Across many research domains, there is growing awareness of the importance of fostering relationships and human connection to improve the quality of life for children and families. In the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), this focus has emerged in several lines of research. For over a decade, our office has actively engaged program offices across the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to translate research about the impact of early adversity and chronic stress on long-term health and well-being and apply it to human services programs. Our priority has been to identify strength-based strategies grounded in theory and evidence, leading us to a focus on self-regulation.
What is Self-Regulation?
Self-regulation is the act of managing thoughts and feelings to enable goal-directed actions. Self-regulation is an umbrella term that we use to encompass concepts such as executive function, self-control, and emotion regulation. Self-regulation is a developmental process that is relevant across age groups, contexts, and populations. Over the years, OPRE has developed foundational resources on the concept of self-regulation for both theory and practice. We began by looking at ways the content of ACF programs could strengthen self-regulation development from birth through young adulthood. Notably, we have found many of these resources to be valuable both professionally and personally. This is because self-regulation applies to the human service programs that we evaluate at OPRE and because self-regulation applies to our daily lives as humans who cope with stressors and work towards what is important to us.
Through collaboration with colleagues inside and outside of ACF, our focus over time has shifted towards understanding how self-regulation develops within the context of relationships. We are now exploring ways to strengthen relationships through co-regulation. Co-regulation is the interactive process by which caring adults (1) provide warm, supportive relationships, (2) promote self-regulation through coaching, modeling, and feedback, and (3) structure supportive environments. By focusing on the process of co-regulation, we shift from an emphasis on individual markers of resilience, to a model that recognizes the importance of relationships as a context for healing and growth. This framework points to new, actionable strategies for promoting connection and increasing the impact of our programs. Though we may not use the same language in our everyday life, co-regulation is something we already do at work and in our personal lives that we can do more frequently and on purpose. Therefore, rather than asking service providers and participants to add yet another new “thing” to their current practices, we can build on the good things people are already doing by strengthening co-regulation and making it more intentional.
Refining and Adapting our Models
The image below shows an example of how our model of co-regulation has evolved over time to meet the needs of different populations. On the left of the image, we have the original model of co-regulation that was operationalized for our scan of existing self-regulation interventions and detailed in a practice brief on co-regulation from birth through young adulthood. To the right, we have a model that was adapted and further developed to apply to the context of positive youth development. This version breaks down the different components of co-regulation and specifies what that might look like when working with youth. We expect to continue refining this model as we work towards understanding the potential of the strengthening of co-regulation across the lifespan and contexts for improving health and well-being.
Developing a Learning Agenda
Our thinking and efforts in this area are continuously evolving as we expand our understanding and application of co-regulation to different program areas. We have observed that while programs may use a range of different terms and approaches, key components of co-regulation are already being used in many human services approaches. Because co-regulation occurs within the context of relationships (e.g., between a parent and child, between a service provider and a program participant), opportunities for enacting these strategies are present throughout ACF’s many program areas. Across programs, we are interested in thinking about common themes and questions, including:
- What are the components of co-regulation?
- What does co-regulation look like across the lifespan?
- What is the feasibility of implementing co-regulation strategies?
- What practice-based supports are needed?
- How are co-regulation strategies implemented in different contexts and among different subpopulations?
- How do we measure co-regulation?
- What is the effectiveness of co-regulation for improving child, youth, and family well-being?
- What is the effectiveness of co-regulation as a strategy for improving the impact of human services?
- How does co-regulation relate to ACF’s efforts to take a preventative and proactive approach to ensuring child, youth, family, and individual well-being?
Over time, we plan to develop a learning agenda that further delves into these questions and explores how co-regulation intersects with unique program needs across the wide range of individuals and groups that human services programs serve. We anticipate that our conceptualization of co-regulation will change over time as we continue to engage experts and to learn about co-regulation across the lifespan.
The OPRE Self-Regulation Learning Agenda Team includes: Sarita Barton, Caryn Blitz, Selma Caal, Erin Cannon, Kathleen Dwyer, Calonie Gray, Nancy Margie, Kelly Jedd McKenzie, Aleta Meyer, Katie Pahigiannis, Emily Ross, and Neda Senehi. The efforts described here to build a learning agenda around co-regulation are part of a broader undertaking to understand many aspects of self-regulation development.