Abstract
In this study we tested whether the relation between fathers’ and mothers’ psychopathology symptoms and child social-emotional development was mediated by parents’ use of emotion talk about negative emotions in a sample of 241 two-parent families. Parents’ internalizing and externalizing problems were measured with the Adult Self Report and parental emotion talk was observed while they discussed a picture book with their children (child age: 3 years). Children’s parent-reported internalizing and externalizing problems and observed prosocial behaviors were assessed at the age of 3 years and again 12 months later. We found that mothers’ use of emotion talk partially mediated the positive association between fathers’ internalizing problems and child internalizing problems. Fathers’ internalizing problems predicted more elaborative mother–child discussions about negative emotions, which in turn predicted more internalizing problems in children a year later. Mothers’ externalizing problems directly predicted more internalizing and externalizing problems in children. These findings emphasize the importance of examining the consequences of parental psychological difficulties for child development from a family-wide perspective.
Highlights
Children who grow up in families characterized by parental psychological difficulties are at increased risk for developing social-emotional behavior problems, even when these difficulties are in the subclinical range (Cummings et al 2005; Papp et al 2004; Weitzman et al 2011, see for meta-analytic evidence Connell and Goodman 2002)
Parents’ internalizing and externalizing problems were measured with the Adult Self Report and parental emotion talk was observed while they discussed a picture book with their children
The current paper focuses on the associations between fathers’ and mothers’ psychopathology symptoms, the degree to which they talk about negative emotions during parent–child discussion of a picture book, and the social-emotional development of preschoolers (51 % boys)
Summary
Children who grow up in families characterized by parental psychological difficulties are at increased risk for developing social-emotional behavior problems, even when these difficulties are in the subclinical range (Cummings et al 2005; Papp et al 2004; Weitzman et al 2011, see for meta-analytic evidence Connell and Goodman 2002). One of the key mechanisms through which parental symptomatology affects child social-emotional development is maladaptive parenting (Goodman and Godlib 1999). Studies have found that parents with psychological difficulties show less optimal emotion socialization practices such as low sensitive responsiveness to negative child emotions (e.g., Dix et al 2004). In turn, plays a central role in several domains of child social-emotional development (Eisenberg et al 1998). The indirect effect of parental psychopathology symptoms on child social-emotional development via parents’ emotion socialization behaviors has rarely been studied. To date most studies fail to assume a whole-family perspective, including both parents’ psychological wellbeing as well as their parenting styles
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