The role of maternal sensitivity, infant temperament, and emotional context in the development of emotion regulation

Child emotion regulation (ER) is a multifaced system influenced by extrinsic (parenting), intrinsic (temperament) and contextual factors. Even though establishing how these factors work together is important for understanding ER developmental processes, exploration of them together has been rare, particularly in early infancy. Using a longitudinal and observational design including anger- and fear-inducing tasks, we assessed maternal sensitivity at 2-3 months (n. 144 observations) and ER at 9 months (i.e., intensity of distress, self-soothing, distraction, communicative behaviours; n. 130 observations), as well as mother-reported infant temperament. Results showed that emotional context influenced maternal sensitivity (higher in frustrating compared to novel contexts) and ER strategies (e.g., communicative behaviours were used more often when facing frustration than novelty). The effect of emotional context on ER strategies was mediated by maternal sensitivity (e.g., during frustration, higher sensitivity increased the odds of self-soothing and communicative behaviours) and moderated by temperament: greater maternal sensitivity in the context of frustration increased self-soothing in highly negative reactive children, and communicative behaviours in low reactive children. Results are discussed within ER and differential susceptibility theories to better understand ER development in early infancy and help inform effective support programmes for parents and children aimed at the prevention of emotional difficulties later in childhood.