Explanatory Emotion Talk in Mexican Immigrant and Mexican American Families

Abstract

This study investigated emotion conversations in 48 Mexican-descent families, focusing on their use of emotion labels and explanations during a videotaped storytelling task. Emotion conversations were examined for patterns related to mothers’ intracultural group (Mexican immigrant, Mexican American) and preschool-age children’s gender. Results indicated that Mexican immigrant mothers used more explanations than labels, whereas Mexican American mothers used comparable amounts of both. Children in both groups used equal amounts of labels and explanations. Mothers’ emotion talk did not show gender patterns, but, in the Mexican American group, girls discussed emotion more than boys did. The data reported here contrast with previous studies reporting low frequency of explanations in Mexican-descent mother-child interactions, diverge from prior findings in European American families, and suggest that gender patterns in emotion talk vary both across and within cultural groups. The results on Mexican-descent families are discussed regarding notions of family closeness, respect, and giving children nurturing advice.