Emotion Regulation in Preschoolers: the Roles of Behavioral Inhibition, Maternal Affective Behavior, and Maternal Depression

Background: This study examined preschoolers' emotion regulation (ER) strategies and the association with temperament, maternal interactive style, and maternal history of childhood-onset depression (COD).

Methods: Participants were 62 children and their mothers, 37 of whom had mothers with COD. Children's ER was assessed using a disappointment paradigm; temperament assessment also was laboratory-based.

Results: Maternal COD was inversely related to offspring's active ER and positive mood. Among children of COD mothers, behavioral inhibition was associated with passive regulation and sadness, and maternal positivity toward these children was associated with child active ER and positive mood.

Conclusion: Behavioral inhibition may place children of COD mothers at risk for developing maladaptive ways of regulating negative emotion, whereas mothers' positivity may serve as a protective factor for them.