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The present study examined the relationship between parents' mental-state talk and preschoolers' executive function. Seventy-two children participated in the present study, as well as their mothers and fathers. When children were enrolled in the second preschool year, mothers' and fathers' use of mental-state references were assessed during a shared picture-book reading task with the child. Later, four months before admission to the first grade, preschoolers' executive function was measured. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that maternal, but not paternal, mental-state talk was a significant predictor of children's executive function composite, even after accounting for child gender, age, verbal ability, and parental education. When looking at each of the EF components, maternal mental-state talk proved to be a predictor of set-shifting whereas no significant relations emerged with inhibitory control or working memory. These findings add to prior research on parenting quality and executive function in preschoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concordance between infants' emotion regulation styles with different partners has not been consistently analysed nor have the relational correlates of such potential across-partners similarities. We explored these issues by assessing 10-month-olds' (59.6 percent boys) emotion regulation styles separately with mother and father and by evaluating mother-infant and father-infant interaction quality. The sample consisted of 50 low-risk families. Two home visits were conducted and similar procedures were adopted for each visit. Parent-infant interaction quality was assessed during daily routines and during free play; both parents independently completed a temperament questionnaire. Infant emotion regulation was assessed in a semi-structured problem-solving task: adaptive vs. maladaptive (under and over-regulation) styles. As predicted, infants' emotion regulation with their mothers and fathers were related. However, only father-infant interaction quality predicted infants' emotion regulation concordance: lower interaction quality was associated with maladaptive concordance compared with non-concordance and higher interaction quality was associated with adaptive concordance compared with non-concordance. Our results support the claim that by the end of the first year of life, infants use similar emotion regulation styles with mother and father and point to father-infant interaction as an important correlate of emotion regulation across-parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion over-regulation in infancy has seldom been the focus of empirical research. This study analysed the specificities of over-regulation when compared with under-regulation (maladaptive) and adaptive regulation by testing its association with attachment, dyadic emotional interaction, and temperament. The sample consisted of 52 low-risk mother-infant dyads. During a home visit, dyadic emotional interaction was assessed in the daily routines and free play of 10-month-old infants. The infant's emotion regulation was assessed using the Shape Sorter Task, and a temperament questionnaire was completed by the mother. Attachment was assessed at 12 or 16 months using the Strange Situation. As hypothesized, (i) emotion over-regulation (versus adaptive regulation) was predicted by a lower quality of dyadic emotional interaction and marginally by avoidant attachment; (ii) over-regulation (versus under-regulation) was predicted by avoidant attachment; and (iii) the predictive role of avoidant attachment was substantiated after controlling for another measure of mother-infant interaction. Contrary to expectations, temperament did not distinguish between emotion regulation styles. The link between over-regulation and lower quality of mother-infant emotional interaction and avoidant attachment was demonstrated. There is empirical support to the claim that it is possible to identify emotion over-regulation in infancy and that it is a maladaptive style of emotion regulation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]