Gender differences in emotional expressivity and self-regulation during early infancy.

Abstract

Eighty-one 6-month-old infants and their mothers were videotaped in Tronick's face-to-face still-face paradigm to evaluate gender differences in infant and maternal emotional expressivity and regulation. Male infants had greater difficulty than female infants in maintaining affective regulation during each episode, including the still face. Mother-son dyads had higher synchrony scores than mother-daughter dyads but took longer in repairing interactive errors. In addition, maternal affect, matching, rate of change between matching and mismatching states, and synchrony in the play preceding the still face differentially mediated male and female infants' responses to the still face and reunion play. The developmental implications of these gender differences are discussed.

Cites (5)

1. High agreement but low Kappa: I. the problems of two paradoxes
   Feinstein, Alvan R., Cicchetti, Domenic V. · 1990 · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
2. The Infant's Response to Entrapment between Contradictory Messages in Face-to-Face Interaction
   Tronick, Edward, Als, Heidelise, Adamson, Lauren, Wise, Susan, Brazelton, T. Berry · 1978 · Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry
3. Behavior-state matching and synchrony in mother-infant interactions of nondepressed versus depressed dyads.
   Field, Tiffany, Healy, Brian T., Goldstein, Sheri, Guthertz, Moshe · 1990 · Developmental Psychology
4. Infant response to the still-face situation at 3 and 6 months
   Toda, Sueko, Fogel, Alan · 1993 · Developmental Psychology
5. The father's role in infancy: A re-evaluation
   Parke, Ross D., Sawin, Douglas B. · 1976 · The Family Coordinator

Show all 5 references

Cited by (27)

1. Parent–infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions
   Feldman, Ruth · 2007 · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
2. Gender differences in emotion expression in children: A meta-analytic review.
   Chaplin, Tara M., Aldao, Amelia · 2013 · Psychological Bulletin
3. Brave men and timid women? A review of the gender differences in fear and anxiety
   McLean, Carmen P., Anderson, Emily R. · 2009 · Clinical Psychology Review
4. Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence: Gender and Psychopathology
   Zahn-Waxler, Carolyn, Shirtcliff, Elizabeth A., Marceau, Kristine · 2008 · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology
5. A meta-analytic review of sex differences in facial expression processing and their development in infants, children, and adolescents.
   McClure, Erin B. · 2000 · Psychological Bulletin

See all 443