Autonomy-restrictive socialization of anger: Associations with school-aged children's physiology, trait anxiety, state distress, and relationship closeness.

Abstract

Parental socialization that infringes on children's autonomy may have consequences for physiological regulation, trait anxiety, and state distress. One such practice is the use of positive conditional regard (CR)-the provision of extra attention/affection when children meet parents' expectations. Self-determination theory proposes that CR thwarts satisfaction of children's basic needs for relatedness and autonomy by placing these needs in conflict. We evaluate associations among children's (N=106, 51% male, Mage =10.27years, SD=1.09) reports of their mothers' use of positive CR to suppress anger expression (PCR-anger), their physiological regulation (resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA), and their trait anxiety and state distress, in light of perceived relationship closeness. After controlling demographics, mothers' reports of positive and negative CR-anger, children's reports of mothers' negative CR-anger and depressive symptoms, greater child-reported positive CR-anger was significantly associated with greater child anxiety and with lower resting RSA. Resting RSA mediated associations of child-reported positive CR-anger with greater child anxiety and post-failure distress. These indirect effects were significant for children low or moderate in closeness to mother. We conclude that autonomy-restrictive socialization is a concurrent correlate of children's physiological regulation, anxiety, and state distress, with these associations dependent on relational distance.