Emotion-related Processes Between Parents and Adolescents: Evidence for Bidirectional Effects over Time

Abstract

Parent emotion socialization has long been studied in relation to children’s socioemotional adjustment. Little attention has been paid to how parents’ socialization responses are shaped by youth characteristics over time, such as emotional lability. The present study explored the mutual influence between parent emotion socialization and adolescent emotional lability. Participants were 87 adolescents (M = 14.23  years old, SD = .50; 50 girls) and their parents, who completed questionnaires at three time points from 8^th grade through 10^th grade. Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated mutual influences between parent emotion socialization and adolescent emotional lability, with relations moderated by adolescent gender. Increases in parents’ reward of negative emotion predicted decreased emotional lability in girls. Parents’ increased magnification of negative emotions corresponded to decreased emotional lability in boys. Boys’ increases in emotional lability predicted decreased parental magnification of negative emotions over time. Increases in parents’ magnification of negative emotions predicted increased emotional lability in girls. Girls’ increases in emotional lability corresponded to increased parental magnification over time. There were no longitudinal effects of adolescent emotional lability on parents’ reward, override, and punishment of negative emotions. Future directions and clinical applications are discussed.

Keywords:

• Emotion socialization
• emotional lability
• adolescence

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Shannon Casey and Nicole Capriola for their work on this study as undergraduate research assistants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availablity statement

This research was approved by the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board. Research data will be shared upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by the Virginia Tech Department of Psychology.

Notes on contributors

Rachel Miller-Slough

Rachel Miller-Slough, PhD is an Assistant Professor at East Tennessee State University. Her research focuses on how parent emotion socialization transmits risk and resilience for adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Her recent work also addresses the dissemination and implementation of emotion socialization interventions.

Daryl Parungao

Daryl Parungao is a graduate student in clinical psychology at East Tennessee State University. Her research focuses on the role of parent emotion socialization and emotion-related beliefs within the family system.

Cheston West

Cheston West is a graduate student in East Tennessee State University’s clinical psychology doctoral program. His research primarily examines relationships between parent emotion socialization and internalizing and externalizing symptomology.

Julie C. Dunsmore

Julie C. Dunsmore, PhD, is a Professor of Psychological, Health, & Learning Sciences and Director of the Social Development Lab at the University of Houston. Dunsmore’s research focuses on emotion socialization processes within multilayered socio-cultural contexts from early childhood through adolescence. Her research addresses effects of emotion socialization on social competence, behavior problems, and well-being.