Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Associations between Emotion Regulation and Parental Reflective Functioning

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Emotion regulation encapsulates the capability to successfully manage an ongoing emotional experience, particularly in social interactions, and thus may be especially significant to early parent-child relationships. In particular, the capacity to adjust emotions may support parental mentalization and reflective functioning – how parents think about their own and their child’s mental states and how these mental states effect behavior. To examine this issue, we investigated the association between emotion regulation, emotion dysregulation, and parental reflective functioning in a maternal sample (N = 97). We found that mothers with higher tendencies to suppress their emotions and who had more difficulties with emotion regulation engaged in greater levels of pre-mentalizing (i.e., a non-mentalizing mode). Mothers with poorer emotional awareness also evidenced less interest and curiosity in their child’s mental states. Finally, mothers who reported greater difficulty setting goals also evidenced a reduced capacity to recognize that their infant’s mental states are not directly observable. Taken together, our findings support the relationship between different aspects of emotion regulation and maternal reflective functioning, suggesting that emotion regulation should be integrated in empirical and intervention work that targets maternal mentalization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(2), 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bariola, E., Gullone, E., & Hughes, E. K. (2011). Child and adolescent emotion regulation: the role of parental emotion regulation and expression. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(2), 198–212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-011-0092-5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bariola, E., Hughes, E. K., & Gullone, E. (2012). Relationships between parent and child emotion regulation strategy use: a brief report. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 21(3), 443–448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9497-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridges, L. J., Denham, S. A., & Ganiban, J. M. (2004). Definitional issues in emotion regulation research. Child Development, 75(2), 340–345.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00675. x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridgett, D. J., Burt, N. M., Laake, L. M., & Oddi, K. B. (2013). Maternal self-regulation, relationship adjustment, and home chaos: contributions to infant negative emotionality. Infant Behavior and Development, 36(4), 534–547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2013.04.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bridgett, D. J., Gartstein, M. A., Putnam, S. P., Lance, K. O., Iddins, E., Waits, R., & Lee, L. (2011). Emerging effortful control in toddlerhood: the role of infant orienting/regulation, maternal effortful control, and maternal time spent in caregiving activities. Infant Behavior and Development, 34(1), 189–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2010.12.008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burkhart, M. L., Borelli, J. L., Rasmussen, H. F., Brody, R., & Sbarra, D. A. (2017). Parental mentalizing as an indirect link between attachment anxiety and parenting satisfaction. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(2), 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000270.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bridgett, D. J., Burt, N. M., Edwards, E. S., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of self-regulation: A multidisciplinary review and integrative conceptual framework. Psychological Bulletin, 141(3), 602–654. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038662.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • D’Agostino, A., Covanti, S., Rossi Monti, M., & Starcevic, V. (2017). Reconsidering emotion dysregulation. Psychiatric Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-017-9499-6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Castella, K., Platow, M. J., Tamir, M., & Gross, J. J. (2017). Beliefs about emotion: implications for avoidance-based emotion regulation and psychological health. Cognition and Emotion. 32(4), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deater-Deckard, K., Sewell, M. D., Petrill, S. A., & Thompson, L. A. (2010). Maternal working memory and reactive negativity in parenting. Psychological Science, 21(1), 75–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797609354073.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Wolff, M. S., & Ijzendoorn, M. H. (1997). Sensitivity and attachment: a meta-analysis on parental antecedents of infant attachment. Child Developent, 68(4), 571–591. 0.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb04218.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, E. S., Holzman, J. B., Burt, N. M., Rutherford, H. J. V., Mayes, L. C., & Bridgett, D. J. (2017). Maternal emotion regulation strategies, internalizing problems and infant negative affect. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 48, 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2016.12.001.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., & Spinrad, T. L. (1998). Parental socialization of emotion. Psychological Inquiry, 9(4), 241–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Reiser, M., & Guthrie, I. K. (2001). The relations of regulation and emotionality to children’s externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. Child Developmental, 72, 1112–1134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., & Morris, A. S. (2002). Children’s emotion-related regulation. In H. Reese & R. Kail (Eds), In Advances in child development and behavior (vol. 30, pp.189–229). San Diego: Academic Press.

  • Ensink, K., & Mayes, L. C. (2010). The development of mentalization in children from a theory of mind perspective. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 30(4), 301–337. Pii 92446930410.1080/07351690903206504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fonagy, P. (2006). The mentalization-focused approach to social development. In J. G. Allen & P. Fonagy (Eds), Handbook of Mentalization-Based Treatment (pp. 53–100). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.

  • Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., Jurist, E. L., & Target, M. (2002). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. London: Karnac.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fonagy, P., Steele, M., Steele, H., Moran, G. S., & Higgitt, A. C. (1991). The capacity for understanding mental states—the reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 12(3), 201–218. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0355(199123)12:3<201::Aid-Imhj2280120307>3.0.Co;2-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fonagy, P., Target, M., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (1998). Reflective Functioning Manual, Version 5.0, for Application to Adult Attachment Interviews. London: University College London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giromini, L., Velotti, P., de Campora, G., Bonalume, L., & Cesare Zavattini, G. (2012). Cultural adaptation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale: reliability and validity of an Italian version. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68(9), 989–1007. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.21876.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldin, P. R., McRae, K., Ramel, W., & Gross, J. J. (2008). The neural bases of emotion regulation: reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion. Biological Psychiatry, 63(6), 577–586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.031.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale. Journal of Psychopathology Behavioral Assessment, 26(1), 41–54. 10.1023/B:Joba.0000007455.08539.94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gratz, K. L., Rosenthal, M. Z., Tull, M. T., Lejuez, C. W., & Gunderson, J. G. (2006). An experimental investigation of emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115(4), 850–855. 10.1037/0021-843X.115.4.850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grienenberger, J. F., Kelly, K., & Slade, A. (2005). Maternal reflective functioning, mother-infant affective communication, and infant attachment: exploring the link between mental states and observed caregiving behavior in the intergenerational transmission of attachment. Attachment & Human Development, 7(3), 299–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730500245963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281–291. 10.1017.S0048577201393198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348–362. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hemmi, M. H., Wolke, D., & Schneider, S. (2011). Associations between problems with crying, sleeping and/or feeding in infancy and long-term behavioural outcomes in childhood: a meta-analysis. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 96(7), 622–629. https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2010.191312.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kashdan, T. B., & Rottenberg, J. (2010). Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 865–878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.001.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Luyten, P., Fonagy, P., Lowyck, B., & Vermote, R. (2012). Assessment of mentalizing. In A. Bateman & P. Fonagy (Eds), Handbook of mentalizing in mental health practice (pp. 3–41). Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.

  • Luyten, P., Mayes, L.C., Nijssens, L., & Fonagy, P. (2017). The parental reflective functioningquestionnaire: Development and preliminaryvalidation. PLoS ONE, 12(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176218.

  • Lyons-Ruth, K., & Spielman, E. (2004). Disorganized infant attachment strategies and helpless-fearful profiles of parenting: integrating attachment research with clinical intervention. Infant Mental Health Journal, 25(4), 318–335. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.20008.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Martins, B., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J., & Mather, M. (2018). Age Differences in Emotion Regulation Choice: Older Adults Use Distraction Less Than Younger Adults in High-Intensity Positive Contexts. Journal of Gerontology series B. Psychological Science and Social Science, 73(4), 603–611.

    Google Scholar 

  • McRae, K., Gross, J. J., Weber, J., Robertson, E. R., Sokol-Hessner, P., Ray, R. D., & Ochsner, K. N. (2012). The development of emotion regulation: an fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal in children, adolescents and young adults. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7(1), 11–22. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsr093.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, A. S., Silk, J. S., Steinberg, L., Myers, S. S., & Robinson, L. R. (2007). The role of the family context in the development of emotion regulation. Social Development, 16(2), 361–388. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00389. x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicol-Harper, R., Harvey, A. G., & Stein, A. (2007). Interactions between mothers and infants: impact of maternal anxiety. Infant Behavior and Development, 30(1), 161–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2006.08.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ochsner, K. N., Bunge, S. A., Gross, J. J., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2002). Rethinking feelings: an FMRI study of the cognitive regulation of emotion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(8), 1215–1229. https://doi.org/10.1162/089892902760807212.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pajulo, M., Pyykkonen, N., Kalland, M., Sinkkonen, J., Helenius, H., Punamaki, R. L., & Suchman, N. (2012). Substance-abusing mothers in residential treatment with their babies: importance of pre- and postnatal maternal reflective functioning. Infant Mental Health Journal, 33(1), 70–81. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.20342.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Parke, R. D. (1994). Progress, paradigms, and unresolved problems: a commentary on recent advances in our understanding of children’s emotions. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 40, 157–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riva Crugnola, C., Ierardi, E., Ferro, V., Gallucci, M., Parodi, C., & Astengo, M. (2016). Mother-infant emotion regulation at three months: the role of maternal anxiety, depression and parenting stress. Psychopathology, 49(4), 285–294. https://doi.org/10.1159/000446811.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, H. J. V., Booth, C. R., Luyten, P., Bridgett, D. J., & Mayes, L. C. (2015a). Investigating the association between parental reflective functioning and distress tolerance in motherhood. Infant Behavior and Development, 40, 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.04.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, H. J. V., Goldberg, B., Luyten, P., Bridgett, D. J., & Mayes, L. C. (2013). Parental reflective functioning is associated with tolerance of infant distress but not general distress: evidence for a specific relationship using a simulated baby paradigm. Infant Behavior and Development, 36(4), 635–641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2013.06.008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, H. J. V., Wallace, N. S., Laurent, H. K., & Mayes, L. C. (2015b). Emotion regulation in parenthood. Developmental Review, 36, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2014.12.008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, L. S., Slade, A., Close, N., Webb, D. L., Simpson, T., Fennie, K., & Mayes, L. C. (2013). Minding the baby: enhancing reflectiveness to improve early health and relationship outcomes in an interdisciplinary home visiting program. Infant Mental Health Journal, 34(5), 391–405. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21406.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, M. R. (2012). Development, evaluation, and multinational dissemination of the triple P-positive parenting program. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 345–379. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032511-143104.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, A., & Obradovic, J. (2017). Unique contributions of emotion regulation and executive functions in predicting the quality of parent-child interaction behaviors. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(2), 150–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000269.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Silvia, P. J. (2001). Interest and interests: the psychology of constructive capriciousness. Review of General Psychology, 5(3), 270–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.3.270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slade, A. (2005). Parental reflective functioning: an introduction. Attachment & Human Development, 7(3), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730500245906.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slade, A. (2007). Disorganized Mother, Disorganized Child. In D.G. Oppenheim, D.F. (Ed.), Attachment theory inclinical work with children: New York: The Guilford Press. 226-250.

  • Slade, A., Aber, J.L., Berger, B., Bresgi, I., & Kaplan, M. (2003). The Parent Development Interview – Revised. Unpublished manuscript, City University of New York.

  • Slade, A., Grienenberger, J., Bernbach, E., Levy, D., & Locker, A. (2005). Maternal reflective functioning, attachment, and the transmission gap: a preliminary study. Attachment & Human Development, 7(3), 283–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730500245880.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sleed, M., Baradon, T., & Fonagy, P. (2013). New Beginnings for mothers and babies in prison: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Attachment & Human Development, 15(4), 349–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2013.782651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sroufe, L. A. (2005). Attachment and development: a prospective, longitudinal study from birth to adulthood. Attachment & Human Development, 7(4), 349–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730500365928.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C., Leigh, D., & Borelli, J. (2010). Reflective functioning in mothers with drug use disorders: implications for dyadic interactions with infants and toddlers. Attachment & Human Development, 12(6), 567–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2010.501988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, N. E., Decoste, C., McMahon, T. J., Rounsaville, B., & Mayes, L. (2011). The mothers and toddlers program, an attachment-based parenting intervention for substance-using women: results at 6-week follow-up in a randomized clinical pilot. Infant Mental Health Journal, 32(4), 427–449. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.20303.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C. L., McMahon, T. J., Dalton, R., Mayes, L. C., & Borelli, J. (2017). Mothering from the inside out: results of a second randomized clinical trial testing a mentalization-based intervention for mothers in addiction treatment. Developmental Psychopathology, 29(2), 617–636. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579417000220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tull, M. T., Bardeen, J. R., DiLillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., & Gratz, K. L. (2015). A prospective investigation of emotion dysregulation as a moderator of the relation between posttraumatic stress symptoms and substance use severity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 29, 52–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.11.003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tull, M. T., Stipelman, B. A., Salters-Pedneault, K., & Gratz, K. L. (2009). An examination of recent non-clinical panic attacks, panic disorder, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion regulation difficulties in the prediction of generalized anxiety disorder in an analogue sample. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23(2), 275–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.08.002.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zeman, J., Cassano, M., Perry-Parrish, C., & Stegall, S. (2006). Emotion regulation in children and adolescents. Journal of Develpmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 27(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004703-200604000-00014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author Contributions

A.M.S collaborated with the design of the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. L.C.M collaborated with the design of the study and editing of the final manuscript. H.J.V.R collaborated with the design of the study, assisted with the data analysis, and collaborated in writing the manuscript.

Funding

Funding

This work was supported by the Anna Freud Centre and NICHD R21 HD072574-01.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Alysse M. Schultheis, Linda C. Mayes & Helena J. V. Rutherford

Authors
  1. Alysse M. Schultheis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Linda C. Mayes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Helena J. V. Rutherford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helena J. V. Rutherford.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schultheis, A.M., Mayes, L.C. & Rutherford, H.J.V. Associations between Emotion Regulation and Parental Reflective Functioning. J Child Fam Stud 28, 1094–1104 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-01326-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-01326-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation