Understanding the Intergenerational Transmission of Emotion Dysregulation: The Role of Maternal and Paternal Psychological Inflexibility During Pregnancy and Mindful Parenting At Toddler-age

Despite emotion dysregulation being a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology, the intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation across the perinatal period remains poorly understood. Parental emotion dysregulation during pregnancy may contribute to child emotion dysregulation by (a) predisposing infants to experience greater temperamental negative emotionality (NE) and (b) undermining contextual factors that promote adaptive emotion regulation (e.g., parenting). The present study utilized data from a longitudinal study of 157 mixed-sex couples (157 mothers and 157 fathers), most of whom identified as non-Hispanic/Latino White (83.6% of mothers and 85.5% of fathers), and their typically developing infants to investigate (1) how prenatal maternal and paternal psychological inflexibility, a transdiagnostic component of emotion dysregulation, contributes to toddler socioemotional difficulties through greater infant NE and (2) whether higher levels of mindful parenting (e.g., increased emotional awareness, decreased reactivity to child distress) reduce the effect of infant NE on toddler socioemotional difficulties. Results suggested a significant indirect effect of maternal prenatal psychological inflexibility on toddler socioemotional difficulties through increased infant NE. Further, several facets of paternal mindful parenting buffered the intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation by mitigating the progression of infant NE to toddler socioemotional difficulties. Findings highlight the potential benefits of prevention efforts aimed at reducing psychological inflexibility during pregnancy, as well as targeted screening and interventions to bolster mindful parenting, particularly for parents of infants with greater NE.