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Infants' Behavioral Strategies for Emotion Regulation With Fathers and Mothers: Associations With Emotional Expressions and Attachment Quality
Author(s) -
Diener Marissa L.,
Mangelsdorf Sarah C.,
McHale Jean L.,
Frosch Cynthia A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1207/s15327078in0302_3
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , quality (philosophy) , homogeneous , strange situation , style (visual arts) , attachment theory , emotional distress , distress , affect (linguistics) , emotional regulation , clinical psychology , anxiety , communication , philosophy , history , physics , geometry , mathematics , archaeology , epistemology , psychiatry , thermodynamics
This study examined 12‐ and 13‐month‐old infants' behavioral strategies for emotion regulation, emotional expressions, regulatory styles, and attachment quality with fathers and mothers. Eighty‐five infants participated in the Strange Situation procedure to assess attachment quality with mothers and fathers. Infants' behavioral strategies for emotion regulation were examined with each parent during a competing demands task. Emotion regulation styles were meaningfully related to infant‐father attachment quality. Although expressions of distress and positive affect were not consistent across mothers and fathers, there was consistency in infant strategy use, emotion regulation style, and attachment quality with mothers and fathers. Furthermore, infants who were securely attached to both parents showed greater consistency in parent‐oriented strategies than infants who were insecurely attached to one or both parents. Limitations of this study include the constrained laboratory setting, potential carryover effects, and a homogeneous, middle‐class sample.