Maternal emotion coaching styles in the context of maternal depressive symptoms: Associations with preschoolers' emotion regulation.

This study examined the interplay between maternal depressive symptoms and emotion coaching in predicting preschoolers' emotion regulation skills. Participants included 126 preschoolers and their mothers, assessed at two time points, when children were 3 (T1) and 4 (T2). Mothers' coaching of sadness and anger was observationally assessed in a laboratory task at T1 under two categories, high and low elaborative styles of emotion coaching. Mothers also reported their depressive symptoms at T1. Children's emotion regulation was observed in laboratory tasks eliciting sadness and anger at T1 and T2. Path analyses revealed three-way interactions among maternal depressive symptoms, low elaborative emotion coaching, and high elaborative emotion coaching in predicting preschoolers' emotion regulation in both sadness- and anger-eliciting tasks 1 year later. Maternal low elaborative emotion coaching of sadness reduced children's focus on distress in the sadness-eliciting task only when mothers showed high depressive symptoms and used little high elaborative emotion coaching. In contrast, maternal low elaborative emotion coaching of sadness and anger predicted maladaptive child emotion regulation in both sadness- and anger-eliciting tasks, respectively, when mothers were depressed or used greater high elaborative emotion coaching. Findings highlight the importance of considering different types of maternal emotion coaching language styles in the context of maternal depression and have implications for intervention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Dynamic, bidirectional influences of children's emotions and maternal regulatory strategies.

The current study examined temporal associations between child emotion and maternal regulatory strategies in mother-child dyads. One hundred and 30 mothers and their 5-year-old children (46.1% boys) completed a challenging puzzle task, which was videotaped. Child positive and negative emotion as well as mothers' regulatory strategies including problem solving, providing approval, and comforting, were coded on a second-by-second basis from the videos. Multilevel modeling analyses were conducted to examine how maternal behaviors at a given time predicted the within-dyad variations of child positive and negative emotion 2 seconds later, controlling for the child's own prior emotion, as well as child emotion predicting subsequent maternal behaviors 2 seconds later, controlling for mothers' prior behaviors. In all models, child sex and negative emotionality as well as maternal depressive symptoms were included as between-dyad predictors, whereas maternal race and education were included as covariates. Results suggested that maternal approval and problem solving predicted within-dyad variation in subsequent child positive emotion. Both child positive and negative emotion was predictive of the within-dyad variation in mothers' subsequent use of strategies. Maternal depressive symptoms moderated the relations between prior and subsequent strategy uses for all three maternal behaviors. Our findings indicated that child emotion regulates, and is regulated by, maternal regulatory strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal Depressive Symptoms Predict Girls' but Not Boys' Emotion Regulation: A Prospective Moment-to-Moment Observation Study.

We aimed to further the understanding of maternal depressive symptoms on temporal dynamics of child emotion regulation by applying the process model of emotion regulation to preschoolers and incorporating insights from children's moment-to-moment emotional expressions. Following 108 mother-child dyads (57 girls; 72 mothers identified as White, 23 mothers as Black or African American, 10 mothers as multi-racial, 3 mothers did not report their race) from child age three (T1; Mchild age = 3.23; SD = 0.19) to four years old (T2; Mage = 4.21; SD = 0.15), we asked whether T1 maternal depressive symptoms predicted T2 boys' and girls' faster transitions into and slower transitions out of negative emotion displays when children were frustrated. The results from multilevel Cox Regression models for latencies and durations of emotion displays showed that child gender moderated the associations between maternal depressive symptoms and latencies of child emotion displays for sadness but not anger. Higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms predicted faster transitions into sadness only for girls but not for boys. The findings suggested that girls of mother with elevated depressive symptoms showed impairment in antecedent-focused emotion regulation of sadness.

Long-term association of parental warmth with depression and obesity: Mediation by conscientiousness.

OBJECTIVE: The current study examined the psychosocial processes related to the health outcomes of depression and obesity. Specifically, the mediating role of participant's trait conscientiousness on the relation between early experiences of paternal/maternal warmth and later depressive symptoms/obesity across 20 years and how this relationship is moderated by age across adulthood. METHOD: The current study utilized a national longitudinal data set, Midlife in the United States. Participants (N = 2,257) completed a survey rating the warmth they received from their fathers and mothers as children at Time 1 (T1; Ages 25-75). Participants reported their trait conscientiousness 10 years later (Time 2; T2). Depressive symptoms and body mass index were collected 10 years later (Time 3; T3). A moderated mediation model was used to examine whether the effect of parental warmth on health outcomes was mediated by trait conscientiousness and moderated by age. RESULTS: An indirect effect of maternal warmth on depressive symptoms and obesity, mediated by conscientiousness, was found. This effect is moderated by age such that the indirect effect is stronger in older adults. While paternal warmth did not have a significant indirect effect on either depressive symptoms or obesity, the effect was not significantly different from the maternal indirect effect. CONCLUSION: The study supported the role of trait conscientiousness in linking the effect of early parental warmth to later health outcomes. This study also found that the strength of the indirect effect of parental warmth through conscientiousness increases with age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A naturalistic study of parental emotion socialization: Unique contributions of fathers.

The socialization of emotion in preschool-aged children is an important developmental task, which is associated with a number of socioemotional outcomes. This study examined the contribution of both fathers' and mothers' emotion coaching to their 3- to 4-year-old children's emotion socialization. Two time points of data were collected for 69 families. We employed a time sampling observational method to capture the emotion socialization process in the naturalistic home environment. Fathers' and mothers' emotion coaching and expression, as well as children's emotion expression, were assessed at home using an audio recording device. Children's emotion expressions were also captured during an emotion eliciting task in a lab setting 1 year later. Regression analyses revealed that children of more positively expressive fathers also showed more positive emotion expression concurrently. Paternal emotion coaching, but not maternal emotion coaching, was predictive of children's increased positive expression in the lab 1 year later. This study provides evidence for unique contributions of fathers, above and beyond mothers, to the emotion socialization outcomes of their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal depressive symptoms, rumination, and child emotion regulation.

Children of depressed mothers are at risk for maladaptive emotion regulation. This study examined a model of maternal rumination that links maternal depressive symptoms to child emotion regulation. A sample of 126 mother-child dyads (65 girls) participated in the current study, at three assessment points when children were age three, four, and five. At all assessment points, mothers reported their depressive symptoms and ruminative response style. Child emotion regulation was assessed observationally from two laboratory tasks, which were designed to elicit anger and sadness. Elevated maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher concurrent rumination. Maternal rumination at child age four predicted that more child focus on distress during sadness-eliciting tasks and less child active distraction during anger-eliciting tasks 1 year later. Additionally, maternal rumination at child age three and four predicted less child passive behaviors in anger-eliciting tasks prospectively. Findings suggest that maternal rumination is predictive of using maladaptive regulatory strategies among children of depressed mothers. This study has significant implications for intervention programs targeting depressed mothers and their children.

Advancing Research and Measurement on Fathering and Child Development.

Fathers are more than social accidents. Research has demonstrated that fathers matter to children's development. Despite noted progress, challenges remain on how best to conceptualize and assess fathering and father-child relationships. The current monograph is the result of an SRCD-sponsored meeting of fatherhood scholars brought together to discuss these challenges and make recommendations for best practices for incorporating fathers in studies on parenting and children's development. The first aim of this monograph was to provide a brief update on the current state of research on fathering and to lay out a developmental ecological systems perspective as a conceptual framework for understanding the different spaces fathers inhabit in their children's lives. Because there is wide variability in fathers' roles, the ecological systems perspective situates fathers, mothers, children, and other caregivers within an evolving network of interrelated social relationships in which children and their parents change over time and space (e.g., residence). The second aim was to present examples of empirical studies conducted by members of the international working group that highlighted different methods, data collection, and statistical analyses used to capture the variability in father-child relationships. The monograph ends with a commentary that elaborates on the ecological systems framework with a discussion of the broader macrosystem and social-contextual influences that impinge on fathers and their children. The collection of articles contributes to research on father-child relationships by advancing theory and presenting varied methods and analysis strategies that assist in understanding the father-child relationship and its impact on child development.