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

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Parental emotion socialization refers to how parents teach children about the experience, expression, and regulation of emotion (Eisenberg et al., 2001). Despite the vibrant body of research on the topic, most work in this field has been conducted with European American families. As a result, methods of emotion socialization have been conceptualized based on interactions within European American families and neglected the unique ways that racial/ethnic minority parents socialize children’s emotions. The papers in this symposium address this gap by centralizing minority families, aiming toward a more inclusive developmental science in the field of emotion socialization.

Presentation 1 examines themes in Latina mothers’ use of consejos (common proverbs or advice), including gender, inspiration, and caution, in relation to mothers’ beliefs about emotion and supportive emotion socialization behaviors. Expanding Eisenberg et al.’s (1998a; 1998b) heuristic model, Presentation 2 examines African American parents’ racialized beliefs about emotion and racialized emotion socialization behaviors. Presentation 3 examines the moderating role of Chinese-immigrant mothers’ cultural values and parenting style in the bidirectional associations of mothers’ observed use of emotion coaching, emotion dismissing, moral socialization, and children’s expressed negative emotions.

Together, these papers demonstrate the importance of centralizing racial/ethnic minority families in the study of emotion socialization, introduce innovative methods and measures, and highlight the unique ways that racial/ethnic minority parents may socialize children’s emotions. A prominent researcher in the study of racial/ethnic minority development will discuss the overarching themes of the papers and directions for future research.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chair

• Erika Hernandez, Virginia Tech

Discussant

• Deborah Rivas-Drake, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• Latina mothers’ consejos and ethnic identity: Links with emotion socialization beliefs and behaviors - Presenting Author: Erika Hernandez, Virginia Tech; Non-Presenting Author: Marie Belle Perez Rivera, Virginia Tech; Non-Presenting Author: Linda Citlali Halgunseth, UConn; Non-Presenting Author: Julie Dunsmore, Virginia Tech

• Racialized emotion socialization: An investigation among African American families - Presenting Author: Fantasy Lozada, Virginia Commonwealth University; Non-Presenting Author: Tennisha N Riley, Indiana University

• Context moderates bidirectional links between Chinese-immigrant mothers’ emotion socialization and children’s negative emotion - Presenting Author: Kathy Vu, UMBC Department of Psychology; Non-Presenting Author: Charissa S. L. Cheah, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Non-Presenting Author: Amy Halberstadt, North Carolina State University