearfulness and (a) maternal provision of physical comfort and (b) preschool‐age child inhibition. Additionally, maternal comforting behaviors during the low‐threat task predicted preschool‐age separation distress, specifically for toddlers demonstrating a low baseline RSA.