Abstract

Adaptive emotion regulation begins with infants operating jointly with their parents to regulate their emotions, which fosters the development of independent regulation. Little is known about when or how this transition occurs, or the impact of factors such as parental availability or premature birth status. The current study examined the use of self-, parent-, and environment-reliant emotion regulation behaviours in full-term and healthy very-low-birthweight (VLBW) preterm infant-mother dyads at 5 ½, 12, and 18 months of age. At 5 ½ months, dyads participated in the Still-Face procedure (two normal interactions and one in which mothers are non-responsive and expressionless). At 12 and 18 months, dyads participated in two free-play interactions, a puzzle task, and an interference task. Emotion regulation behaviours were coded using two systematic, observational systems. Results indicated that infants used fewer self- and environment-reliant strategies as they aged, but more mother-reliant strategies. Increased use of self-reliant strategies at earlier ages predicted increased use of mother-reliant strategies at subsequent ages. Toddlers used more independent, attention-seeking, and escape behaviour during periods of maternal unavailability. There were no significant differences between full-term and VLBW/preterm toddlers’ emotion regulation behaviours. The current study contributes to the understanding of normative development of emotion regulation and the risk associated with prematurity.
Key words: emotion regulation, mother-infant interaction, VLBW and prematurity, maternal (un)availability, socioemotional development