Emotion Regulation in Infancy and Attachment Classification at 15 Months

We examined early emotion regulation in children with different future attachment classifications with both mothers and fathers in 102 community families. Emotion regulation was observed in three standard laboratory anger paradigms at 7 months. Children’s attachment security with parents was assessed in the Strange Situation Paradigm at 15 months. In mother- child and father-child dyads, secure children (B) did not differ from insecure children (avoidant, A, resistant, C, disorganized/unclassifiable, D/U, all combined) in their emotion regulation scores. However, when the classification with mothers was considered, children who were classified as insecure resistant (C) with mothers had significantly lower scores than secure (B) and avoidant (A) children. There were no differences in emotion regulation among children with different attachment classifications with fathers. The findings inform the research on relations among child temperament, attachment, and emotion regulation.