MODERATING ROLE OF MATERNAL EMOTION DYSREGULATION ON CHILD TEMPERAMENT AND BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

Much attention has been given to early childhood development, on various factors that influence a child’s developmental outcomes. Behavioural outcomes often vary across children’s temperaments, with some temperament being more predictive of maladjustment. Apart from temperament, parents also play an important role in facilitating their child’s early development. Specifically, mothers’ emotion dysregulation has been found to have negative effects on child’s behavioural outcomes, yet few studies have examined the interaction between maternal emotion dysregulation and child temperament. This study explored the potential moderating role of maternal emotion dysregulation on the association between child temperament and behavioural outcomes. Data measuring child temperament, internalizing and externalizing behaviours, maternal emotion dysregulation were collected from questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the influence of child temperament and maternal emotion dysregulation on child outcomes (i.e. internalizing and externalizing problems). A moderating effect was found at high levels of maternal emotion dysregulation for child effortful control on both internalizing and externalizing problems. This study extends beyond past parenting research to examine the influence of maternal emotion dysregulation on associations between child temperament and behavioural outcomes. Implications and future directions of this study are also discussed.