Parent Emotion Regulation, Dyadic Interaction, and Physiological Regulation as Predictors of Child Emotion Regulation in the Context of ADHD Symptomatology

Abstract

A significant body of literature exists linking emotion regulation as an associated deficit of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children often look to their parents as models for behavior, including behaviors related to emotion regulation and responding to emotional stimuli. Research suggests that there is a significant heritable component of ADHD, and thus children with ADHD may be more likely to have parents with ADHD and ADHD symptomatology. In children with ADHD, understanding the role of parents in child emotion regulation is critical to optimal development and outcomes long-term for both children and parents. The current study explored the role of factors predicting child cognitive reappraisal, emotion suppression, and child physiological emotion regulation: parent emotion regulation, parent-child dyadic interaction, parent physiological emotion regulation, and parent ADHD symptomatology. Participants were 78 parents and their children between the ages of 7- and 15-years-old at timepoint 1 (T1), who came back approximately one year later for a visit at a second timepoint (T2). At T1, parents filled out self-reports of their own emotion regulation, and two scales of emotion regulation were computed: cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression. Parents also completed a questionnaire about their ADHD symptomatology at T1. Dyadic conflict was coded at T1 when parent-child dyads discussed a time when the child had felt angry. During this discussion, parent and child electrocardiogram was recorded to measure both parent and child respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) as a measure of physiological regulation. At T2, children filled out self-reports of their own cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression. Eight hypotheses were statistically examined using a path model. Path analysis results indicated that less T1 parent ADHD symptomatology predicted more T2 child cognitive reappraisal while less T1 dyadic conflict predicted more T2 child cognitive reappraisal at the trend level. Age significantly moderated the relation of T1 parent RSA reactivity and T2 child cognitive reappraisal such that T1 parent RSA increases from baseline to task predicted lower ratings of T2 child cognitive reappraisal in dyad with younger children (-1 standard deviation; βyounger = -.86, p = .06) at the trend level, but not for mean-age or older children (+1 standard deviation). The original analyses indicated that less T1 parent ADHD symptomatology predicted higher ratings of T2 child emotion suppression when moderated by age, but further probing determined this was not significant for children at any age. T1 dyadic conflict predicted T2 child emotion suppression such that greater dyadic conflict predicted higher ratings of emotion suppression for only younger children at the trend level. T1 parent RSA increases from baseline to task predicted T1 child RSA increases from baseline to task. Less T1 parent ADHD symptomatology predicted T1 child RSA increases from baseline to task. T1 parent ADHD symptomatology predicted T1 child RSA reactivity at the trend level such that greater ratings of T1 parent ADHD symptomatology significantly predicted T1 child RSA decreases from baseline to anger condition for younger children (βyounger = .20 p = .03), but not for mean-age or older children. Findings from this study have implications for the development of child emotion regulation and the role parents play in that development, both passively and actively. Interestingly, self-report of T1 parent cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression did not significantly predict any of the dependent child emotion regulation variables. It may be that the development of emotion and emotion regulation is better captured by heritable variables such as parent ADHD symptomatology and parent RSA reactivity, as well as by the quality and characteristics of parent-child interaction compared to self-report measures. The ERQ measure of emotion regulation is also focused much more on cognitive emotion regulatory strategies versus behavioral strategies; measures of behavioral strategies may yield different results. Promoting high-quality parent-child interaction may be key to facilitating optimal child emotion regulation development in children and parents with ADHD and ADHD symptomatology. Findings from this study also highlight the role of child age and developmental stage in emotion regulation, as the significant moderation effects all indicated significance for younger children, but not children around the mean age of the sample or older children. These findings may suggest that there are more sensitive periods for children when it comes to emotion regulation and the role of parent behaviors and characteristics. Studying how parent ADHD symptomatology predicts child emotion regulation outcomes is crucial to supporting both children and parents and promoting skills and tools for emotion regulation development for dyads who experience ADHD or elevated ADHD symptomatology.