Physiological Regulation and Fearfulness as Predictors of Young Children's Empathy-related Reactions

Social Development

Volumn 20, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 111-134

  Liew, Jeffrey ^a   Eisenberg, Nancy ^b   Spinrad, Tracy L ^b   Eggum, Natalie D ^b   Haugen, R G ^b   Kupfer, Anne ^b   Reiser, Mark R ^b   Smith, Cynthia L ^c   Lemery Chalfant, Kathryn ^b   Baham, Melinda E ^b  

^a TEXAS A AND M UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Emotion regulation; Empathy; Fear; Respiratory sinus arrhythmia

Indexed keywords

EID: 78650355190     PISSN: 0961205X     EISSN: 14679507     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2010.00575.x     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
2. Aksan, N., & Kochanska, G. (2004). Links between systems of inhibition from infancy to preschool years. Child Development, 75, 1477-1490.
3. Akselrod, S., Gordon, D., Ubel, F. A., Shannon, D. C., Berger, A. C., & Cohen, R. J. (1981). Power spectrum analysis of heart rate fluctuation: A quantitative probe of beat-to-beat cardiovascular control. Science, 213, 220-222.
4. Barnett, V., & Lewis, T. (1994). Outliers in statistical data, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley.
5. Batson, C. D. (1991). The altruism question: Toward a social-psychological answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
6. Beauchaine, T. P. (2001). Vagal tone, development, and Gray's motivational theory: Toward an integrated model of autonomic nervous system functioning in psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 183-214.
7. Beauchaine, T. P., Gatzke-Kopp, L., & Mead, H. K. (2006). Polyvagal theory and developmental psychopathology: Emotion dysregulation and conduct problems from preschool to adolescence. Biological Psychology, 74, 174-184.
8. Buss, K. A., Davidson, R. J., Kalin, N. H., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2004). Context-specific freezing and associated physiological reactivity as a dysregulated fear response. Developmental Psychology, 40, 583-594.
9. Calkins, S. D. (1997). Cardia vagal tone indices of temperamental reactivity and behavioral regulation in young children. Developmental Psychobiology, 31, 125-135.
10. Calkins, S. D., Graziano, P. A., & Keane, S. P. (2007). Cardiac vagal regulation differentiates among children at risk for behavior problems. Biological Psychology, 74, 144-153.
11. Calkins, S. D., & Keane, S. P. (2004). Cardiac vagal regulation across the preschool period: Stability, continuity, and implications for childhood adjustment. Developmental Psychobiology, 45, 101-112.
12. Domitrovich, C. E., Cortes, R. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (2007). Improving young children's social and emotional competence: A randomized trial of the preschool 'PATHS' curriculum. Journal of Primary Prevention, 28, 67-91.
13. Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. (1998). Prosocial development. In W. Damon (Editor-in-Chief), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, personality development (5th ed., pp. 701-778). New York: Wiley.
14. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Karbon, M., Murphy, B. C., Carlo, G., & Wosinski, M. (1996a). Relations of school children's comforting behavior to empathy-related reactions and shyness. Social Development, 5, 330-351.
15. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Murphy, B., Karbon, M., Maszk, P., Smith, M., et al. (1994). The relations of emotionality and regulation to dispositional and situational empathy-related responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 776-797.
16. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Murphy, B., Karbon, M., Smith, M., & Maszk, P. (1996b). The relations of children's dispositional empathy-related responding to their emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Developmental Psychology, 32, 195-209.
17. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Murphy, B., Maszk, P., Smith, M., & Karbon, M. (1995). The role of emotionality and regulation in children's social functioning: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 66, 1360-1384.
18. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Murphy, B. C., Jones, J., & Guthrie, I. K. (1998). Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children's sympathy from dispositional regulation and emotionality. Developmental Psychology, 34, 910-924.
19. Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Prosocial development. In W. Damon, R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed., pp. 646-718). New York: Wiley.
20. Eisenberg, N., & Liew, J. (2009). Empathy. In R. A. Shweder, T. R. Bidell, A. C. Dailey, S. D. Dixon, P. J. Miller, & J. Modell (Eds.), The child: An encyclopedia companion (pp. 316-318). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
21. Eisenberg, N., Liew, J., & Pidada, S. U. (2004). The longitudinal relations of regulation and emotionality to quality of Indonesian children's socioemotional functioning. Developmental Psychology, 40, 790-804.
22. Eisenberg, N., Michalik, N., Spinrad, T., Hofer, C., Kupfer, A., Valiente, C., et al. (2007). The relations of effortful control and impulsivity to children's sympathy: A longitudinal study. Cognitive Development, 22, 544-567.
23. Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., & Eisenbud, L. (1993). Behavioral and physiological correlates of children's reactions to others in distress. Developmental Psychology, 29, 655-663.
24. Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., Karbon, N., Troyer, D., & Switzer, G. (1994). The relations of children's emotion regulation to their vicarious emotional responses and comforting behaviors. Child Development, 65, 1678-1693.
25. Gill, K. L., & Calkins, S. D. (2003). Do aggressive/destructive toddlers lack concern for others? Behavioral and physiological indicators of empathic responding in 2-year-old children. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 55-71.
26. Goldsmith, H. H. (1996). Studying temperament via construction of the toddler behavior assessment questionnaire. Child Development, 67, 218-235.
27. Goldsmith, H. H., Buss, K. A., & Lemery, K. S. (1997). Toddler and childhood temperament: Expanded content, stronger genetic evidence, and new evidence for the importance of environment. Developmental Psychology, 33, 891-905.
28. Goldsmith, H. H., & Campos, J. J. (1990). The structure of temperamental fear and pleasure in infants: A psychometric perspective. Child Development, 61, 1944-1964.
29. Goldsmith, H. H., Reilly, J., Lemery, K. S., Longley, S., & Prescott, A. (1993). Preschool laboratory temperament assessment battery (PS Lab-TAB; version 1.0) (Tech. Rep.). Madison, WI: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin.
30. Graziano, P. A., Keane, S. P., & Calkins, S. D. (2007). Cardiac vagal regulation and early peer status. Child Development, 78, 264-278.
31. Greenberg, M. T., Kusché, C. A., Cook, E. T., & Quamma, J. P. (1995). Promoting emotional competence in school-aged children: The effects of the PATHS Curriculum. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 117-136.
32. Grossman, P., & Taylor, E. W. (2007). Toward understanding respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Relations to cardiac vagal tone, evolution and biobehavioral functions. Biological Psychology, 74, 263-285.
33. Grossman, P. M., Karemaker, J., & Wieling, W. (1991). Prediction of tonic parasympathetic cardiac control using respiratory sinus arrhythmia: The need for respiratory control. Psychophysiology, 28, 201-216.
34. Hastings, P. D., Nuselovici, J. N., Utendale, W. T., Coutya, J., McShane, K. E., & Sullivan, C. (2008a). Applying the polyvagal theory to children's emotion regulation: Social context, socialization, and adjustment. Biological Psychology, 70, 299-306.
35. Hastings, P. D., Sullivan, C., McShane, K. E., Coplan, R. J., Utendale, W. T., & Vyncke, J. D. (2008b). Parental socialization, vagal regulation, and preschoolers' anxious difficulties: Direct mothers and moderated fathers. Child Development, 79, 45-64.
36. Hastings, P. D., Zahn-Waxler, C., & McShane, K. (2006). We are by nature moral creatures: Biological bases of concern for others. In M. Killen, & J. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook on moral development (pp. 483-516). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
37. Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
38. Hosmer, D. W., & Lemeshow, S. (2000). Applied logistic regression, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.
39. Howes, C., & Farver, J. (1987). Toddlers' responses to the distress of their peers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 8, 441-452.
40. James Long Company (1999). IBI analysis system. Retrieved February 16, 2010 from
41. Knafo, A., Zahn-Waxler, C., Van Hulle, C., Robinson, J. L., & Rhee, S. H. (2008). The developmental origins of a disposition toward empathy: Genetic and environmental contributions. Emotion, 8, 737-752.
42. Kochanska, G., Coy, K. C., & Murray, K. T. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 1091-1111.
43. Kochanska, G., Gross, J. N., Lin, M., & Nichols, K. E. (2002). Guilt in young children: Development, determinants, and relations with a broader system of standards. Child Development, 73, 461-482.
44. Kochanska, G., & Knaack, A. (2003). Effortful control as a personality characteristic of young children: Antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Personality, 71, 1087-1112.
45. Kochanska, G., Murray, K. T., & Harlan, E. T. (2000). Effortful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development. Developmental Psychology, 36, 220-232.
46. Ladd, G. W., & Profilet, S. M. (1996). The Child Behavior Behavior Scale: A teacher-report measure of young children's aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 32, 1008-1024.
47. Mangelsdorf, S. C., Shapiro, J. R., & Marzolf, D. (1995). Developmental and temperamental differences in emotion regulation in infancy. Child Development, 66, 1817-1828.
48. Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2004). Mplus user's guide. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
49. Nevitt, J., & Hancock, G. R. (2001). Performance of bootstrapping approaches to model test statistics and parameter standard error estimation in structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 8, 353-377.
50. National Institute of Child and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (2003). Does amount of time spent in child care predict socioemotional adjustment during the transition to kindergarten? Child Development, 74, 976-1005.
51. Porges, S. W. (1996). Physiological regulation in high-risk infants: A model for assessment and potential intervention. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 43-58.
52. Porges, S. W., Doussard-Roosevelt, J. A., & Maiti, A. K. (1994a). Vagal tone and the physiological regulation of emotion. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 167-186.
53. Porges, S. W., Doussard-Roosevelt, J. A., Portales, A. L., & Greenspan, S. I. (1996). Infant regulation of the vagal 'brake' predicts child behavior problems: A psychobiological model of social behavior. Developmental Psychobiology, 29, 697-712.
54. Porges, S. W., Doussard-Roosevelt, J. A., Portales, A. L., & Suess, P. E. (1994b). Cardiac vagal tone: Stability and relations to difficulties in infants and 3-year-olds. Developmental Psychobiology, 27, 289-300.
55. Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (2000). Developing mechanisms of self-regulation. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 427-441.
56. Rothbart, M. K., & Ahadi, S. A. (1994). Temperament and the development of personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 55-66.
57. Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., & Hershey, K. L. (1994). Temperament and social behavior in childhood. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 21-39.
58. Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., Hershey, K. L., & Fisher, P. (2001). Investigations of temperament at three to seven years: The children's behavior questionnaire. Child Development, 72, 1394-1408.
59. Rothbart, M. K., & Bates, J. E. (2006). Temperament. In W. Damon, R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed., pp. 99-166). New York: Wiley.
60. Rubin, K. H., Burgess, K. B., & Hastings, P. D. (2002). Stability and social-behavioral consequences of toddlers' inhibited temperament and parenting behaviors. Child Development, 73, 483-495.
61. Shafter, J. L., & Graham, J. W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147-177.
62. Sheese, B. E., Rothbart, M. K., Posner, M. I., White, L. K., & Fraundorf, S. H. (2008). Executive attention and self-regulation in infancy. Infant Behavior & Development, 31, 501-510.
63. Spinrad, T. L., & Stifter, C. A. (2006). Toddlers' empathy-related responding to distress: Predictions from negative emotionality and maternal behavior in infancy. Infancy, 10, 97-121.
64. Stifter, C. A., & Braungart, J. M. (1995). The regulation of negative reactivity in infancy: Function and development. Developmental Psychology, 31, 448-455.
65. Stifter, C. A., & Fox, N. A. (1990). Infant reactivity: Physiological correlates of newborn and 5-month temperament. Developmental Psychology, 26, 582-588.
66. Talge, N. M., Donzella, B., & Gunnar, M. (2008). Fearful temperament and stress reactivity among preschool-aged children. Infant and Child Development, 17, 427-445.
67. Theall-Honey, L. A., & Schmidt, L. A. (2006). Do temperamentally shy children process emotion differently than nonshy children? Behavioral, psychophysiological, and gender differences in reticent preschoolers. Developmental Psychobiology, 48, 187-196.
68. Trommsdorff, G., Friedlmeier, W., & Mayer, B. (2007). Sympathy, distress, and prosocial behavior of preschool children in four cultures. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 284-293.
69. Volbrecht, M. M., Lemery-Chalfant, K. L., Aksan, N., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2007). Examining the familial link between positive affect and empathy development in the second year. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168, 105-129.
70. West, S. G., Finch, J. F., & Curran, P. J. (1995). Structural equation models with non-normal variables: Problems and remedies. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues and applications (pp. 56-75). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
71. Young, S., Fox, N. A., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (1999). The relations between temperament and empathy in 2-year-olds. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1189-1197.
72. Yuan, Y. C. (2000). Multiple imputation for missing data: Concepts and new development. In Proceedings of the 25th Annual SAS Users Group International Conference (Paper No. 267). Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
73. Zahn-Waxler, C., Cole, P. M., Welsh, J. D., & Fox, N. A. (1995). Psychophysiological correlates of empathy and prosocial behaviors in preschool children with behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 27-48.
74. Zahn-Waxler, C., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (1990). The origins of empathic concern. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 107-129.
75. Zimmermann, L. K., & Stansbury, K. (2004). The influence of emotion regulation, level of shyness, and habituation on the neuroendocrine response of three-year-old children. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29, 973-982.