I’m reading up on the research differentiating emotion regulation and self-regulation early in child development. Susanne Denham’s new book has a lot for preschool but I need more on Toddlers. For I turned to the 2007 chapters in the volume Socioemotional Development in the Toddler Years, edited by Brownell & Kopp. The chapter on toddler emotion regulation is written by Ross Thompson and Rebecca Goodvin.
The chapter begins with a definition of emotion regulation and highlights some assumptions buried in the definition. “Emotion regulation consisgts of the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluaing, and modifying emotional reactions, especialy their intensive and temporaral features, to accomplish one’s goal (Thompson, 1994, pp. 27-28).” Assumption 1 is that regulation affects the dynamics of positve or negative emotion, changing intensity, duration, or pacing. This is situation specific and dependent on individual emotional goals. Assumption 2 is that the efficacy of a given strategy depends on the individual’s overall goals in the situation and is different for children from adults. Individual differences in temperamental reactivity are part of the situation. Assumption 3 is that emotion regulation can be self-regulation or regulation by others. Assumption 4 is that emotional monitoring and evaluation are part of the process and are skills that develop over childhood.
The authors next list six characteristics of the developmental progression of emotion regulation: 1) move from other regulation to self-regulation; 2) increasingly numerous and complex strategies; 3) strategies become increasingly emotion-specific; 4) social and personal goals motivating regulation become increasingly complex; 5) individual differences emerge and stabilize; 6) executive function and language are increasingly involved in emotion regulation.
Early differences in emotion regulation predict long-term outcomes. Research on emotional developoment in toddlers is difficult for several reasons. It is difficult to demonstrate that an apparently regulatory behavior is actually functioning as regulation. Some of the behaviors are multiply determined. Emotional experience and emotion regulation overlap. Emotion regulation within an individual varies across situations and it is difficult to identify patterns or traits. These challenges need to be addressed in research design.
The development of emotion regulation from 1 to 3 is described in terms of five influencing factors that account for change over time and individual differences.
Neurobiological Growth
Excitatory and inhibitory processes in the brain mature with brain growth. Likewise, the HPA axis matures across childhood and adolescence, but system lability decreases during infancy, dependent partially on caregiver responsiveness. Parasympathetic activity also matures during the early years. Emotional arousal becomes more graded, sensitive and, ultimately, controllable. Maturation of prefrontal cortex and increased connectivity during toddlerhood also change emotional responding and potential for regulation.
Danny the Grim 