Regulating Children's Emotions

Recent synthesized studies show that parents play a major role in their children's abilities to regulate their emotions. One 2021 study examined the attachment styles of 3 year olds with their parents, and then their ability to regulate emotions when they were five. Researchers found that when children are securely attached to both parents, they are best able to regulate their emotions and focus on tasks.

Further, another 2021 study looked at a possible link between parent emotional health and child emotional and behavioral health, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were lots of mental health issues during the pandemic, researchers found that the parent-child relationship was characterized by conflict there was a greater probability of negative emotional or behavioral outcomes. The more positive the parent-child relationship, the less likely the child was to have a negative emotional or behavioral outcomes. Overall, parents' own emotional health was the best predictor of their children’s emotional and behavioral health.