Young Puerto Rican Mothers’ Cultural Orientation and Parenting Behaviors: Associations with Subsequent Child Emotion Dysregulation

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Objective. Children of Latinx adolescent mothers are at risk for regulatory difficulties. However, a paucity of research has examined parenting behaviors and children’s early emotional development in such families. Design. Longitudinal associations between observed parenting behaviors (sensitivity, directiveness, child-directed language) at 18 months and children’s emotion dysregulation at 18 and 24 months were tested among young mainland Puerto Rican mothers (N = 123) and their toddlers. Given the cultural variability present in Latinx families, whether mothers’ cultural orientation moderated these associations was also tested. Results. Maternal sensitivity predicted less child emotion dysregulation at 24 months at all levels of cultural orientation. Directiveness was unrelated to dysregulation. Child-directed language predicted lower dysregulation only when mothers endorsed lower levels of American cultural orientation. Conclusions. It is important to consider families’ cultural context when identifying maternal behaviors that are most beneficial to child development.