Maternal Emotion Regulation and Parenting: A Physiological Perspective

Abstract

The psychological capacity for emotion regulation (ER) facilitates sensitive caregiving and fosters positive child outcomes. Parasympathetic regulation, indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), is an important physiological component of ER. While growing evidence supports the link between parents’ physiological ER and parenting behaviors, few studies distinguish parents’ global ER capacity from ER in parenting-specific contexts, which can provide important insights for intervention. The current study examines the links between parenting behaviors, global ER (operationalized as resting RSA, measured during a baseline task), and parenting-specific ER (operationalized as phasic RSA change, measured during responses to the child-related questions for the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI]). Mothers (N = 169) and their toddlers participated in this study. Parenting behaviors were assessed through a standardized parent–child interaction task, yielding scores for overall parenting behaviors, overall parenting contingency, and specific parenting behaviors. Regression models suggested that resting RSA was positively associated with overall parenting behaviors and contingency, sensitivity to cues, and cognitive growth-fostering. Positive phasic RSA change (i.e., RSA augmentation) was significantly associated with overall parenting behaviors and social–emotional growth-fostering over and above resting RSA. Both global ER and parenting-specific ER may be promising targets for interventions to improve parenting behaviors.