INFANT BEHAVIOR AND DEVELOPMENT 19,359-370 (1996) zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTS Mo the r- Infa nt Re e ng a g e m e nt Fo Ilo wing the Still- Fa c e : The Ro le o f Ma te rna l Em o tio na l A va ila b ility in Infa nt A ffe c t Re g ula tio n NINA KOGAN AND ALICE S. CARTER Yale University This study investigated how the early mother-infant relationship supports an infant’s ability to regulate emotion following the disruption of normal interaction. The responses of 29 4.month- old infants and their economically disadvantaged. predominantly minority mothers were exam- ined during the “still-face” paradigm. Mothers were asked to play with their infants for 5 min, maintain a still, affectless expression for 2 mitt, and resume play for 3 min. Specifically, the rela- tion between dyadic emotional availability in play and the infant’s behavior in the period follow- ing the still-face, when mothers reengaged with their infants, was explored. Dyadic interaction during play was coded with a scale measuring maternal sensitivity, intrusiveness, and hostility, as well as child responsiveness. The infant’s affect and gaze were coded in real time across all three episodes. A new, global coding scheme, which incorporated aspects of reunion behavior codes from Ainsworth’s Strange Situation paradigm, was used to measure infant behavior in the reengagement period. The major finding was that at age 4 months, infants of mothers who were more sensitive in play reengaged following the still-face using a more well-regulated, interper- sonally oriented style, whereas infants of mothers who were less sensitive exhibited high amounts of avoidant and/or resistant behaviors in reengagement. In addition, exploratory longitu- dinal data revealed some predictive validity of the 4-month reengagement codes to 12.month Ainsworth attachment scales. infant still-face emotion regulation attachment Studies of naturalistic play between infants and mothers suggest that an infant’s responsivity and affective expressions are directly related to the mother’s responsive behaviors, particularly in the first 6 months of life (Brazelton, Kos- lowski, & Main, 1974; Stem, 1977). During the first 6 months, maternal positive emotional expressions are especially critical because they generally precede, or model, infant positive expressions (Kaye & Fogel, 1980). The emo- tional tone of these early interactions in turn provide the framework within which the infant develops his or her own affective repertoire (Tronick, Ricks, & Cohn, 1982). Furthermore, a mother’s sensitive and contingent responding to her infant’s signals is associated with the This research was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Health-Promoting and Health-Damaging Behavior. The authors wish to thank Susan Goldman, Michelle Bosquet, Christina Little, Rachel Chazan, Callie Rogers, and Amy Schefler for their assistance in data collection and coding. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Nina Kogan, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 208205, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520. infant’s healthy development of affective expressivity and regulation (Emde, 1980; Gianino & Tronick, 1988; Stem, 1974). The idea of emotion regulation includes the infant’s attempts, through developmentally appropriate mechanisms, to modulate and cope with heightened levels of emotions and to there- by influence his/her level of internal arousal, as well as the social environment (Kopp, 1989). Whether such attempts are successful or not may have a fundamental effect on how the infant will come to feel about him/herself. When an infant repeatedly fails at regulation, negative emotions may lead to a sense of inef- fectance or helplessness (White, 1959). Through successful regulation, the positive emotions generated may result in a sense of the self as effective. Because distress is unavoidable for humans, learning to modulate negative emo- tions is a critical developmental task. Gianino and Tronick (1988) discussed regu- latory behavior in terms of two categories: “Other-directed regulatory behaviors” refer to those affective displays through which the infant cues the mother in order that she may aid or supplement the infant’s organizational goals, 359