Poster #74 - Examining the impact of parent shame and guilt on learning during an online parenting workshop

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Today there is a plethora of learning resources targeted at parents, accompanying expectations of high levels of parental investment (Arendell, 2000). Yet little is known about how parents learn. Recognizing that learning is an emotional process (Hascher, 2010), this study applies theories of moral emotions to the context of parent education, to investigate the impact of feeling shame and guilt on learning outcomes during an online parenting workshop.

Research suggests that parents are especially prone to feeling shame and guilt (Sutherland, 2010). These important but uncomfortable emotions function to inhibit morally objectionable behaviors and promote behaviors that fit with group values and rules (Tangney & Tracy, 2012). Attending a parenting workshop can evoke guilt and shame as workshops commonly focus on child outcomes and parenting struggles and offer strategies on how parents can do better, communicating standards that parents are failing to reach.

Shame is an aversive moral emotion elicited when one appraises an event to have exposed a flaw within oneself and is linked to responses such as withdrawal and avoidance, or being defensive and rejecting (Tangney & Dearing, 2002), responses likely maladaptive for learning. Guilt is felt when one perceives that they have done something wrong and found to motivate an approach-orientation towards repairing harm done, such as apologizing or taking actions to improve (Baumeister et al., 1994).

In this study, 240 parents reported on their experiences of shame and guilt during an online parenting workshop. Shame and guilt were highly correlated for this sample, with parents reporting feeling more guilt than shame. At the end of the workshop, parents completed learning outcome measures reflecting cognitive aspects of learning (a knowledge test), positive learning attitudes (receptivity and engagement) and psychological aspects of learning (motivation and agency to enact strategies learnt).

Results of regression analyses revealed that shame was associated with negative learning outcomes. Parents who reported higher levels of shame were more likely to: a) find the workshop less relevant, engaging and motivating, b) report a lower sense of agency, and c) perform worse in the knowledge test. Guilt was also a significant predictor of all learning outcomes but in the opposite direction. Parents who reported higher levels of guilt learnt better. An interaction effect of shame and guilt was also observed. Guilt seemed especially adaptive for parents reporting high levels of shame, buffering the impact of shame on their learning outcomes. The more guilt they reported, the more receptive, motivated to repair and confident they felt, and the less shame levels mattered.

Parenting workshops are important contexts of learning for today’s parents. This study sheds light on the psychological mechanisms that underlie learning, showing that simply providing information without attention to parents’ emotional experiences is not enough, and may even hinder learning. Findings suggest that being aware of shame and guilt that parents likely bring into a context of learning, and supporting them with strategies to regulate them may be crucial for improving parent learning outcomes.

Authors

• Angela Sokyee Low, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Presenting Author

• Sheila Kathleen Marshall, University of British Columbia (UBC)

• Shelley C Hymel, University of British Columbia (UBC)