Emotional Regulation in Families
Toddlers' Emotional Overregulation: Relations With Infant Temperament and Family Emotional Climate
Sarah E. DeMartini,
Martin I. Gallegos, Deborah B. Jacobvitz, Nancy L. Hazen,
Corresponding Author
Sarah E. DeMartini
California State University, Chico
Correspondence
Sarah E. DeMartini, Department of Psychology, California State University, 400 W. First Street, Chico, CA 95929–0234
Search for more papers by this authorSarah E. DeMartini,
Martin I. Gallegos, Deborah B. Jacobvitz, Nancy L. Hazen,
Corresponding Author
Sarah E. DeMartini
California State University, Chico
Correspondence
Sarah E. DeMartini, Department of Psychology, California State University, 400 W. First Street, Chico, CA 95929–0234
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Objective
The aim of this article is to examine the development of toddlers' overregulated emotions in relation to temperament, as well as to family hostile and emotionally disengaged emotional climates.
Background
Toddlerhood is a time in which children have developed consistent, characteristic strategies for coping with their negative emotions. Temperament plays an important role in the development of emotion regulation strategies. Overregulated emotions are understudied and characterized by children's flat or suppressed affect.
Method
The present study examined mothers' reports of infant temperament assessed at 6 weeks of age and observations of hostile and emotionally disengaged family interactions in relation to observed toddlers' emotional overregulation gathered at 24 months of age. Families (N = 108) were videotaped while interacting in four separate family subsystems. The marital, mother–child, father–child, and whole family subsystems were observationally coded for overt hostility and disengagement. Toddlers were separately observed and coded for overregulation.
Results
Infants with temperaments low in net negative reactivity who experienced disengaged family interactions at 24 months showed the greatest overregulation.
Conclusions
Taken together, the results suggest that the way toddlers respond to a disengaged family emotional environment may depend at least in part on temperament assessed at infancy. Findings support the suggestion that overregulation is a unique type of emotional dysregulation and that it should continue to be examined in relation to family subsystems.
Implications
This work emphasizes the importance of clinicians examining emotional disengagement within multiple family subsystems and the importance of not overlooking overregulated toddlers compared with underregulated children.
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