From co-regulation to self-regulation

Caregivers often face stressful multi-tasking situations in which household- or work-related tasks compete with engaging with their young child. Caregivers’ experiences of stress can affect how they interact with their children and may also be transmitted to the child. This “stress contagion” may be particularly pronounced with caregivers who have difficulties in regulating stress responses. In the current study, we examined how inducing stress in 62 mothers shaped the dyadic interaction (expression of facial affect and cardiovascular activity) with their 6-38 months-old children, and how stress-induced changes varied depending on self-reported maternal emotion regulation difficulties and child age. Mothers’ and children’s positive and negative facial affect, inter-beat intervals (IBIs) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), as well as synchrony in each measure, were compared between two-minute face-to-face interactions before and after a stress induction in the mother (pre- and post-stress). Maternal stress impacted the dyad differently depending on the child’s age. In interactions with younger children, both mothers and children showed less positive facial expressions and were less synchronized in their expressions post- versus pre-stress. Older children, in contrast, showed stronger physiological arousal (i.e., decrease in IBIs and RSA), but more positive facial expressions post-stress. In addition, mothers with more emotion regulation difficulties expressed more negative affect, and their heart rates were less synchronized with their children’s post- versus pre-stress. Both child age and mothers’ regulatory abilities are thus shaping the impact of acute maternal stress on mother-child interaction quality and should be considered in interventions on parental stress.