The Role of Parental Emotion Reactivity and Regulation in Child Maltreatment and Maltreatment Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review

The prevalence and impact of child maltreatment make the scientific investigation of this phenomenon a matter of vital importance. Prior research has examined associations between problematic patterns of parents’ emotion reactivity and regulation and child maltreatment and maltreatment risk. However, the strength and specificity of these relationships is not yet clear. To address this, we conducted a systematic literature search of four databases from inception through February 2021 to identify studies that reported these relationships. Our resulting meta-analysis of maltreatment involved parents of children who are up to 18 years of age (k = 46, encompassing 6,669 parents). Our focus was the magnitude of the difference in levels of emotion reactivity and regulation between parents who maltreat or are at risk of maltreating and parents who do not maltreat their children or are not at risk of maltreating their children. As expected, results from meta-analyses using robust variance estimation indicated significantly higher problems with reactivity and regulation in maltreating parents / parents at risk (r = 0.40, k = 140; 95% CI [0.34, 0.45]), indicating that maltreating / at risk parents were more likely to have overall worse measures of reactivity and regulation. In comparison to non-maltreating parents, maltreating / at risk parents experience more negative emotions, display more negative emotion behavior, and are more dysregulated. These effects were fairly stable with little to no remaining heterogeneity. The current review concludes with a theoretical framework outlining the role of emotion reactivity and regulation in multiple risk factors of maltreatment, aiming to guide future study in this area

Patterns of marital conflict and children's emotions

An investigation of the effects of marital discord on children's emotions is reported. A sample of families ranging widely in marital satisfaction and having a 4- to 5-year-old child participated in several home and laboratory sessions involving marital and parent-child interaction. Synchronized observational and physiological indices were obtained from both spouses during a high-conflict marital discussion and from the child during parent-child interaction. The parent-child interaction consisted of a teaching task which had the potential for a great deal of fun as well as for the elicitation of negative affect. Marital interaction was coded using the Marital Interaction Coding System (MICS-III; Weiss & Summers, 1983). Parent-child interaction was coded using the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF; Gottman, 1986).A path-analytic model was developed linking specific patterns of marital interaction with different emotional reactions by both parents and children during parent-child interaction. Support was found for the hypothesis that withdrawn marital interaction, rather than "hot" marital interaction, is associated with children's displays of negative affect. Specifically, wife withdrawal during marital interaction was associated with parents showing negative listening behaviors during parent-child interaction (such as showing disapproval or disengaging from interaction). This parenting pattern predicted displays of anger in the child. It was also reported that children who expressed high levels of anger had low vagal tone, suggestive of an inability to focus attention and inhibit inappropriate behavior.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio

An intervention that increases parental sensitivity in families referred to Child Protective Services also changes toddlers’ parasympathetic regulation

Experiencing maltreatment in early childhood predicts poor parasympathetic regulation, characterized by low baseline parasympathetic activity and strong withdrawal of parasympathetic influence in response to tasks. The Promoting First Relationships® (PFR) program improves parental sensitivity toward young children in families identified as maltreating. Using a subsample from a randomized control trial, we examined whether parental participation in PFR had lasting effects on toddlers' parasympathetic regulation, as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), relative to a resource and referral control condition. In addition, we examined whether parental sensitive and responsive behavior mediated or moderated associations between parent treatment group and children's RSA. More than 6 months after completing treatment, 29 families in the PFR condition and 30 families in the control condition were visited at home, and toddlers' RSA was assessed at baseline and during five moderately challenging tasks. Groups did not differ in baseline RSA, but differed in RSA reactivity to the tasks. Across tasks, toddlers of parents in the control condition manifested significantly larger RSA decreases than toddlers of parents in the PFR condition. Parental behavior showed divergent associations with RSA change for toddlers of parents in the PFR versus control condition, with PFR treatment predicting RSA change ranging from small decreases to increases in toddlers of parents who showed the most sensitive, responsive behavior in the 6 months following treatment. This preliminary study showed that the same intervention that improved parenting also improved toddlers' parasympathetic regulation in response to everyday activities, warranting further experimental investigation