In Sync and in Control: A Meta‐Analysis of Parent–Child Positive Behavioral Synchrony and Youth Self‐Regulation

• Author: Joanie Bilms,Molly Davis,Cynthia Suveg
• Published date: 01 December 2017
• Date: 01 December 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12259

In Sync and in Control: A Meta-Analysis of

Parent–Child Positive Behavioral Synchrony and

Youth Self-Regulation

MOLLY DAVIS*

JOANIE BILMS*

CYNTHIA SUVEG*

A growing body of research has highlighted the connection between parent–child positive

behavioral synchrony and youth self-regulation; however, this association has yet to be the

focus of a meta-analytic review. Therefore, the present meta-analysis aimed to estimate the

magnitude of the relation between parent–child positive behavioral synchrony and youth

self-regulation and to identify moderator variables that can explain the variability in the

degree of this association across the extant literature. A thorough literature search of two

major databases, in addition to scanning the reference sections of relevant articles, yield ed

a total of 10 peer-reviewed articles (24 effect sizes, 658 children) that were eligible for inclu-

sion in the current meta-analysis. Results from the overall mean effect size calcula tion

using a random-effects model indicated that parent–child positive behavioral synchrony

was significantly, positively correlated with youth self-regulation and the effect size was

medium. Children’s ages at the time of synchrony and self-regulation measurements, as

well as parent gender, served as significant moderator variables. Findings from the present

meta-analysis can help to refine existing theoretical models on the role of the parent–child

relationship in youth adjustment. Prevention and intervention efforts may benefi t from an

increased emphasis on building parent–child positive behavioral synchrony to promote

youth self-regulation and thus children’s overall well-being.

Keywords: Synchrony; Self-Regulation; Parent; Child; Meta-analysis

Fam Proc 56:962–980, 2017

Seminal work highlighting the effects of parental absence on the child (Bowlby, 1951;

Sears, Pintler, & Sears, 1946; Seay & Harlow, 1965) spurred a plethora of empirical

and theoretical work examining what it is about the caregiving environment that is so cru-

cial for child development. Common among many theoretical approaches is the acknowl-

edgment that there is a bidirectional relationship between caregivers and children (Bell,

1968) and that the relationship itself serves important regulatory functions that have

implications for later development (Feldman, 2007c). Contemporary work has docum ented

the importance of the caregiver–child relationship by investigating positive behavioral

synchrony, an interaction in which partners are attuned to each other behaviorally and

emotionally. A number of studies have now linked parent–child positive behavioral syn-

chrony, referred to hereafter as positive synchrony, to children’s abilities to modulate

behaviors and emotions in response to situational demands (i.e., self-regulation; Feldman,

*Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Molly Davis, Department of Psychology,

University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: mfdavis2@uga.edu.

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Family Process, Vol. 56, No. 4, 2017 ©2016 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12259

Greenbaum, & Yirmiya, 1999; Kochanska, Aksan, Prisco, & Adams, 2008); however, this

association has yet to be the focus of a meta-analytic review. It is important to use meta-

analytic techniques to gain an in-depth understanding of the ways that parent–child posi-

tive synchrony may foster youth self-regulation given that the ability to self-regulate, and

problems with self-regulation, have been implicated in numerous indices of psychosocial

adjustment and maladjustment, respectively, across the developmental trajectory (e.g.,

academic functioning, social competence, and psychopathology; Bradley et al., 2011;

Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser, 2000; Graziano, Reavis, Keane, & Calkins, 2007). In

fact, identifying factors that contribute to self-regulation has been described as “the single

most crucial goal for advancing an understanding of development and psycho pathology”

(Posner & Rothbart, 2000, p. 427).

The only known meta-analysis that has included both parent–child synchrony and

youth self-regulation grouped synchrony with parenting behaviors more broadly (Karre-

man, van Tuijl, van Aken, & Dekovi

c, 2006), precluding an understanding of the specific

association between positive synchrony and youth self-regulation. Importantly, parent–

child positive synchrony has been found to predict child self-regulation above and beyo nd

individual parenting behaviors (i.e., mothers’ gentle disciplinary strategies, also known as

warm control; Feldman et al., 1999). These findings, combin ed with the often low, and at

times nonsignificant, correlations found in the extant literature between synchrony and

more general parenting factors (e.g., monitoring, warm control; Criss, Shaw, & Ingoldsby,

2003; Feldman et al., 1999) suggest it is important to study the unique relation between

parent–child positive synchrony and youth self-regulation. This study sought to quantita-

tively examine the strength of the specific association between parent–child positive syn-

chrony and child self-regulation and to identify theoretically and methodologically

relevant factors that may explain the variability in effect sizes found across and within

studies on this topic. Results from the present meta-analysis can help advance existing

theoretical models on the role of the parent–child relationship in youth adjustment by

illustrating the nuanced ways in which parent–child positive synchrony relates to youth

self-regulation. Moreover, these findings can facilitate the identification of aspects of the

parent–child relationship that are likely to be important targets of prevention and inter-

vention efforts aimed at promoting youth self-regulation and, therefore, children’s overall

well-being.

Youth Self-Regulation

Self-regulation involves the ability to exert control over a variety of domains,

including behavioral, attentional, cognitive, physiological, and interpersonal areas, and

the capacity for self-regulation becomes increasingly sophisticated over time (Calkins,

2007; Kopp, 1982). Self-regulation is a complex, multifaceted construct; thus, the pre-

sent meta-analysis focused on two major types of adaptive self-regulation: behavioral

and emotional. Behavioral self-regulation includes skills such as the ability to comply

with others’ demands or prohibitions without needing constant reminders to complete

a task (i.e., committed compliance; Feldman, 2007b) and the capacity to suppress a

dominant response in order to carry out a subdominant response (i.e., effortful con-

trol; Rothbart & Rueda, 2005). Emotional self-regulation, typically referred to as emo-

tion regulation, involves “the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for

monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive

and temporal features, to accomplish one’s goals” (Thompson, 1994, pp. 27–28). The

decision to concentrate on behavioral and emotional self-regulation was made in an

effort to focus the scope of the meta-analysis and to reflect the fact that the majority

of research on the association between parent–child positive synchrony and youth

Fam. Proc., Vol. 56, December, 2017

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