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Abstract
Maternal self-regulation involves mothers’ abilities to process emotional experiences. It is unclear how maternal self-regulation relates to behavioral synchrony and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) synchrony among parent-child dyads. This study identified self-regulation profiles and differences in synchrony with 100 Latinx and Black mothers (Mage = 34.48, SD = 6.39) and their children (Mage = 6.83, SD = 1.50). Dyads participated in a stress task where RSA was collected and maternal positive affect, negative affect, supportive presence, and behavioral synchrony were coded. Mothers self-reported on their self-regulation. Latent profile analyses revealed a three-profile solution: average (mean self-regulation), unaware and behaviorally dysregulated (high self-reported self-regulation and negative affect, low supportive presence, average positive affect), and aware and behaviorally regulated (low self-reported self-regulation, high positive affect and supportive presence, average negative affect). The aware and behaviorally regulated profile demonstrated the highest positive behavioral synchrony, highlighting the importance of maternal self-regulation in parent-child relationships.