Poster #149 - Parent Self-Expressivity and Emotion Coaching as Predictors of Child Self-Regulation

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

The Broaden-and-Build theory (Friedrickson, 2004) suggests that exposure to and experience of positive emotions allows individuals to expand their skills and resources, whereas the experience of negative emotions narrows and limits individuals’ abilities to consider and expand available responses and skills. For example, if a parent consistently expresses their positive emotions within the family, it can create an open home environment in which children can experience and learn from their own emotions, whereas consistent parental expression of negative emotion could create a restrictive home environment for a child (Morris et al., 2007). However, positive and supportive reactions to negative emotions, especially those which consider causes and consequences of negative emotions, could help to increase understanding of negative emotions and build skills to cope with those emotions for a more positive outcome. Children who have better coping skills and understanding of their own emotions may be better able to control their emotions and behavior. The current study examines the relation between caregiver expression of own emotions in the family, caregiver encouragement of children’s emotions, and children’s own self-regulation skills. We expected that children whose parents expressed more emotion, both positive and negative, in the family context and who engaged in more emotion coaching with their children would exhibit more self-regulation.

Parents and their school-aged children (n=115) were observed in a 5-min emotion task where they talked about a time when children were happy and a time when children were upset. Encouragement of positive and negative emotions was scored in discussions of happy and upsetting events, respectively. Higher scores indicate more validation, labeling, and emotion coaching. Parents reported on expressivity in the family on the short form of the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire (SEFQ; Halberstadt, Cassidy, Stifter, Parke & Fox, 1995); positive and negative emotion subscales were computed. Child regulation was observed in a puzzle box task where children were asked to complete a puzzle that they could not see. The amount of time cheating was scored; higher scores reflect less regulation.

A regression model predicting child self-regulation was conducted (see Table 1). Older children spent less time cheating, which corresponds to greater self-regulation. Parental encouragement of negative emotion in discussion of an upset event was a significant predictor and parental expression of positive emotion in the family was a marginally significant predictor of less cheat time, and thus more child self-regulation.

Parents’ own expression of positive, but not negative, emotions related to children’s increased regulation. It could be that parents who experience and express their own positivity create an open and positive home environment wherein children are able to build resources and expand their coping and regulation abilities. The findings also suggest that there is something unique about parental encouragement of negative, but not positive, emotions that relates to children’s increased ability to regulate their behavior. This could be because children whose parents use the experience of negative emotions as a teaching opportunity allow children to develop strategies to cope with negative emotions and regulation skills.

Authors

• Diana Devine, Virginia Tech
  Presenting Author

• Cynthia L Smith, Virginia Tech
  Non-Presenting Author

• Julie Dunsmore, Virginia Tech
  Non-Presenting Author