Parental and infant predictors of infant anger and fear reactivity

Our findings provide preliminary evidence that the maternal capacity to interpret infant cues in terms of the underlying mental states is particularly important for the infant's learning processes enabling the regulation of states of anger. The emotion-specific nature of this association (anger but not fear) suggests that different emotions may engage distinct co-regulatory processes, warranting further investigation. Our findings contribute to a growing body of research illustrating the complex relationships of parental mind-mindedness and parental sensitivity with infant emotion regulation.