Biological Sensitivity to Parental Discipline: The Role of Vagal Tone in the Development of Children's Self-Regulatio

Research linking parenting and children's self-regulation is plentiful. However, this research is often limited on multiple fronts. Expressly, it is not always clear: 1) which parenting behaviors specifically should theoretically be related to children's self-regulation, 2) whether or not parenting behaviors impact all children equally, and 3) how parenting is related to the multiple self-regulation constructs specified in the literature, as well as how these self-regulation constructs are related to one another. To increase precision in these areas, the present investigation tested a longitudinal process model examining: 1) if inductive and power-assertive discipline (i.e. parental control techniques) were positively (inductive) and negatively (power-assertive) associated with children's effortful self-regulation (effortful control), as suggested by a Domains of Parenting approach, 2) if individual differences in children's vagal tone may moderate (i.e., increase or decrease their susceptibility to) the impact of parenting on self-regulation, as suggested by Diathesis-Stress and Biological Sensitivity to Context models, and 3) examining children's regulation of negative emotions (anger and sadness) as possible products of effortful control. Consistent with these hypotheses, Time 2 effortful control was positively associated with Time 1 inductive discipline, but negatively associated with Time 1 power-assertive discipline. Moreover, higher Time 2 effortful control was associated with greater anger, but not sadness, regulation at Time 3, and Time 1 power-assertive discipline exerted a significant indirect effect on Time 3 anger regulation via Time 2 effortful control. However, inconsistent with Diathesis Stress and Biological Sensitivity to Context models, children's vagal tone at Time 1 did not moderate the influence of parental discipline on children's effortful control. These results are interpreted within developmental theory as well as theories of approach/avoidance motivation, functionalist theory of emotion, domain-specific theories of parenting, and Biological Sensitivity to Context.