Parents’ Difficulties with Emotion Regulation: The Role of Childhood Versus Adulthood Adversity and Subjective Appraisals

• In Event: 3-061 - The Intergenerational Reach of Childhood Adversity: Exploring Transmission Mechanisms in Developmental and Ecological Contexts

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Recent research on the intergenerational continuity of maltreatment and adversity has begun to explore parents’ difficulties with emotion regulation as a key mechanism (Crandall et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2014). Specifically, childhood adversity may lead to difficulties with emotion regulation in adulthood, and emotion regulation may impact parents’ abilities to provide safe and stable homes for their children (Crandall et al., 2015). However, there is still much to be understood about the development of parents’ difficulties with emotion regulation. To better understand the source of emotion regulation difficulties, the present study examined the relative contributions of childhood adversity and adulthood adversity to parents’ emotion regulation. Based on prior research, we predicted that childhood adversity would account for the most variance in difficulties with emotion regulation (Calkins & Perry, 2016). Parents’ subjective interpretations of adversity was also examined as a potential contributor to difficulties with emotion regulation, given theory suggesting that appraisals (e.g., self-blame and negative emotions surrounding events) impact the intensity of emotions and influence the ability to regulate (Troy et al., 2010).

Methods: Participants included 56 parents of children between the ages of 3 - 5, participating in an ongoing longitudinal research study (data collection ongoing). Participants were recruited from families who received family-centered services from the Missouri Department of Family Services or who were enrolled in community service programs. Of the participants, 91.1% were mothers. In terms of race/ethnicity, 87.5% of participants identified as Black/African American. The majority of the sample (64.3%) reported an annual family income of $20,000 or less. A survey was used to assess the frequency of parental adverse experiences in childhood and since turning 18. Emotion regulation difficulties were measured using the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). Parents’ appraisals were assessed using a measure created for the larger study, consisting of negative emotionality and self-blame subscales.

Results: Bivariate correlations showed that childhood and adulthood adversity were not significantly correlated with parent’s self-reported difficulties with emotion regulation. However, experiencing more childhood adversity was significant correlated with experiencing more adversity in adulthood (r = .43). Greater negative emotionality when thinking about adversity and greater feelings of self-blame were significantly associated with more emotion regulation difficulties for parents (r = .38, r = .48, respectively). The results of a regression analysis (Table 1), showed that only adulthood adversity and self-blame appraisals predicted difficulties with emotion regulation; childhood adversity did not significantly predict difficulties with emotion regulation.

Conclusion: Results of the present study were inconsistent with predictions, but offer important insight into the contexts in which parents develop difficulties with emotion regulation. Notably, in some contexts, adulthood adversity may contribute more than childhood adversity to parents’ current difficulties with emotion regulation. Furthermore, the robust association between parents’ general level of self-blame for adverse events and difficulties with emotion regulation suggests an important target for intervention.

Authors

• Stephanie Kaye Gusler, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author

• Yo Jackson, Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author