The role of maternal emotion regulation in controlling parenting during toddlerhood: an observational study

Conditional role of parental controlling mediation on the relationship between escape, daily game time, and gaming disorder

Parental mediation to protect children from gaming disorders may have unintended consequences. According to the self-determination theory, parental mediation with psychological control may exacerbate problem behavior. Therefore, investigating the indirect effects of parental controlling mediation on gaming disorders is worthwhile. This study aimed to examine the conditional effect of parental controlling mediation on the relationship between escape motivation and gaming disorder, mediated by daily game time. The following research questions were investigated: whether escape motivation has an indirect effect on gaming disorder through daily game time, and whether parental controlling mediation moderates the relationship between gaming disorder and daily gaming time. The convenience sample included 501 mid-school students (251 male and 250 female) in grades 5-7. The conditional indirect effects model was developed using Hayes's model 14 and Process Macro. The results showed that escape motivation was positively related to gaming disorder through daily game time, and parental controlling mediation had a moderating effect on the relationship between daily game time and gaming disorder. These findings suggest that parental mediation to protect children from excessive gaming may be related to gaming disorder when implemented with psychological control. Higher parental controlling mediation may be a risk factor for gaming disorder even when their children play games less frequently. These findings are discussed in light of the literature.

Maternal socioeconomic disadvantage, neural function during volitional emotion regulation, and parenting

The transition to becoming a mother involves numerous emotional challenges, and the ability to effectively keep negative emotions in check is critical for parenting. Evidence suggests that experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage interferes with parenting adaptations and alters neural processes related to emotion regulation. The present study examined whether socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with diminished neural activation while mothers engaged in volitional (i.e., purposeful) emotion regulation. 59 mothers, at an average of 4 months postpartum, underwent fMRI scanning and completed the Emotion Regulation Task (ERT). When asked to regulate emotions using reappraisal (i.e., Reappraise condition; reframing stimuli in order to decrease negative emotion), mothers with lower income-to-needs ratio exhibited dampened neural activation in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC, middle frontal and middle temporal gyrus, and caudate. Without explicit instructions to down-regulate (i.e., Maintain condition), mothers experiencing lower income also exhibited dampened response in regulatory areas, including the middle frontal and middle temporal gyrus and caudate. Blunted middle frontal gyrus activation across both Reappraise and Maintain conditions was associated with reduced maternal sensitivity during a mother-child interaction task. Results of the present study demonstrate the influence of socioeconomic disadvantage on prefrontal engagement during emotion regulation, which may have downstream consequences for maternal behaviors.