Poster #45 - Putting Self-Compassion Into Practice: Parental Gate Opening as a Moderator of Parental Self-Compassion and Sibling Positivity

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

Parental gatekeeping behaviors are those that regulate their partners’ involvement in child-care (Puhlman & Pasley, 2013). Research suggests that parental low self-esteem (Gaunt, 2008), emotional dysregulation, and relationship instability are associated with higher levels of gate closing behaviors (Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2015). Additionally, evidence suggests that there is a strong relationship between self-esteem and self-compassion (Leary et al., 2007), however links between self-compassion and parental gatekeeping have not been firmly established. Similarly, little is known about how parental gatekeeping affects sibling relationships. In the current study, we hypothesized that the relation between parental self-compassion and sibling positivity and cooperation would be moderated by parental gatekeeping behaviors.

We tested these hypotheses using data from an ongoing longitudinal study of 145 family triads (one parent and two siblings between the ages of 4-12). The parents were predominantly female (95%) and the average family was middle class (Mincome=60,000-80,000) and white (85%). Parents self-reported on their gatekeeping behaviors using the Parental Regulation Inventory (Van Egeren, 2000) and on their self-compassion using the Self-Compassion Scale (Raes et al., 2011). Children self-reported on their conflict resolution and cooperation using the Individual Protective Factors Index (Phillips & Springer, 1992). The sibling relationship was measured during a laboratory observation of a snack share task (Goldsmith et al., 2010). After an hour-long laboratory session, the two children were allowed to select one cookie and one juice from a plate and then were left alone with the snack. They were not instructed to share, just to stay in their seats and have their snack. The five-minute episode was coded in one-minute epochs. Sibling positivity (sharing, cooperation, positive utterances, etc) and negativity (negative physical interaction, verbal conflict, etc) were summed into total positivity and negativity scores for each child. All continuous variables were all normally distributed.

Controlling for parent and child age, child sex, and socioeconomic status, parental gate opening significantly moderated the relations between parent self-compassion and child cooperation (Figure 1) and parent self-compassion and sibling positivity (Figure 2). When parents reported more gate-opening, parent self-compassion related to significantly more child cooperation and sibling positivity. Gate closing had no significant relations with study variables.

Overall, these findings suggest that parental self-compassion has a positive effect on sibling interactions when it is paired with gate opening behaviors. This fits with the wider literature on self-compassion which ties the construct to resiliency in multiple ways including elements such as emotion regulation strategies (Finlay-Jones, 2017) and social connectedness (Neff, 2003). Perhaps gate opening is one of the ways in which self-compassion, in the widest sense, is put into practice by allowing the parent to reduce their parenting burden while also fully welcoming the partner into the relationship with the child. This welcoming may, in turn, serve as a model for the child who may then be more cooperative and feel more positive about their sibling relationship.

Authors

• Cailey Nicole Fay, Eastern Connecticut State University
  Presenting Author

• T. Caitlin Vasquez-O'Brien, Eastern Connecticut State University

• Elizabeth Rellinger Zettler, Illinois College