Milica Nikolić

Blushing in early childhood: Feeling coy or socially anxious?

Blushing has adaptive social functions. However, blushing is also assumed to be a hallmark of social anxiety and shyness. For the first time, blushing and its relation to the expressions of shyness and social anxiety was examined in early childhood. Four-and-a-half-year-old children (N = 102) were asked to perform (singing in front of an audience) and watched back their performance in the presence of that audience. Physiological blushing (blood volume pulse, blood volume, and cheek temperature) was measured, and positive (gaze and/or head aversion with smiling) and negative expressions of shyness (gaze and/or head aversion with negative facial expressions) were observed. In addition, both parents reported their childs social anxiety level. A higher level of blushing response was related to greater social anxiety in children who displayed few positive shy expressions, but not in children who displayed many positive shy expressions during the performance. Moreover, children who expressed many negative shy expressions were highly socially anxious, no matter their blushing. Our findings suggest that blushing appears to be an early indicator of social anxiety in children who are not able to successfully cope with fearful social situations. In contrast, blushing, in combination with positive shy behaviors, appears to be an adaptive social mechanism that may protect from heightened social anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mothers’ and fathers’ mind-mindedness influences physiological emotion regulation of infants across the first year of life

Abstract The main aim of this study was to test whether mothers’ (n = 116) and fathers’ (n = 116) mind‐mindedness predicts infants’ physiological emotion regulation (heart rate variability; HRV) across the first year of life. Three hypotheses were examined: (a) parents’ mind‐mindedness at 4 and 12 months predicts infants’ HRV at 12 months over and above infants’ initial HRV levels at 4 months, (b) mothers’ and fathers’ mind‐mindedness independently predict infant HRV, and (c) the effects of mind‐mindedness on infant HRV (partially) operate via parenting behaviour. Infants’ HRV was assessed during rest and a stranger approach. Mind‐mindedness was assessed by calculating the proportions of appropriate and non‐attuned mind‐related comments during free‐play interactions, and parenting quality was observed at 4 and 12 months in the same interactions. Path analyses showed that mothers’ appropriate mind‐related comments at 4 and 12 months predicted higher baseline HRV at 12 months, whereas mothers’ non‐attuned comments predicted lower baseline HRV at 12 months. Similar, but concurrent, relations were found for fathers’ appropriate and non‐attuned mind‐related comments and infant baseline HRV at 12 months. In addition, fathers’ appropriate mind‐related comments showed an indirect association with infant baseline HRV at 12 months via fathers’ parenting quality. With regard to infant HRV reactivity during the stranger approach, mothers’ appropriate mind‐related comments at 4 months and fathers’ non‐attuned mind‐related comments at 12 months predicted a larger HRV decline during the stranger approach at 12 months. Infants’ HRV at 4 months did not predict parents’ later mind‐mindedness. The results indicate that mothers’ and fathers’ appropriate and non‐attuned mind‐related speech uniquely impacts the development of infants’ physiological emotion regulation.