Latina mothers’ consejos and ethnic identity: Links with emotion socialization beliefs and behaviors

• In Event: 1-006 - Race, ethnicity, and emotion socialization: Findings from Latino, African American, and Chinese-immigrant families

Integrative Statement

Prior emotion socialization research has neglected the unique ways that Latino parents socialize children’s emotions, such as the use of consejos. Throughout Latino culture, consejos (common proverbs/advice) are used by parents to socialize future generations into their culture and to strengthen family relationships (Espinoza Herold, 2007; Hershberg, 2018, Valdés, 1996). Despite their prominence, no prior studies to our knowledge have examined the use of consejos in relation to emotion socialization (ES) with Latino parents. This is a notable gap, given the role of culture and race/ethnicity in models of development (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Garcia Coll et al., 1996) and specifically emotion socialization (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998), which is key for children’s development of socio-emotional competence. In the current study, we address this gap by examining Latina mothers’ use of consejos in relation to ES beliefs and behaviors, while also considering ethnic identity.

Participants were 40 Latina mothers (M= 36 years, SD= 5.13) of daughters aged 4-12 years (M= 7 years, SD= 2.40). Almost all (n= 39) mothers were born outside of the United States. Mothers completed the following questionnaires: (a) the beta version of the Parents’ Beliefs about Children’s Emotions questionnaire (PBACE; Halberstadt, et al., 2008; Perez-Rivera, 2010); (b) the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure 2 (MEIM-2; Phinney, 1992); and (c) the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES; Fabes, Eisenberg, & Bernzweig, 1990). Last, mothers participated in a 15-minute interview regarding their experience with consejos. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed for later coding, which took place in two phases. In the initial, qualitative phase, three authors identified themes (i.e., caution, gender-related, inspirational) that were used for the second, quantitative phase of coding. Transcripts were then coded by three independent coders for presence/absence of each of the identified themes. Coders achieved satisfactory reliability (Kappa > .67 for all themes).

Logistic regressions were used to examine whether themes identified in mothers’ consejos were related to mothers’ ethnic identity, given the history of consejos in Latino culture (e.g., Valdés, 1996). Mothers with higher ethnic identity scores were less likely to include gender-related themes, odds ratio= .289, Χ2(1, N= 40)= 3.85, p= .050. Multivariate regressions were used to examine links between consejos themes and mothers’ ES beliefs and behaviors. Mothers who included inspirational themes reported a stronger belief that negative emotions are valuable and were less likely to believe that emotions are dangerous (Wilks’ lambda= .736, F(1, 36)= 12.74, p= .001). Mothers who expressed caution were less likely to believe that parents need to guide children’s emotions and held a stronger belief that children can manage their own emotions (Wilks’ lambda= .867, F(1, 36)= 5.35, p= .027). Regarding ES behaviors, mothers who included gender-related themes reported greater use of expressive encouragement and less use of emotion-focused and problem-focused behaviors (Wilks’ lambda= .836, F(1, 35)= 6.88, p= .013). Taken together, themes that emerged when discussing consejos were linked with Latina mothers’ ES beliefs and behaviors, suggesting their impact on Latina girls’ developing social competence.

Authors

• Erika Hernandez, Virginia Tech
  Presenting Author

• Marie Belle Perez Rivera, Virginia Tech
  Non-Presenting Author

• Linda Citlali Halgunseth, UConn
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julie Dunsmore, Virginia Tech
  Non-Presenting Author