Department of Child and Adolescent Studies.
Pennsylvania State University.
Dev Psychol. 2020 May;56(5):869-879. doi: 10.1037/dev0000921. Epub 2020 Mar 19.
The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the association of infant fussing and crying with self-regulation in toddlerhood and the preschool years, as well as the moderating role of maternal sensitivity therein. When children ( = 149, 53.69% boys) were 6 months old, parents reported on their fussing and crying using a cry diary, and maternal sensitivity was coded during a novel toy procedure. Children participated in various tasks to assess self-regulation in toddlerhood (18 months) and the preschool years (4.5 years). Results indicated that the relation between infant fussing and preschool self-regulation took the shape of an inverted U, but only for children of highly sensitive mothers. For infants of less sensitive mothers, fussing was not related to later self-regulation. Crying was unrelated to preschool self-regulation. Neither fussing, crying, nor maternal sensitivity predicted self-regulation in toddlerhood. The findings support the optimal arousal theory, by demonstrating that for infants of highly sensitive mothers, moderate amounts of low intensity negative reactivity are associated with enhanced self-regulation in the preschool years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
本纵向研究旨在探讨婴儿哭闹与幼儿期和学龄前自我调节的关系，以及在此过程中母亲敏感性的调节作用。当儿童（= 149，53.69%男孩）6 个月大时，父母使用哭泣日记报告他们的哭闹情况，并且在新颖的玩具程序中对母亲的敏感性进行了编码。儿童参加了各种任务，以评估幼儿期（18 个月）和学龄前（4.5 岁）的自我调节能力。结果表明，婴儿哭闹与学龄前自我调节之间的关系呈倒 U 型，但仅适用于高度敏感母亲的孩子。对于敏感性较低的母亲的孩子来说，哭闹与以后的自我调节无关。哭泣与学龄前自我调节无关。无论是哭闹、哭泣还是母亲的敏感性都不能预测幼儿期的自我调节。研究结果支持了最佳唤醒理论，表明对于高度敏感母亲的婴儿来说，适度的低强度负反应与学龄前自我调节能力的增强有关。
