The Combined Influence of Positive and Negative Parenting Predicts Emotion Regulation in Preschool Children

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the combined influence of positive and negative parenting on children’s emotion regulation in preschool children. Emotion regulation is defined as the process by which individuals “initiate, maintain, and modulate the occurrence, intensity, and expression of emotions” (Morris et al. 2007, p.363). The process includes both internal (neurobiological and cognitive capacities) and external factors. However, because preschool children’s internal abilities are less well developed, the external factors (e.g., parents) are particularly critical for the effective management of emotions (Morris, Criss, Silk & Houltberg, 2017).
Previous research has indicated that positive parenting can promote more effective emotion regulation in children, while harsh or negative parenting may hinder the development of emotion regulation and social adjustment (Morris et al., 2017). However, research has rarely considered the complementary and simultaneous influences of both positive and negative parenting to influence emotion regulation skills. That is, while past research has examined the unique influence of both dimensions of parenting, little research has examined how these two dimensions of parenting might operate together to impact regulatory strategies. It is hypothesized that positive parenting will interact with negative parenting and that that unique combination of expressed parenting behaviors will serve to impact emotion regulation beyond the individual influence of each of these dimensions of parenting. It is those children who receive both high levels of negative parenting and low levels of positive parenting who are at a unique risk for emotion dysregulation.
Consistent with previous studies (Chaplin & Aldao, 2013; Chaplin et al., 2005), the present study found that child gender is significantly related to children’s ability to regulate emotions. Compared with boys, girls tend to have higher levels of emotion regulation. There was no association between mother’s age and children’s emotion regulation. Primary caregiver's educational attainment was strongly associated with children’s emotion regulation such that increased education was associated with stronger emotion regulation capabilities.
A moderating analysis using Hayes’ Process Macro was also performed in order to determine whether the negative parenting and positive parenting interacted to predict emotion regulation. The results suggested that positive parenting does interact with negative parenting in order to influence children’s emotion regulation. Thus, it may be the case that there may be benefit from going beyond thinking about how these dimensions of parenting operate in isolation to conceptualizing a broader parenting styles that reflect both dimensions would potentially be more powerful in conceptualizing the processes by which parents contribute to the emotion regulation outcomes of their children.

Author

• Linghua Jiang, Syracuse University
  Presenting Author