The Moderating Role of Poverty on Parenting, Family Climate, and Early Adolescent Emotion Regulation

Abstract

Among infants and children, family climate (e.g., warmth, cohesion, support) and parent emotion regulation (ER) modeling are found to shape ER development. Few studies have attended to this process during early adolescence, and most have neglected to examine the role of poverty, which creates additional challenges for parents and families. The current study examined the relationship between parent ER strategy use, family climate, and participation in a family intervention on adolescent ER and the moderating role of poverty among early adolescent males ( N = 119; 23% Latino; 55% White). After controlling for baseline adolescent ER difficulties and socio-cultural factors, analyses revealed that poverty moderated the relationship between family emotional climate and adolescent ER. Among early adolescent males, findings suggest that a positive family climate, among those not living in poverty, is key to facilitating adolescent emotion regulation abilities. This relationship warrants further evaluation among adolescent males living in poverty.