Associations between parental dispositional attributions, dismissing and coaching reactions to children’s emotions, and children’s problem behaviour moderated by child gender

Figures & data

Figure 1. Moderated mediation model tested separately via PROCESS for externalizing and internalizing problems.

Table 1. Sample characteristics.

	n (%)
Child gender, female	103 (43)
Child age
5 years	89 (37)
6 years	121 (50)
7 years	31 (13)
Parent education
High school	19 (8)
College degree	14 (6)
Undergraduate degree	73 (30)
Graduate degree	135 (56)
Marital status
Married	231 (96)
Single parent	7 (3)
Divorced	2 (1)
Other	1 (<1)
Family composition
Boys only	105 (44)
Girls only	68 (28)
Both boy(s) and girl(s)	68 (28)
Number of children in family
1	150 (62)
2	73 (30)
> 2	18 (8)

Table 2. Means, Standard Deviations and correlations.

Variables	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	Boys M (SD)	Girls M (SD)	Total M (SD)	Range
1. Dispositional attributions INT		.62**	.31**	.36**	.30**	.32**	.21*	.30**	3.50 (0.93)	3.61 (0.76)	3.55 (0.86)	1–5
2. Dispositional attributions EXT	.75**		.49**	.26**	.38**	.31**	.18	.28**	3.38 (0.97)	3.59 (0.79)	3.47 (0.90)	1–5
3. Emotion-dismissing INT	.65**	.47**		.08	.65**	.24*	.42**	.48**	3.17 (0.84)	3.06 (0.73)	3.12 (0.80)	1–4.88
4. Emotion-coaching INT	.15	.22**	-.01		.33**	.79**	-.18	-.12	3.62 (0.62)	3.62 (0.57)	3.62 (0.60)	1.31–5
5. Emotion-dismissing EXT	.63**	.52**	.76**	.17		.35**	.34**	.34**	3.28 (0.75)	3.24 (0.77)	3.26 (0.76)	1–5
6. Emotion-coaching EXT	.20*	.29**	.14	.82**	.21*		.01	.08	3.56 (0.62)	3.55 (0.54)	3.56 (0.59)	1.1–5
7. Internalizing problems	.49**	.36**	.61**	.00	.57**	.06		.91**	0.83 (0.48)	0.81 (0.44)	0.82 (0.47)	0–1.89
8. Externalizing problems	.55**	.44**	.60**	.07	.61**	.13	.93**		0.83 (0.43)	0.83 (0.43)	0.83 (0.43)	0–1.90

Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01. Correlations above the diagonal represent boys, correlations below the diagonal represent girls. EXT = externalizing emotions, INT = internalizing emotions.

Table 3. Dispositional attributions and gender as predictors of parents’ emotion-dismissing and emotion-coaching reactions to children’s internalizing and externalizing emotions.

	b	se	t	95% CI	p
Dismissing of Internalizing Emotions
Dispositional attributions	0.53	0.06	8.65	[0.41, 0.65]	<.001
Child gender^1	0.69	0.38	1.83	[−0.05, 1.44]	.069
Dispositional attributions x Child gender^1	−0.25	0.10	−2.39	[−0.45, −0.04]	.018
Child age	−0.07	0.06	−0.98	[−0.19, 0.06]	.329
Marital status	0.84	0.22	3.81	[0.40, 1.27]	<.001
Number of children	−0.04	0.07	−0.57	[−0.17, 0.09]	.567
Parent education	0.05	0.05	1.11	[−0.04, 0.15]	.268
Coaching of Internalizing Emotions
Dispositional attributions	0.12	0.05	2.14	[0.01, 0.23]	.033
Child gender^1	−0.57	0.34	−1.67	[−1.24, 0.10]	.096
Dispositional attributions x Child gender^1	0.15	0.09	1.66	[−0.03, 0.34]	.098
Child age	0.07	0.06	1.18	[−0.05, 0.18]	.241
Marital status	−0.23	0.20	−1.18	[−0.62, 0.16]	.240
Number of children	0.06	0.06	0.96	[−0.06, 0.18]	.339
Parent education	<0.01	0.04	0.09	[−0.08, 0.09]	.929
Dismissing of Externalizing Emotions
Dispositional attributions	0.38	0.06	6.51	[0.27, 0.50]	<.001
Child gender^1	−0.08	0.37	−0.22	[−0.82, 0.65]	.824
Dispositional attributions x Child gender^1	−0.02	0.10	−0.16	[−0.22, 0.19]	.876
Child age	0.04	0.07	0.57	[−0.09, 0.17]	.568
Marital status	0.78	0.22	3.53	[0.34, 1.22]	<.001
Number of children	0.02	0.08	0.31	[−0.13, 0.18]	.760
Parent education	0.01	0.05	0.16	[−0.09, 0.11]	.870
Family composition	0.01	0.06	0.14	[−0.12, 0.14]	.886
Coaching of Externalizing Emotions
Dispositional attributions	0.20	0.05	4.24	[0.11, 0.30]	<.001
Child gender^1	−0.11	0.30	−0.38	[−0.71, 0.48]	.705
Dispositional attributions x Child gender^1	<0.01	0.08	0.02	[−0.16, 0.17]	.985
Child age	−0.05	0.05	−0.98	[−0.16, 0.05]	.326
Marital status	−0.03	0.18	−0.18	[−0.39, 0.32]	.854
Number of children	−0.01	0.07	−0.16	[−0.14, 0.12]	.876
Parent education	−0.03	0.04	−0.77	[−0.11, 0.05]	.441
Family composition	0.11	0.05	2.14	[0.01, 0.21]	.034

Note. ¹Boys as reference group.

Table 4. Dispositional attributions, parents’ emotion-dismissing and emotion-coaching reactions, and child’s gender as predictors of child’s internalizing and externalizing problems.

	b	SE	t	95% CI	p
Internalizing Problems
Dispositional attributions	0.09	0.05	1.81	[−0.01, 0.18]	.071
Emotion-dismissing	0.29	0.05	5.57	[0.19, 0.39]	<.001
Emotion-coaching	−0.03	0.06	−0.50	[−0.14, 0.08]	.615
Child gender^1	0.68	0.37	1.85	[−0.05, 1.41]	.066
Dispositional attributions x Child gender^1	0.03	0.07	0.37	[−0.12, 0.17]	.710
Emotion-dismissing x Child gender^1	−0.08	0.07	−1.01	[−0.22, 0.07]	.313
Emotion-coaching x Child gender^1	−0.14	0.09	−1.52	[−0.33, 0.04]	.130
Child age	−0.04	0.04	−1.10	[−0.12, 0.03]	.271
Marital status	0.07	0.14	0.49	[−0.20, 0.33]	.625
Number of children	−0.12	0.04	−3.07	[−0.20, −0.04]	.002
Parent education	−0.07	0.03	−2.52	[−0.13, −0.02]	.013
Externalizing Problems
Dispositional attributions	0.09	0.04	2.42	[0.02, 0.16]	.016
Emotion-dismissing	0.30	0.05	6.19	[0.20, 0.39]	<.001
Emotion-coaching	−0.04	0.05	−0.67	[−0.14, 0.07]	.503
Child gender^1	0.31	0.33	0.94	[−0.34, 0.96]	.351
Dispositional attributions x Child gender^1	0.02	0.06	0.29	[−0.10, 0.14]	.769
Emotion-dismissing x Child gender^1	−0.13	0.07	−1.84	[−0.27, 0.01]	.067
Emotion-coaching x Child gender^1	0.02	0.09	0.21	[−0.16, 0.20]	.836
Child age	−0.04	0.04	−1.13	[−0.11, 0.03]	.261
Marital status	0.05	0.12	0.42	[−0.19, 0.29]	.679
Number of children	−0.14	0.04	−3.78	[−0.21, −0.07]	<.001
Parent education	−0.09	0.03	−3.33	[−0.14, −0.04]	.001

Note. ¹Boys as reference group.

Figure 2. Conditional effects of dispositional attributions on parents’ emotion-dismissing reactions.

Figure 3. Results for moderated mediation model with parents’ dispositional attributions, parents’ emotion-dismissing and -coaching reactions, child internalizing problems and child gender. Note. The coefficients are the unstandardized regression coefficients. * p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .001.

Figure 4. Results for moderated mediation model with parents’ dispositional attributions, parents’ emotion-dismissing and -coaching reactions, child externalizing problems and child gender. Note. The coefficients are the unstandardized regression coefficients. * p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .001.