Parent psychopathology, parenting-specific emotion regulation, parents’ unsupportive reactions to children’s emotions, and child psychopathology: A mediated mediation model

• In Event: Diverse Mechanisms in the Development of Internalized Distress and Self-Harm

Abstract

Parent depressive symptoms are associated with less supportive parenting behaviors and greater negative responses to children’s behaviors, even in non-clinical samples (Dix et al., 2004). Emotion regulation (ER) has been found to mediate associations between parent and child psychopathology (Suveg et al., 2011). Parents’ unsupportive emotion socialization practices have also been shown to mediate associations parent and child psychopathology and ER (Shaffer et al., 2012). However, these studies have been conducted in small samples of mothers and require greater specificity in conceptualizing parent emotion regulation (Bariola et al., 2011). Using a novel, more specific measure of ER in the parenting context, the Regulating Emotions in Parenting Scale (REPS; Rodriguez & Shaffer, 2020), this study examined whether ER strategies in the parenting context and unsupportive parental behaviors mediated the association between parent depressive symptoms and child psychopathology in a sample of mothers and fathers. Parents (N = 662) were 61% women (Mage = 36.81, SDage = 9.27) recruited from Amazon Mturk to enhance the participation of fathers. Parents completed measures of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), ER strategies in interactions with children (REPS [subscales: adaptive ER strategies, suppression, rumination]), parents’ unsupportive emotion socialization practices (Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale [CCNES]), and a total score of child psychopathology (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) via Qualtrics. Using a path analysis, ER strategies (self-awareness, suppression, and rumination) and parents’ unsupportive reactions to children’s emotions were examined as mediators of the association between parents’ symptoms of depression and child psychopathology. Model results are presented in Figure 1. Individual paths were all significant at p < .05. The total indirect effect from parents’ symptoms of depression to child psychopathology was statistically significant (p < .001). All three specific indirect effects for parenting context-specific ER strategies (self-awareness, suppression, and rumination) and parents’ unsupportive reactions to children’s emotions as mediators of parents’ symptoms of depression to child psychopathology were statistically significant (p = .017, p < .001, and p < .001, respectively). The magnitude of effects between ER strategies and parents’ unsupportive reactions to children’s emotions was greater for suppression (β = 0.61), followed by rumination (β = 0.19), and was non-significant for adaptive strategies. These findings show that depressive symptoms were associated with ER-specific strategies, but only maladaptive ER strategies (e.g., suppression, rumination) were in turn associated with unsupportive parental reactions to children’s emotions. Unsupportive responses were then associated with child psychopathology. This study extends previous studies by replicating findings in a sample of mothers and fathers, and using a novel, multidimensional measure of ER in the parenting context, which offers greater specificity in understanding parent ER. Suppressing emotions in interactions with their children, for instance, may be particularly draining for parents, which may result in negative emotion socialization practices. The present study contributes to accumulating evidence of potential mechanisms influencing the association between parent and child psychopathology.

Authors

• Violeta J Rodriguez, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Dominique Luisa La Barrie, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Miriam Zegarac, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anne E Shaffer, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author