MATERNAL REGULATION OF CHILDRENS EMOTIONS

This study investigated maternal regulation of children's emotional behavior and feelings. Mothers and their children ages 3, 5, 7, and 9 were interviewed concerning how the children would feel and act and how the mothers would intervene in 12 prototypical situations that elicit joy, anger, sadness, or fear. Mothers reported many regulatory strategies for each type of emotion situation. Children's age was a significant factor in regulation of angry and sad situations. Children's gender influenced some maternal predictions concerning their children's responses, but did not affect regulation of those responses. Agreement between mothers' predictions and children's self-reported responses was greater for older than younger children. Mothers were better at predicting their children's internal emotional experience than their emotional behavior, with mothers typically expecting verbal responses, whereas children more commonly reported nonverbal behavior. Children's negative temperament influenced maternal anger regulation and overall accuracy of mothers' predictions. Negative family expressivity influenced maternal responses to happy and angry situations.