Individual differences in the regulatory processes involved in managing difficult interpersonal interactions were investigated. Interpersonal systems that easily escalate to produce coercive or violent encounters in adult-child relationships were of particular interest. Adults who were predisposed to view adult-child interactions as containing threat were studied. The study, in which 160 mothers participated, involved a computer maze game and computer-simulated child behavior. Autonomic, cognitive, and behavioral measures were compared. Findings suggest that threat-oriented adults have an exaggerated response to potentially challenging encounters with children and may easily generate the hypothesis that interactions with children may be difficult. Because they assume a defensive response, threat-oriented adults are less able to shape their responses in a flexible fashion to the actual characteristics of a particular child. Contains 11 references. (LB)