Emotion socialization mediates the short-term longitudinal relationship between mothers' depressive symptoms and children's emotion regulation

초록

Studies show that mothers with depression are more likely to engage in unsupportive emotion-related socialization behaviors, and mothers' negative emotion socialization can interfere with the development of emotion regulation in children. However, insufficient studies examine the relationship between mothers' depressive symptoms, emotion socialization, and children's emotion regulation. The present study used short-term longitudinal data to investigate the mediating role of maternal emotion socialization on the effect of maternal depressive symptoms on children's emotion regulation. Participants included 180 mothers of six-to-12-year-old children. First, we measured maternal depressive symptoms and mothers' reactions to their children's negative emotions, operationalizing emotion socialization. Then we collected data about the children's emotion regulation reported by mothers six months later. A structured equation modeling analysis indicated that maternal emotion socialization completely mediated the impact of mothers' depressive symptoms on children's emotion regulation with a significant indirect effect. The present study used short-term longitudinal data and highlighted the significant impact of mothers' depressive symptoms on children's emotion regulation mediated by maternal emotion socialization. The results suggest a need for early detection and appropriate intervention of mothers' depressive symptoms. Even for mothers with depression, efforts to recognize and improve their emotion-related parenting behavior could be helpful for their children.

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