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AbstractEarly theory of mind development is influenced by a variety of experiences and contexts. Social interactions with parents and others are important for developing a theory of mind, but these social processes may be disrupted by aspects of the proximal home environment. The current study observed father‐child dyadic mutuality (a construct representing responsiveness, reciprocity, and cooperation during a structured interaction) and its associations with child theory of mind and household chaos in a sample of fathers and their 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children (N = 88 dyads). Dyadic mutuality was coded from videotaped structured tasks, household chaos was self‐reported by fathers through a questionnaire, and child theory of mind was measured through behavioral tasks. Measures of child expressive language ability, child executive function, and family socioeconomic status are included as covariates. Results show no main effect of either dyadic mutuality or household chaos on child theory of mind, but that the association between dyadic mutuality and child theory of mind was moderated by household chaos, whereby the association between higher observed dyadic mutuality and better child theory of mind abilities was evident only at low and mean levels of chaos. Findings suggest that higher levels of household chaos may disturb the beneficial social interactions between parents and children that influence theory of mind development. Additional contextual variables and processes are discussed.

AbstractIn the present study we examined the neural correlates of facial emotion processing in the first year of life using ERP measures and cortical source analysis. EEG data were collected cross‐sectionally from 5‐ (N = 49), 7‐ (N = 50), and 12‐month‐old (N = 51) infants while they were viewing images of angry, fearful, and happy faces. The N290 component was found to be larger in amplitude in response to fearful and happy than angry faces in all posterior clusters and showed largest response to fear than the other two emotions only over the right occipital area. The P400 and Nc components were found to be larger in amplitude in response to angry than happy and fearful faces over central and frontal scalp. Cortical source analysis of the N290 component revealed greater cortical activation in the right fusiform face area in response to fearful faces. This effect started to emerge at 5 months and became well established at 7 months, but it disappeared at 12 months. The P400 and Nc components were primarily localized to the PCC/Precuneus where heightened responses to angry faces were observed. The current results suggest the detection of a fearful face in infants' brain can happen shortly (~200–290 ms) after the stimulus onset, and this process may rely on the face network and develop substantially between 5 to 7 months of age. The current findings also suggest the differential processing of angry faces occurred later in the P400/Nc time window, which recruits the PCC/Precuneus and is associated with the allocation of infants' attention.

AbstractParents' responses to children's negative emotional states play a key role in the socialization of emotion regulation skills in childhood. Much of the prior research on child ER has focused on early development using cross‐sectional designs. The current study addresses these gaps by using a longitudinal design to examine individual differences of ER at two times points in middle childhood. We examined the development of children's ER by testing hypotheses about the interplay of parent response to emotions and household chaos in the prediction of individual differences in children's ER. Participants were the mothers of children at 6 and 9 years of age among 224 families in a socioeconomically diverse sample that was part of an ongoing longitudinal study. Mothers completed questionnaires regarding themselves, their children, and their home environment. Mothers' reports of better child ER at both time points were positively associated with mothers' more supportive responses and negatively associated with mothers' less non‐supportive responses, as well as lower household chaos. Chaos statistically moderated the link between non‐supportive parental responses to emotion and child ER, but only at 6 years of age. The strength of the link between child ER and non‐supportive parental responses to emotions was strong only at lower levels of household chaos. At the beginning of middle childhood, family processes linking parent responses to child emotions and children's developing ER may not function at higher levels of household chaos.