Parents’ emotion socialization beliefs over the first four months of children’s cancer treatment: a pilot longitudinal study

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this pilot study, we longitudinally investigated parents’ coaching and dismissing emotion socialization (ES) belief changes over the first four months of children’s cancer treatment. Children were 1–18 years old, M(SD) = 7.66(5.26), at enrollment. We also investigated whether parents’ negative emotion intensity or reactivity moderated changes. We collected data at chemotherapy commencement, one month later, and four months later. We used hierarchical linear models to investigate study aims. Parents reported decreased emotion coaching beliefs over time but did not change their emotion dismissing beliefs. Parents’ perceptions of their own emotional intensity and reactivity were unrelated to ES beliefs or ES belief changes. These findings could inform future intervention efforts to decrease children’s adjustment difficulties and/or promote resilience during pediatric cancer treatment. Our findings also shed light on mechanisms of ES belief change because the intensity and reactivity of parents’ own negative emotions did not explain significant variance in their beliefs about their child’s ability to manage emotions during early cancer treatment.