In a prior blog post, we introduced OPRE’s work on the concept of co-regulation, a cross-cutting framework that can be applied across the lifespan. 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. We are working to develop a learning agenda on this topic that explores key research questions. Across many settings, we see opportunities to strengthen relationships by helping people enact co-regulation. To illustrate the diverse programmatic contexts in which we have investigated the concept of co-regulation, we provide a brief overview of some of our ongoing projects, from infancy to adulthood:
Co-Regulation for Infancy and Early Childhood
In infancy and early childhood, caregivers and teachers play important roles in supporting development through co-regulation, and many ACF programs work to support adults in this capacity. Co-regulation approaches are intertwined through many of our early care and education projects. For example, within three Head Start University Partnership grant programs, several projects look at the development of self-regulation and the role of co-regulation. Two projects that were funded through a grant program focused on two-generation approaches tested interventions that layered a parent component onto interventions aimed at supporting children’s self-regulation. Another grant program focused on interventions for parents and teachers of infants and toddlers and included four projects that tested approaches aimed at supporting adult-child relationships. Finally, within a grant program focused on ECE workforce well-being, all six projects include a self-regulation component and are looking at how their interventions will impact children in their classrooms. These projects investigate how co-regulation can be enacted in the context of early care and education.
Co-Regulation for Youth and Young Adulthood
Co-regulation approaches in supporting youth and young adults are relevant for many of the programs ACF administers. Key roles for supportive adults include family members, case workers, program practitioners, and other caring adults who interact with youth. The youth-centered projects we have undertaken so far include:
- Building Co-Regulation Capacity to Support Positive Development for Youth with Foster Care Experience This effort was initiated in response to a meeting with experts to consider the relevance and possibilities of self-regulation promotion for youth with foster care experience. The project examined existing literature and current practice to provide guidance for the child welfare system in strengthening co-regulation supports for older youth in foster care. In collaboration with researchers and experts with lived experience, we developed a set of practical guides for caring adults to use to enact co-regulation to support positive youth development for youth with foster care experience.
- Self-Regulation Approaches and Resources for Healthy Marriage Programs for Youth (SARHM) In the context of Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs for youth, the SARHM project used rapid learning to transform the science on co-regulation into practical tools educators could use to build their co-regulation capacity to work with adolescents in healthy relationship programs. The project provided practical tools and strategies for program facilitators to apply to support youth self-regulation development and explored the feasibility of implementing co-regulation strategies across various program curricula.
- Sexual Risk Avoidance Education National Evaluation (SRAENE) The Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) National Evaluation comprises three distinct projects. One of the projects, the Program Components Impacts Study, will use innovative methods to explore whether SRAE program facilitators’ use of co-regulation strategies—developed in the SARHM project —improves program implementation factors and youth outcomes.
- Strengthening the implementation of Marriage and Relationship Services (SIMR) This project uses rapid learning methods to pilot and refine promising solutions to common implementation challenges related to recruitment, retention, and engagement in HMRE programs. In one sub-study of SIMR, a program is implementing a HMRE program for youth in high schools that incorporates a self-regulation curricula into its program content. For that sub-study, the SIMR project is testing an approach to strengthen self-regulation skills among the adult program facilitators in order to support them in practicing, modeling, and coaching self-regulation in youth. This approach aims to help adults identify, acknowledge, and manage their feelings so that they can navigate stressful situations by increasing emotional awareness and vocabulary and improving distress tolerance. Facilitators’ ability to regulate their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors is crucial for modeling and coaching self-regulation in the youth participating in their HMRE programs.
Co-Regulation and the Multiple Roles of Adulthood
In adulthood, ACF’s programs touch on the many different roles that adults play, which means supporting people in their roles as parents, partners, and providers. Examples of projects where we have worked to support adult co-regulation include:
- Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) This project focuses on fatherhood programs and is using rapid learning methods to pilot and refine promising solutions to common implementation challenges related to participant recruitment, engagement, and retention in program services. Some of the participating programs are testing the effects of using coaching approaches in case management to build relationships with fathers and help fathers set and achieve specific goals. The coaching approaches are informed by literature suggesting such approaches can help participants understand and address emotional control, task initiation, persistence, stress tolerance, time management, and other skills, so they are motivated and equipped to reach their goals. Other programs participating in the SIRF project are testing peer support strategies in which program alumni or peer mentors support participants by providing sharing their experiences and offering encouragement and empathy.
- Co-Regulation, Connection, and Father Engagement in Human Service Programs This project included an expert meeting focused on how human services programs can support fathers as they build connections in several areas of their lives. Discussions identified key areas of overlap with the co-regulation framework, including the role of warm and supportive relationships, staff capacity for co-regulation, fathers as co-regulators with their children, and the role of peers in co-regulation. Meeting participants highlighted the importance of context, such as fathers’ own identities, histories, and communities when serving fathers in human services programs, as well as considering fathers’ experiences across the lifespan. The discussions also pointed to opportunities to apply insights from human connection research by leveraging co-regulation strategies.
- Evaluation of Employment Coaching for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Related Populations & Long-Term Follow-up Study Employment coaching incorporates co-regulation through a process in which trained staff members work with participants to set individualized goals and provide support and feedback as participants work toward their goals. It has shown to be an effective method for changing behaviors and improving self-regulation skills needed to find and maintain work. This evaluation will examine the effectiveness of coaching interventions and self-regulation skills on employment-related outcomes.
- Measuring, Supporting, and Understanding Child and Caregiver well-being through Employment and Self-Sufficiency Research (Measuring SUCCESS) OPRE launched the Measuring SUCCESS project in 2021 with the goal of identifying and integrating evidence-based measures of child and family well-being into welfare and family self-sufficiency research. Aspects of co-regulation may be identified as they relate to understanding and measurement of family self-sufficiency and well-being.
Future directions
As is apparent from the sampling of program areas listed above, co-regulation is a framework that can be applied across programs, with diverse populations and ages of interest, and in many different contexts. We are still in the early stages of applying this co-regulation framework to thinking about fostering human connection and improving outcomes for children and families across the lifespan. One exciting aspect of our work at OPRE is that it constantly evolves as we learn from our projects and continue to engage with expert collaborators inside and outside of ACF. We expect that these concepts will change and progress as we develop a learning agenda on co-regulation.
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.