Abstract
More than two decades of research have shown that parental emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) significantly predict child emotion understanding and externalizing behavior problems. This study aimed to replicate these findings in a sample of 40 Norwegian preschool children and to test whether the effect of parental ERSBs on externalizing child behavior problems was mediated through child emotion understanding. Parental report on ERSBs was obtained using the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) questionnaire. Child emotion understanding was assessed directly using the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC). The results showed that parental distress reactions and externalizing child behavior problems were significantly correlated and that parental expressive encouragement was significantly correlated with child emotion understanding. Estimation of indirect effects was conducted using process analysis and showed that parental expressive encouragement was indirectly related to externalizing child behavior problems (b=-0.17) via child emotion understanding. The results suggest that better child emotion understanding, and lower parental distress are related to lower levels of behavior problems in preschool children. These findings provide support for the Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy (PMEP) model, where the effect of parental emotion socialization on externalizing child behavior problems is mediated through emotion understanding.
Highlights
Emotion socialization denotes the processes by which children achieve emotional competence through social and emotional interactions with others (Grusec, 2011)
Parental expressive encouragement (EE) was positively correlated with child emotion understanding, indicating that parents who encouraged their children to talk about emotions had children who were better at emotion understanding
The only parental emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) subscale that was correlated with externalizing child behavior problems was the parental distress reactions (DR) subscale, with higher Distress Reactions (DR) associated with more externalizing child behavior problems
Summary
Emotion socialization denotes the processes by which children achieve emotional competence through social and emotional interactions with others (Grusec, 2011). Emotion understanding is typically described as an ability to understand one’s own and other’s emotions (Eisenberg et al, 1998), and is related to both externalizing and internalizing problems in children (Bender, Pons, Harris, Esbjørn & ReinholdtDunne, 2015; Southam-Gerow & Kendall, 2000, 2002; Trentacosta & Fine, 2010). It includes children’s labeling of emotions, an understanding of how emotions relate to intentions, desires and beliefs, and that emotions can be regulated, concealed or mixed, and affected by moral judgement (Harris, Johnson, Hutton, Andrews & Cooke, 1989; Pons, Harris & de Rosnay, 2004). Current research findings on the relationship between parental ERSBs, emotion understanding, and externalizing child behavior problems are presented, and study aims are specified
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