Maternal and paternal emotional contributions to children's distress tolerance: Relations to child depressive symptoms

Abstract

In recent years, empirical studies have shown that the inability to tolerate distress is associated with a wide range of negative outcomes including eating addiction, drug abuse, alcohol use, and antisocial behavior in adults. However, few studies have examined family correlates of this ability in children. Also, past literature on child emotional competencies has mainly focused on documenting the linkages between mother and child and has neglected the role of fathers.Children (N = 54, M age = 10.15 years, SD = 1.02; 55.6% males) and their parents participated. Parents reported on their emotion regulation strategies and children reported on their depressive symptoms. Distress tolerance (DT) was assessed using the computerized distress tolerance task, the Behavioral Indicator of Resiliency to Distress. Children who were able to complete the BIRD had lower levels of depression. Analyses examining relations among father and mother emotion regulation and children's DT showed children's DT is more closely related to their mothers’ than fathers’ emotion regulation styles. These findings suggest that DT is an important construct in understanding children's psychopathology, but also that maternal emotion regulation is associated with children's distress tolerance.