Preschoolers’ Effortful Control Moderates the Effects of Parenting Stress on Parasympathetic Activity

We used a combination of observational methods, questionnaires, and physiological data to examine how parenting stress impacts preschoolers’ cognitive and physiological self-regulation. Results showed preschoolers’ effortful control moderated the effects of parenting stress on their parasympathetic activity (i.e., RSA) during parent-child interaction tasks and an effortful control task battery.