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Mutual regulation of anger plays a role in both healthy adjustment and mental health problems. This study of 85 preschooler boys and girls examined mother-preschooler anger regulation during a frustration in relation to the child's preschool and school age problem status. Less mutual positive emotion, more mutual anger, and more emotional mismatches than other dyads characterized dyads with a stable conduct problem child. Maternal emotion predicted school age conduct problems, particularly for boys. Maternal emotion also predicted stability versus improvement of symptoms. The emotional dynamics of mother-preschooler angry exchanges may redirect girls' conduct problems and may contribute to the stability of boys' conduct problems.
Cole et al. (Sat,) studied this question.