Emotion regulation in infancy through the lens of individual differences: Insights and future directions

Abstract

Much of the research on infants’ emotion regulation has prioritized broad, group-based patterns over individual trajectories. Ignoring individual differences between infants can lead to incomplete or misleading conclusions about the development of self-regulation and may result in overgeneralizing findings that are not universally applicable. Over the past 25 years, increasing evidence indicates that infants vary considerably in their regulatory patterns, forming distinct subgroups shaped by behavioral, physiological, and temperamental factors. This review synthesizes key findings on the emergence of these subgroups across domains in the first year of life. Additionally, the review explores how individual differences in maternal behavior contribute to the development of emotion regulation in infants, both independently and through interactions with infant characteristics. The review concludes by outlining priorities for future research that will further contribute to understanding individual differences, including multimodal approaches, longitudinal studies, and broader family-system frameworks. By embracing an individual differences perspective, researchers can deepen our understanding of complexities of early emotion regulation and its long-term developmental implications.