Parental Meta-emotion Philosophy Research Articles

Mothers’ perceptions of children’s emotional behaviour problems and parenting sense of competence: The mediating role of maternal meta-emotion philosophy

We investigated the relationship between mothers’ perceptions of their children’s emotional behaviour problems and their parenting sense of competence, as well as the mediating effect of maternal meta-emotion philosophy in this connection. Participants were 349 mothers of 4- to 17-year-old children (female children = 40.7%, mean age = 8.24 years, SD = 2.95 years). The mothers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy Scale, and the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. Structural equation modelling and simple mediation analyses results showed that mothers’ perceptions of their children’s problem behaviours were linked to higher emotion dimissing and lower parenting sense of competence. Specifically, emotion dimissing mediated the relationship between children’s problem behaviours and parenting sense of competence by the mothers. Furthermore, mothers’ perceptions of their children’s prosocial behaviours were associated with both higher emotion coaching and parenting sense of competence. Emotion coaching mediated the relationship between children’s prosocial behaviours and parenting sense of competence for higher sense of competence by the mothers. Our findings suggest that mothers’ perceptions of children’s emotional behaviour problems may explain their parenting sense of competence through their parenting philosophy. By prioritising their maternal meta-emotion philosophy when dealing with their children’s emotional behaviour problems, mothers can enhance their parenting sense of competence.

Validation of an adolescent version of the Parental Metaemotion Philosophy Scale.

Validation of an adolescent version of the Parental Metaemotion Philosophy Scale.

Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy: A Review of the Past Decade of Research

Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy: A Review of the Past Decade of Research

What really matters? Comparing parents’ and adolescents’ perceptions of parental meta-emotion philosophy as predictors of adolescents’ positive mental health

What really matters? Comparing parents’ and adolescents’ perceptions of parental meta-emotion philosophy as predictors of adolescents’ positive mental health

The Influence of Parents on Emotion Regulation in Middle Childhood: A Systematic Review.

Emotion regulation (ER) has been identified as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology, making it an ideal target for prevention and treatment. This study explores how parents can nurture the development of child ER. In April 2022, a systematic review was executed focusing on malleable factors in the parental emotion-socialization process during middle childhood. Papers in PubMed, Web of Science and Medline were screened on content-related and methodological criteria. Their methodological quality was assessed. Knowledge was assembled using a summarizing framework encompassing four factors involved in emotion socialization. Fifty papers shed light on modifiable factors at the level of parental meta-emotion philosophy, emotion-related socialization behaviors, the ER skills of parents and the emotional climate of the family. Adaptive socialization appears to be context- and child-specific, thereby taxing parents’ ER skills and their ability to put them into practice flexibly. The four changeable factors in the emotion-socialization process are highly intertwined, resulting in four possible entries for parent-directed interventions. Importantly, time should be devoted to the ER capacities of parents and their ability to attune to the situation and their child. Regarding the latter, replication studies are necessary. Recommendations for clinical interventions are provided.

The Relationships Among Maternal Meta-emotion Philosophy, Maternal Video-Mediated Cognitions, and Adolescent Behavior Adjustment in Taiwan.

This study examines the relationships among maternal meta-emotion philosophy, maternal video-mediated cognitions, and adolescent behavior adjustment. We adopt video-mediated recall methods to obtain mothers' perceptions of their interaction with their children. In total, 121 pairs of mothers (age, M = 42.55) and their adolescent children (age, M = 12.34) were videotaped for 10min while discussing daily issues. The mothers reviewed the tape (30 episodes) and rated their own behaviors and the counterparts' behaviors on 8 cognitive or affective dimensions. The mothers also completed a parental meta-emotion philosophy inventory, and the adolescents completed the Youth Self-Report. The results indicate that maternal emotional dysfunction has a positive effect on adolescents' externalizing problem behaviors through mothers' perceptions of conflictual interaction. These findings highlight the importance of considering maternal meta-emotion philosophy in the mother-adolescent interaction process and understanding adolescent problem behaviors.

Parental Emotion Coaching Moderates the Effects of Family Stress on Internalizing Symptoms in Middle Childhood and Adolescence.

The present study examined the moderating effects of parental meta-emotion philosophy on the relation between family stress and youth internalizing symptoms. A two-study approach was applied to explore these relations in socioeconomically diverse samples with respect to a self-reported parental emotion coaching (EC) and parental emotion dismissing (ED) meta-emotion philosophy in Study 1 (N = 153; youth ages 10-17 years; 52% female; 49% White, 26% multiracial, 17% African American, 6% Asian American, 1% Latinx, and 1% American Indian) and observed parental EC and ED behaviors in whole-family interactions in Study 2 (N = 82; youth ages 8-11.75 years; 52% female; 57% White, 22% African American, 19% multiracial, and 2% Asian). Across both studies, EC was a buffer such that positive associations between family stress and youth internalizing symptoms were only present when parental EC philosophy or EC behaviors were lower. Additionally, in Study 1, more EC was protective: the relation between family stress and youth internalizing symptoms was negative when parental EC philosophy was higher. Findings suggest parental EC buffers youth internalizing symptoms from the detrimental effects of family stress. Therefore, the inclusion of family-level risk processes and the effects of both parental beliefs and observed parenting behaviors can inform research on youth psychosocial adjustment.

Pathways to behavior problems in Norwegian kindergarten children: The role of parent emotion socialization and child emotion understanding.

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.

Attachment, Parental Meta-Emotion, and Emotion Regulation in Adoptive Mother–Child Dyads

Adopted children are at risk for a number of unfavorable environmental factors and thus have an increased likelihood of developing social, emotional, cognitive, and attachment issues that can stunt the child’s ability to build intimate relationships and regulate emotion. These potential issues may make it difficult for adoptive parents to emotionally connect with their adopted child. Through the theories of parental meta-emotion philosophy (PMEP) and attachment, the researchers explored how adoptive mothers’ level of emotion coaching (the ideal PMEP) and their attachment impacted the adoptive child’s ability to emotionally regulate. Findings indicated that emotion coaching is an effective method of aiding adopted children’s ability to emotionally regulate. The researchers also found that adoptive mothers struggling with attachment may still be able to learn emotion coaching and positively impact her adopted child’s emotion regulation development.

The perspective of emotional parenting: Relation between parental meta-emotion philosophy and children's psychosocial adjustment

The perspective of emotional parenting: Relation between parental meta-emotion philosophy and children's psychosocial adjustment

Temperament, Gender, and Cultural Differences in Maternal Emotion Socialization of Anxiety, Somatization, and Anger

Individual differences exist in emotional experiences, and cultural context is believed to play an important role in emotion socialization. How parental meta-emotion philosophy (MEP) is related to children’s anxiety, somatization, and anger was examined cross-culturally. Cultural group and child’s gender as moderators to parental MEP and emotional outcomes were also examined. Adolescents (9–13 years, M age = 11.8) and mothers from three groups [Caucasians (n = 40), Indian Americans in U.S.A. (n = 32), Indians (n = 64)] completed measures on temperament [negative affect (NA) and effortful control (EC)], MEP (emotion coaching and emotion dismissing), and emotional outcomes (anxiety, somatic complaints, and anger). Data were analyzed using t tests, ANOVA, and multiple regressions. NA was positively associated with emotional outcomes. EC was not significantly related to emotional outcomes. Children with low EC reported fewer somatic complaints and less anger when mothers used emotion coaching. Emotion dismissing was positively associated with anxiety. Maternal emotion coaching was found to be a buffer for somatization in children with high NA. Indian children were significantly more anxious, and higher on NA than their counterparts. Indian mothers engaged in more emotion dismissing and less emotion coaching compared to the other groups. Implications for parenting and intervention are discussed.

Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy and Emotion Coaching in Families of Children and Adolescents with an Anxiety Disorder

Using a multi-method approach, this study examined differences in parental meta-emotional philosophy (including, parental emotional awareness and emotion coaching) for families with anxiety disordered (AD; n = 74) and non-AD (n = 35) children (aged 7 to 15). Further, it was investigated whether children’s emotion regulation (ER) varied across the AD and non-AD groups. Parent(s) were interviewed about their awareness of emotions and emotion coaching; completed a battery of questionnaires that included a measure assessing children’s emotion regulation; and engaged in a parent-child discussion task. Results indicated that compared to parents of non-AD youth, parents of AD youth were less aware of their own emotions and their children’s emotions, and these results varied by emotion type. Parents of AD youth engaged in significantly less emotion coaching than parents of non-AD youth. AD youth were identified as having significantly greater difficulty regulating their emotions when compared to non-AD youth. Implications for the role of parental meta-emotional philosophy and AD youth’s emotion regulation are discussed.

The Influence of Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy on Children’s Social Competence：The Mediating Effect of Children’s Emotion Regulation

This study created a structural model of the influence of paternal and maternal meta-emotion philosophy and children’s emotion regulation in terms of their social competence and confirmed the nature of the relationship among the variables. For the purpose of this study, data was collected, targeting 363 children in the 5th and 6th elementary school grades from schools located in Seoul. The main results of this study were as follows:First, both paternal and maternal meta-emotion philosophy had an influence on children’s emotion regulation and emotion dysregulation. Next, paternal and maternal meta-emotion philosophy did not appear to have a significant influence on children’s social competence in a direct manner. The complete mediation effect of emotion regulation in regards to the influence of paternal and maternal meta-emotion philosophy upon children’s social competence was confirmed. It was also found that parental meta-emotion philosophy had an influence upon children’s social competence in an indirect manner through children’s emotion regulation in the period of middle childhood. 색인어: ìƒìœ„ì •ì„œì² í•™, ì •ì„œì¡°ì ˆëŠ¥ë ¥, ì‚¬íšŒì  ìœ ëŠ¥ì„±, í•™ë ¹ê¸° 아동 Keywords: meta-emotion philosophy, emotion regulation, social competence, middle childhood

Parental Meta‐Emotion Philosophy: A Review of Research and Theoretical Framework

AbstractThe concept of parental meta‐emotion philosophy (PMEP)—the idea that parents have an organized set of beliefs, thoughts, and feelings about their own and their children's emotions—was introduced in 1996. Since then, empirical studies have examined the validity of the PMEP construct in relation to children's psychosocial adjustment and parent and child characteristics. This article reviews the current state of knowledge regarding PMEP, summarizing what the field has learned, and identifying critical directions for future research.

Relations among Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy, Parental Emotion Expressivity, and Children’s Social Competence

Parental meta-emotion philosophy refers to parents' feelings and behaviors toward their own and their children's emotions. It reflects parental beliefs about emotion socialization. Research has indicated that maternal positive meta-emotion philosophy (e.g. emotion coaching) is associated with children's emotional competence, social competence and that maternal negative meta-emotion philosophy (etc. emotion dismissing) is related with children's behavior problem. However, little research has been conducted on paternal meta-emotion philosophy. Moreover, there is inadequate research on parental emotion noninvolvement and emotion dysfunction. It has been suggested that children's competence may be a mediator of the relations between parental emotion socialization belief or goal and children's social outcomes. It is also reasonable to argue that parents' beliefs or goals about emotion may also affect their own emotion-related behavior and emotion expressivity. As such, parental emotion expressivity may play a mediated role in relations between parental emotion-related beliefs and children's social competence. The current study explored relations among parental meta-emotion philosophy, emotion expressivity, and children's social competence. We hypothesized that parental emotion expressivity would mediate the relations between parental meta-emotion philosophy and children's social competence. Three hundred and forty one children aged 3-5 years and their parents participated in the study. Child social competence was assessed using the Early School Behavior Rating Scale reported by mothers. Fathers and mothers reported their own emotion expressivity using the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire and meta-emotion philosophy using the Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy Scale. Multiple regression analyses and path analyses revealed the following results. First, paternal emotion coaching philosophy was positively associated with children's social competence, and paternal emotion dysfunction philosophy was negatively associated with children's social competence. Paternal positive expressivity was positively associated with children's social competence whereas paternal negative emotional expressivity was negatively associated with children's social competence. Paternal positive and negative emotion expressivity mediated relations between paternal emotion coaching and children's social competence. In addition, paternal negative emotion expressivity mediated relations between paternal emotion dysfunction and children's social competence. Second, maternal emotion coaching philosophy was positively associated with children's social competence, and maternal emotion dysfunctional philosophy was negatively associated with children's social competence. Further, maternal positive emotional expressivity was positively associated with children's social competence, but negative emotional expressivity was not associated with children's social competence. The relation between maternal emotion coaching and children's social competence was mediated by maternal emotion expressivity. These results indicated that parental emotion-related beliefs or goals not only were directly associated with children's social competence, but also had indirect effects on children's social competence through emotion-related reflection and behavior.

Emotions Matter: Making the Case for the Role of Young Children's Emotional Development for Early School Readiness

This Social Policy Report considers the importance of young children’s emotional development for their school readiness, suggesting that social scientists can provide policy makers with concrete ways to conceptualize, measure and target young children’s emotional adjustment in early educational and child care settings. This Report then reviews a recent and persuasive body of rigorous research, to determine whether children’s emotional adjustment can be significantly affected by interventions implemented in the preschool and early school years. Results of this review suggest that family early educational, and clinical interventions offer policy makers a wide array of choices in ways that they can make sound investments in young children’s emotional development and school readiness. This research suggests that, while young children’s emotional and behavioral problems are costly to their chances of school success, these problems are identifiable early, are amenable to change, and can be reduced over time. What kinds of investments should policy makers be advised to make, at what point in young children’s development, and in what settings? While modest investments in low-cost interventions initially may seem appealing, this report suggests that there are few bargains to be had when investing in young children’s emotional adjustment. With this caveat in mind, the findings of this report suggest that policy makers should broaden early elementary educational mandates for school readiness to include children’s emotional and behavioral adjustments as key programmatic goals. Policy makers should consider targeting young children’s emotional adjustment prior to school entry, in diverse settings such as Head Start, child care settings, as well as in the first few years of school. Finally, young children’s emotional adjustment can serve as an important benchmark of programmatic success in other policy arenas focusing on child welfare, family support, and economic self-sufficiency, as well as in education.

The Trouble With Assumptions

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Parental meta-emotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data.

This article introduces the concepts of parental meta-emotion, which refers to parents' emotions about their own and their children's emotions, and meta-emotion philosophy, which refers to an organized set of thoughts and metaphors, a philosophy, and an approach to one's own emotions and to one's children's emotions. In the context of a longitudinal study beginning when the children were 5 years old and ending when they were 8 years old, a theoretical model and path analytic models are presented that relate parental meta-emotion philosophy to parenting, to child regulatory physiology, to emotion regulation abilities in the child, and to child outcomes in middle childhood. The importance of parenting practices for children's long-term psychological adjustment has been a central tenet in developmental and family psychology. In this article, we introduce a new concept of parenting that we call parental meta-emotion philosophy, which refers to an organized set of feelings and thoughts about one's own emotions and one's children's emotions. We use the term meta-emotion broadly to encompass both feelings and thoughts about emotion, rather than in the more narrow sense of one's feelings about feelings (e.g., feeling guilty about being angry). The notion we have in mind parallels metacognition, which refers to the executive functions of cognition (Allen & Armour, 1993; Bvinelli, 1993; Flavell, 1979; Fodor, 1992; Olson & Astington, 1993). In an analogous manner, meta-emotion philosophy

Parental meta-emotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data.

Parental meta-emotion philosophy and the emotional life of families: Theoretical models and preliminary data.

Meta-emotion philosophy and family functioning: Reply to Cowan (1996) and Eisenberg (1996).

P. A. Cowan's (1996) and N. Eisenberg's (1996) comments (a) raise important questions about the conceptualization and measurement of parental meta-emotion philosophy and child affect regulation, (b) highlight individual characteristics of the child that may affect parental meta-emotion philosophy, and (c) suggest directions for future research. This reply uses qualitative descriptions from meta-emotion transcripts and additional quantitative analyses to address major issues raised by these comments.