Abstract

Deficits in emotion regulation (ER) have been suggested as an underlying cause of persistent aggression problems in children. This study examined whether maternal emotion socialization (ES) strategies had differential impacts on aggression depending on children's physiological capacity for ER. A total of 61 children between the ages of 4 to 7 years and their mothers were included in this work. Children's regulatory physiology, as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), was assessed while they engaged in relaxing activities, an anger induction task, and a delay of gratification task. Measures of maternal ES were gathered with questionnaires and observations of mother-child interactions during a clean-up task. Children's and mothers' reports of aggression were gathered with a newly designed Me Not Me task and the Child Behavior Checklist, respectively. The main goal of this study was to explore whether physiological regulation moderated links between ES and aggression; it was expected that there would be stronger links between ES and aggression for children with poorer physiological regulation. Findings supported previous works suggesting that adaptive physiological regulation is supported by RSA withdrawal in mild challenge situations. Children were more aggressive when they displayed low RSA withdrawal in affectively and behaviourally challenging situations. There was some indication that this was especially true for children who also experienced unsupportive ES from their mothers, suggesting that extrinsic influences may have more of an impact when internal regulatory resources are weaker. Supportive responses to children's emotions may therefore be crucial for those who have poorer physiological regulation