Emotion regulation development in early childhood is a foundation for later emotional and behavioural outcomes, parenting plays a crucial role in this development. Harsh parenting styles have a negative impact on children's emotional regulation, however, there is not clear evidence for the bidirectional effects between them. This study aims to use United Kingdom (UK) Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) longitudinal data, which includes 10,041 children aged 3, 5 and 7 years old to explore the bidirectional relationship between harsh parenting style and children's emotional regulation. The study used random intercept cross-lagged panel modelling (RI-CLPM), which allows for the examination of inter-individual differences over time while controlling for intra-individual differences. We found that there is a strong relationship between harsh parenting and emotional dysregulation in both directions. Specifically, harsh parenting at age 3 may increase children's emotional dysregulation at age 5, and emotional dysregulation at age 3 increases harsh parenting at age 5. In addition, emotional dysregulation at age 5 may lead to harsher parenting at age 7. Moreover, harsh parenting styles were significantly related to children's emotion regulation problems across all ages. These results emphasized the bidirectional role between harsh parenting styles and children's emotional regulation and highlighted the need for early intervention programs to promote positive parenting styles and healthy emotional development. 

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