Parent-infant co-regulation: ethological, ecological, and cultural approaches

The nature of human infants as psychological agents working in partnership with their parent or caregiver presents a compelling example of the nature of the mind as both an embodied, physical expression and a mental private experience, intimately shared with another through mindful actions of the body (Reddy, 2008). Infants are intentional agents from the beginning of life (Delafield-Butt et al., 2018, Delafield-Butt and Gangopadhyay, 2013) that work to regulate their vital psychological and physiological needs in co-creative partnership with their caregivers, and the social and object world in which they engage their interests (Brazelton, 1974, Stern, 2000, Trevarthen, 1979).

Human infant and child care has evolved a rich variety of strategies to meet the needs of the child as well as those of the adult caregivers responsible for their protection, love, and support (Hrdy, 2009). Like other mammalian offspring, human children solicit attention and care from the mother or caregiver, and similarly the mother or caregiver solicits attention from them. The relationship is a continuous reciprocation of love and conflict between parents and children with competing demands of life, including socioeconomic necessities (parental work and social needs) and biological demands (attachment and care). Parent-child co-regulation is a process of negotiation within the relationship so that it serves a common goal for health, growth, learning, and autonomy.

This special issue examines the wide diversity of parent-child co-regulations in human cultures, from before birth, through infancy and childhood, focusing on the specificities of childrearing revealed by different psychological approaches (developmental, socio-cultural, comparative) as well as anthropological and biological ones. Our practical goal is to expand knowledge of co-regulation from a biological and psychological perspective for improved understanding in professional, educational, and familial care.