Gender-Specific Parental Influences on Neural Pathways of Children's Emotion Regulation

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Abstract

This study examines how maternal and paternal emotion socialization strategies influence neural mechanisms of children's emotion regulation. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), the study assessed 43 two-parent families with children averaging 5.33 years old. During emotion regulation tasks, children's neural activation was monitored using an emotional face paradigm while assessing parental coping strategies. Results revealed distinct neural pathways: mothers influence children's regulation networks through emotional validation and verbal engagement, while fathers' influence operates through behavioral modeling and situational regulation. Findings highlight the neural differentiation by parental gender and demonstrate the importance of optimizing parental emotional coping strategies for children's mental health interventions.

Authors

• Lidian Huang, University of Macau

• Yihui Wang, Shanghai Normal University

• Yihan Zhang, University of Macau

• Juan Zhang, University of Macau