Emotional and adrenocortical regulation in early adolescence

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in emotion expression and emotion regulation in emotion-eliciting situations in early adolescence from a bio-psycho-social perspective, specifically investigating the influence of early mother-infant attachment and attachment disorganization on behavioural and adrenocortical responses. The sample consisted of 96 children of the Regensburg Longitudinal Study IV. At age 12 months, attachment security and disorganization were assessed in the Strange Situation. At age 12 years, the adolescents were observed together with their mother during a computer game (eliciting anger) and the “Talk Show Task” (eliciting fear). Analyses included self-ratings and mother-ratings of the adolescents’ emotions (anger and fear), observations of the adolescents’ emotional expression and emotional regulation (social regulation, effective regulation) as well as concurrent maternal emotional support. In addition, adrenocortical activity was assessed from saliva samples before and after observation. The findings revealed different patterns of social-emotional responses depending on early attachment security. Adolescents with secure infant attachment reported more anger, when anger was induced, were rated as less anxious by their mothers, and their emotion self-ratings were more similar to their mothers’ ratings compared to adolescents with an early insecure attachment. An increased adrenocortical response was only found in the group of adolescents with attachment disorganization in infancy, especially with increased fear.