The role of maternal emotion regulation in overreactive and lax discipline.

Abstract

The roles of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as intentional methods mothers use to regulate their own emotion were investigated in relation to mothers' experience and expression of negative emotion and their overreactive and lax discipline practices. Eighty-two mothers of toddlers completed questionnaires that measured these constructs. Emotion regulation strategies were more consistently associated with overreactive than with lax discipline. More suppression in discipline encounters was associated with less overreactivity, an association partially mediated by expressed negative emotion. Reappraisal, both globally and in the context of discipline encounters, was inversely associated with overreactive discipline. The association of global reappraisal and overreactivity was mediated in parallel by experienced and expressed negative emotion. Surprisingly, global reappraisal, relative to reappraisal in discipline encounters, appears to have more consistent implications for mothers' emotion and parenting practices in discipline encounters. A reconceptualization of the nature of reappraisal in discipline encounters is suggested. The study is the first to systematically apply methods and concepts from the better-developed basic research literature on adults' emotion regulation to the domain of parenting.