Mothers’ attachment styles and their children’s self-reported security, as related to maternal socialization of children’s positive affect regulation

Abstract

This study investigated how mothers’ attachment was related to their responses to their own and their children’s positive events and positive affect (PA). Ninety-seven mothers reported on their attachment and their responses to their own and their 7–12-year-old children’s positive events and emotions. Children reported on their mothers’ responses to the children’s positive events and their attachment security with their mothers. The results indicated that more avoidant mothers reported less intense PA in response to their own and their children’s positive events. More avoidant mothers also were less likely to encourage their children to savor positive events (through expressing PA, reflecting on PA or themselves, giving rewards, and affectionate responses). Mothers higher on anxiety reported greater likelihood of dampening (e.g., minimizing the event’s importance) their own positive events and reported being more likely to feel discomfort and to reprimand their children for expressing PA. Children’s security was predicted by mothers’ lower likelihood of encouraging children’s dampening and of reprimanding children for PA displays. This study advances the literature on how mothers’ attachment is related to the ways in which they regulate their own and their children’s PA, which may have implications for children’s attachment and developing PA regulation.

Keywords:

• attachment
• positive affect
• savoring
• dampening
• emotion regulation
• socialization

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to extend gratitude to the families who participated in their study.

Notes

1. Correlations and t-tests were conducted to examine how socio-demographic variables were associated with attachment and socialization variables. Household income was negatively related to three variables: mothers’ anxiety (r = −.28, p = .007), PA reactions to children’s positive events (r = −.25, p = .014), and mothers’ encouragement of children’s savoring (r = −.23, p = .024). Mothers’ education was negatively correlated with four variables: mothers’ PA reactions to their own positive events (r = −.35, p < .001), mothers’ PA reactions to their children’s positive events (r = −.41, p < .001), mothers’ encouragement of children’s savoring (r = -.31, p = 003), and mothers’ lower likelihood of discomfort with their children’s PA displays (r = −.24, p = 018). Maternal age was negatively correlated with mothers’ encouragement of children’s savoring (r = −.35, p = .001). Children’s age was positively correlated with mothers’ reports of their own savoring (r = .20, p = .045) and children’s reported security with mothers (r = .22, p = .029). For children’s gender, mothers reported greater encouragement of children’s PA expression for boys (M = 4.28, SD = .83) than girls (M = 3.84, SD = .77), t(93) = −2.64, p =  01. Non-White mothers reported greater attachment anxiety (M = 3.26, SD = .83) than did White mothers (M = 2.19, SD = 1.21), t(94) = −2.58, p = .011.

2. We also conducted a regression model using the same measures about fathers: children’s reports of fathers’ responses to the children’s positive events predicting children’s attachment security with fathers. The same associations emerged as those for children’s reports of mothers’ responses. Specifically, after accounting for the same covariates on Step 1, the second step of the model (R² = .11, F = 3.78, p = .014) indicated that children who reported that their fathers had marginally more intense PA reactions (β = .24, p = .085) and were less likely to dampen their PA (β = −.27, p = .019) reported more attachment security with their fathers. Fathers’ encouragement of savoring was unrelated to children’s security (β = .02, p = .876). These two measures (children’s attachment security with fathers and their reports of fathers’ responses to their positive events) are the only two measures we have pertaining to fathers in the study, which prevents us from using the more comprehensive analytic approach we used with mother–child data.