Maternal Acceptance of Children’s Negative Emotions Among Spanish-Speaking Latinas Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant social concern, with high prevalence rates among Latinas and resulting serious negative outcomes, including parenting difficulties. Parenting following exposure to IPV is paramount as IPV can be frightening to children as well as disruptive to their development of emotional and self-regulation abilities. In fact, prior research has found that parents who are accepting of the expression of negative emotion in children may be able to protect them against some of the harmful effects of IPV. However, little is known about the way in which IPV-exposed Latina mothers approach their children’s negative emotions. The aim of this study was to examine factors associated with maternal acceptance of children’s negative emotions in IPV-exposed Spanish-speaking Latinas. This study examined predictors of Latinas’ acceptance of their children’s negative emotion, including the amount of IPV experienced, depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and demographic factors. Results revealed that depressive symptoms were associated with lower levels of maternal emotion acceptance while maternal employment and domestic violence shelter use were associated with greater maternal acceptance of children’s negative emotions. Finding suggest that there are potentially modifiable factors that may be associated with levels of acceptance of child negative emotions among Spanish-speaking Latinas who have experienced IPV. The limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.