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Examining the Complexity of Mothers’ Real-Time Emotions Across Caregiving Contexts

Thu, March 21, 2:15 to 3:45pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 3, Room 319

Integrative Statement

Although parental emotion is an important correlate of parenting behavior and child well-being (Dix, 1991; Teti & Cole, 2011), there is a significant gap in understanding how parents’ emotions unfold in real-time. Just a few studies have assessed real-time emotions, linking them to parenting behavior (Dix et al., 2004; Lorber & Slep, 2005). The majority of extant studies focus on overall levels or retrospective accounts of parents’ emotions, which are impacted by recall biases and current mood (Schwarz, 2007; Thomas & Diener, 1990). Given that parents are responsible for regulating their children’s emotions in addition to their own (Thompson, 1994), it is likely that parents’ real-time emotions are complex, perhaps more so when caring for their children. In this study, we provide empirical support for this premise by comparing the complexity (intensity, variability, and emodiversity) of mothers’ real-time emotions during caregiving and non-caregiving occasions.

We assessed real-time emotions of 136 mothers of toddlers using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), randomly signaling mothers five times a day for 10 days. Participants rated the extent to which they were feeling nine positive (e.g., proud, joyful) and six negative (e.g., sad, frustrated) emotions at the present moment on a 5-point scale, and indicated whether or not they were with their children. Mothers (Mage=30.8, SD=5.0) were ethnically (41% Hispanic) and socioeconomically diverse (31% earned below $40,000).

All analyses used multilevel models to account for repeated observations (caregiving and non-caregiving contexts). We expected that mothers would report greater intensity, variability, and emodiversity in both positive and negative emotions during occasions when they were caring for their children compared to occasions when their children were not present. Intensity of emotion measures strength of emotion at a given point in time, variability assesses fluctuations or range of emotion intensity over a period of time, and emodiversity assesses the range or number of discrete emotions experienced.

Results demonstrated that mothers reported higher intensity in positive, but not negative, emotion when caring for their children versus not caring for their children (see Table 1). Mothers also reported greater variability and emodiveristy in both positive and negative emotions when caring for their children, although positive emodiversity fell below significance after controlling for mean positive emotion (see Table 2). In order to determine whether these effects were specific to the parent-child relationship, we conducted these analyses comparing occasions when mothers were and were not with their romantic partners. Positive emotion intensity was the only finding that followed the same pattern: Mothers reported greater intensity in positive emotion when with their romantic partners, b = 0.07, SD = 0.02, p = .005, compared to when they were not with partners. These findings suggest that mothers have more complex emotional experiences when caring for their children, and this may be specific to the parent-child relationship.

As the first study to explore the complexity of parents’ real-time emotional experiences, this work has important implications for interpreting the existing literature, and for developing interventions that enhance family well-being through improving parents’ real-time emotional experiences.

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