Parental and infant predictors of infant anger and fear reactivity.

INTRODUCTION

Infant regulation capacities result from a complex learning process influenced both by infant inborn dispositions and parental capacities for effective co-regulation. At the end of their first year of life, infants differ in their capacity to modulate anger and fear, two evolutionary adaptive emotions with important guiding functions for infant behavior.

AIM: The aim of this pilot study was to elicit associations of anger and fear reactivity with parental mind-mindedness, parental sensitivity, and infant early regulation.

METHODS

In a sample of 47 families with infants aged 10.3 months on average, linear regression models served to test associations of variables of interest.

RESULTS

Higher maternal mind-mindedness predicted lower infant anger reactivity. Maternal sensitivity, mother rated infant early regulation, and paternal characteristics were not associated with infant anger reactivity. None of the considered parental and infant characteristics were associated with fear reactivity.

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide preliminary evidence that the maternal capacity to interpret infant cues in terms of the underlying mental states is particularly important for the infant's learning processes enabling the regulation of states of anger. The emotion-specific nature of this association (anger but not fear) suggests that different emotions may engage distinct co-regulatory processes, warranting further investigation. Our findings contribute to a growing body of research illustrating the complex relationships of parental mind-mindedness and parental sensitivity with infant emotion regulation.