Early developmental trajectories of emotion regulation and related constructs have implications for diverse outcomes such as behavioral difficulties, social competence, and early academic readiness. Furthermore, preliminary evidence also indicates that early emotion regulation has implications for the emergence of more effortful forms of regulation in the toddler period. The goal of this project is to conduct a comprehensive longitudinal investigation of emotion regulation as well as related temperament characteristics in a sample of infants and toddlers.
Recruitment, targeting families with infants, is anticipated to begin in late 2009 or early 2010. Primary caregivers and their children will participate when children are 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 24, and 32 months of age. Children and caregivers will engage in a variety of fun tasks aimed at measuring aspects of emotion regulation, temperament, developmental outcomes, and social competence.
Collectively, this project will address and/or extend a number of important questions related to early development of emotion regulation (e.g., what factors influence trajectories of this and related constructs) as well as the implications of early emotion regulation for important developmental outcomes in the toddler and early preschool period.