Modeling maternal emotion-related socialization behaviors in a low-income sample: Relations with toddlers’ self-regulation

doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.11.005

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Volume 27, Issue 3, 3rd Quarter 2012, Pages 352-364

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.11.005 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study tested the validity of an emotion-related parenting construct, indicated by six key emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) occurring in daily, developmentally salient parenting in a low-income sample of mothers (N = 123) of toddlers, and examined the relationship between the ERSB construct and toddlers’ self-regulation. Structural equation modeling confirmed a latent emotion-related parenting construct, indicated by observed maternal warmth and supportiveness, observed emotional responsivity in the home, maternal report of mealtime socialization practices, observed maternal use of mental state language and emotion talk, and maternal report of positive self-expressivity in the family. Emotion-related parenting significantly related to toddlers’ effective coping and delay of gratification (medium effect sizes). Maternal demographic risk was negatively related to emotion-related parenting (large effect size) but positively related to toddlers’ effective coping (medium effect size); toddler age and gender were not significantly related to ERSBs. Results suggest that maternal ERSBs are cohesive in a low-income population, reflecting emotion-related parenting, and play a role in economically at-risk toddlers’ self-regulation. Implications for parenting and family support programs as well as implications for future research are discussed.

Highlights

► Key emotion-related parenting behaviors (ERSBs) reflect a cohesive construct in low-income mothers’ emotion-related parenting. ► The inclusion of ERSBs as they occur in developmentally salient contexts for mothers and toddlers emphasize the ecological validity of the ERSB construct. ► An ERSB construct was more strongly related to economically at-risk toddlers’ self-regulation than were individual ERSBs.

Section snippets

Defining ERSBs

ERSBs refer to a range of parenting characteristics and behaviors that are particularly salient to children's social-emotional development. Broadly speaking, ERSBs include characteristics and behaviors such as maternal positive emotional expressivity, support of children's self-regulation attempts (which can be structured either verbally or nonverbally) and emotion discourse between parent and child. Much research to date has examined ERSBs as they relate to strength-based, competent outcomes,

Defining self regulation

Self-regulation refers to a variety of skills related to self-management of emotions, responses, and behaviors (McCabe, Cunnington, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004). There are several phases of self-regulatory development in toddlers. Skills such as coping effectively with internal and environmental stimuli allow the child to engage in intentional, goal-directed behaviors, involving the kind of impulse control that is present in delaying gratification (Kopp, 1982). Here, we examined two self-regulation

Relevance of ERSBs to self-regulation and gaps in the literature

Because ERSBs are a critical part of the underpinnings of early social-emotional development and are a likely entrée for intervention methods in families with very young children, it is critical that the significant gaps in the existing work be addressed. First, most research related to ERSBs has been carried out with children of preschool age or older children, despite the fact that social-emotional development in the toddler period appears to be exceptionally malleable in response to

ERSB components

As noted by Eisenberg et al. (1998), a wide variety of parental ERSBs exist. Over the past decade, an impressive body of work has emerged examining various ERSB components, including positive parental expressivity (Valiente et al., 2004a, Valiente et al., 2004b, Valiente et al., 2006), supporting self-regulation efforts (Cole et al., 2009, Cole et al., 2003), emotional supportiveness (Warren & Stifter, 2008), and use of mental state language and emotion talk (Adams et al., 1995, Fivush et al.,

ERSBs in a low-income population

Virtually all of the research on parental emotion-related socialization behaviors, to date, has focused on middle-income families (Evans and English, 2002, Morris et al., 2007, Morris and Gennetian, 2003, Raikes et al., 2007). There is a startling paucity of research on the patterns of ERSBs in low-income families with toddlers. This gap is underscored by the fact that outcomes for children raised in poverty are more often problematic than for middle-class children. However, it is also likely

Modeling the latent construct

Heuristic models, although thought-provoking and valuable in their own right, are limited in their capacity to guide and stimulate research if not empirically tested. Further, heuristic models of important developmental processes cannot be further developed or refined until hypothesized processes are tested using modeling strategies. As suggested in the previously discussed literature, a variety of ERSBs have been studied individually. Theoretically, we might expect ERSBs to co-occur as we

The current study

The current study represents an exploratory examination of one configuration of an ERSB construct with the goal of including ERSBs that reflect salient contexts for parent–child interactions with toddlers in a low-income population. While we recognize that ERSB components might reflect multiple factors, the purpose of this study was to explore a one-factor solution reflecting cohesive facets of emotion-related parenting within a low-income population. We hypothesized that the latent ERSB

Participants and procedure

Data were collected as part of an existing study (Brophy-Herb et al., 2005) (N = 174) of low-income parents and their toddlers. In the current study, we utilized data from female primary caregivers with toddlers at least 18 months of age (n = 123; 58 boys and 65 girls) because we were interested in examining toddlers’ delay of gratification as one of the outcomes. Most caregivers were biological mothers (95%, n = 117; 3% were adoptive mothers, n = 4; and, 2% were grandmothers, n = 2). The terms “mothers”

Preliminary analyses

Means, standard deviations, ranges, and skewness statistics for study variables, as well as a correlation matrix, are provided in Table 2, Table 3. All data were normally distributed with skewness within the accepted ranges (±1). Means for ERSBs were not significantly different for mothers of boys or girls (p = .10 to p = .94). Girls demonstrated higher coping effectiveness (M = 3.95, SD = .66, range = 1.60–4.90) than did boys (M = 3.63, SD = .66, range = 1.90–4.90), t (121) = −2.76, p = .01, Cohen's d = .48. Delay

Discussion

The present study is one of the first to examine multiple ERSBs as representing a latent factor and the first to test an ERSB construct in a low-income sample. Further, we know of no others studies that have modeled a latent ERSB construct and its connections, specifically, to toddlers’ self-regulation. As hypothesized, the six ERSB indicators loaded reasonably well onto a latent ERSB factor, demonstrating the cohesiveness of the ERSB construct, using the operationalization of variables that

Implications for practice and for further research

The results of this exploratory model inform practice in several ways. Study results indicate that ERSBs are present, cohesive, and related to toddlers’ self-regulation in this low-income population. Given the validity of the construct and its relation to outcomes, early prevention and support program specialists may focus on further promoting these behaviors among parents of young children. Despite the deficits facing mothers parenting in poverty, low-income mothers are engaging in

Limitations

Given sample size limitations, we utilized a cross-sectional design in the current study and we did not test potential bidirectional influences of maternal ERSBs and self-regulation on the other. The cross-sectional approach limits the ability to meaningfully discuss ERSBs as predicting self-regulation. Turning again to existing heuristic models, we expect that mothers’ engagement in ERSBs over time is likely influenced by children's behaviors. Interestingly, these bidirectional relationships

Conclusions

Results from this study demonstrate that ERSBs as measured in multiple ways (maternal self report, observational measure), across multiple contexts (mealtimes, booksharing, teaching task, general family climate), in a low-income population reflect a cohesive construct in low-income mothers’ emotion-related parenting and play a role in toddlers’ self-regulation. The inclusion of ERSBs as they occur in mealtimes, in play and teaching tasks, and in the general environment of the home represent

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (90YF0055/01).

References (125)

S. Adams et al.
Gender differences in parent–child conversations about past emotions: A longitudinal investigation
Sex Roles
(1995)
J.K. Baker et al.
Emotion socialization by mothers and fathers: Coherence among behaviors and associations with parent attitudes and children's social competence
Social Development
(2011)
L. Bates et al.
Factors related to social competence in elementary school among children of adolescent mothers
Social Development
(2003)
M.A. Bell et al.
Biological systems and the development of self-regulation: Integrating behavior, genetics, and psychophysiology
Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics
(2007)
J. Belsky et al.
Socioeconomic risk, parenting during the preschool years and child health at age 6 years
European Journal of Public Health
(2007)
A. Bernier et al.
From external regulation to self-regulation: Early parenting precursors of young children's executive functioning
Child Development
(2010)
C. Blair et al.
Biological processes in prevention and intervention: The promotion of self-regulation as a means of preventing school failure
Development and Psychopathology
(2008)
J.M Bland et al.
Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement
The Lancet
(1986)
K.A. Bollen
Structural equations with latent variables
(1989)
L.A. Boyum et al.
The role of family emotional expressiveness in the development of children's social competence
Journal of Marriage and the Family
(1995)

G.H. Brody et al.

Longitudinal pathways to competence and psychological adjustment among African American children living in rural single-parent households

Child Development

(2002)

H.E. Brophy-Herb et al.

Enhancing early social-emotional development in infants and toddlers using a relationship-based Infant Mental Health model: The BEES curriculum project

Administration for Children and Families

(2005)

H.E. Brophy-Herb et al.

Toddlers’ social-emotional competence in the contexts of maternal emotion socialization and contingent responsiveness in a low-income sample

Social Development

(2011)

Brophy-Herb, H. E., Senehi, N., Lee, Y., & Horodynski, M. What works for whom: Untangling dosage effects in a...

Brophy-Herb, H. E., Zajicek-Farber, M., McKelvey, L., Bocknek, E., & Stansbury, K. Maternal supportiveness and...

C.A. Brownell et al.

Socioemotional development in the toddler years: Transitions and transformations

(2007)

T. Burke

Fly, little bird

(2006)

B. Caldwell et al.

Home observations for measurement of the environment (HOME)-revised edition

(1984)

S.D. Calkins et al.

Developmental transitions as windows to parental socialization of emotion

Psychological Inquiry

(1999)

S.D. Calkins et al.

Self-regulatory processes in early personality development: A multilevel approach to the study of childhood social withdrawal and aggression

Development and Psychopathology

(2002)

T. Canli et al.

Long story short: The serotonin transporter in emotion regulation and social cognition

Nature Neuroscience

(2007)

A.S. Carter et al.

The Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA)

(2006)

C.A. Cervantes et al.

Labels and explanations in mother–child emotion talk: Age and gender differentiation

Developmental Psychology

(1998)

J.D. Cohen

A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales

Educational and Psychological Measurement

(1960)

P.M Cole et al.

Preschoolers’ emotion regulation strategy understanding: Relations with emotion socialization and child self-regulation

Social Development

(2009)

P.M. Cole et al.

Mutual emotion regulation and the stability of conduct problems between preschool and early school age

Development and Psychopathology

(2003)

E.M Cummings et al.

Emotional security as a regulatory process in normal development and the development of psychopathology

Development and Psychopathology

(1996)

A.P. Dempster et al.

Maximum likelihood from incomplete data via the EM algorithm

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society

(1977)

S.A. Denham et al.

Parental contributions to preschoolers’ emotional competence: Direct and indirect effects

Motivation and Emotion

(1997)

S.A Denham

Social-emotional competence as support for school readiness: What is it and how do we assess it?

Early Education and Development

(2006)

M.L. Diener et al.

Maternal and child predictors of preschool children's social competence

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

(2003)

J. Dunn et al.

Family talk about feeling states and children's later understanding of others’ emotions

Developmental Psychology

(1991)

J.C. Dunsmore et al.

Mothers’ beliefs about feelings and children's emotion understanding

Early Education & Development

(2001)

R.D. Eiden et al.

A conceptual model for the development of externalizing behavior problems among kindergarten children of alcoholic families: Role of parenting and children's self regulation

Developmental Psychology

(2007)

N. Eisenberg et al.

Parental socialization of emotion

Psychological Inquiry

(1998)

N. Eisenberg et al.

Associations of emotion-related regulation with language skills, emotion knowledge, and academic outcomes

New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development

(2005)

N. Eisenberg et al.

Self-regulation and school readiness

Early Education & Development

(2010)

N. Eisenberg et al.

Longitudinal relations among parental emotional expressivity, children's regulation, and quality of socioemotional functioning

Developmental Psychology

(2003)

C.K. Enders

Applied missing data analysis

(2010)

G.W. Evans et al.

The environment and poverty: Multiple stressors exposure, psychophysiological stress, and socioemotional adjustment

Child Development

(2002)

R.A. Fabes et al.

Parental coping with children's negative emotions: Relations with children's emotional and social responding

Child Development

(2001)

R. Feldman

The development of regulatory functions from birth to 5 years: Insights from premature infants

Child Development

(2009)

M. Fish et al.

Language skills in low-SES rural Appalachian children: Normative development and individual differences, infancy to preschool

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

(2003)

R. Fivush et al.

Gender differences in parent–child emotion narratives

Sex Roles

(2000)

J.L. Fleiss et al.

Statistical methods for rates and proportions

(2003)

P.W. Garner

Toddlers’ emotion regulation behaviors: The roles of social context and family expressiveness

Journal of Genetic Psychology

(1995)

P.W. Garner

Prediction of prosocial and emotional competence from maternal behavior in African American preschoolers

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology

(2006)

P.W. Garner et al.

Mother–child conversations about emotions: Linkages to child aggression and pro-social behavior

Social Development

(2008)

P.W. Garner et al.

Low-income mothers’ conversations about emotions and their children's emotional competence

Social Development

(1997)

P.W. Garner et al.

Social competence among low-income preschoolers: Emotion socialization practices and social cognitive correlates

Child Development

(1994)

Cited by (53)

Are adolescent diet quality and emotional eating predicted by history of maternal caregiving quality and concurrent inhibitory control?
2023, Appetite
The risk for unhealthy eating behaviour, including poor diet quality and emotional eating, is heightened in adolescence and could result in profound and long-lasting psychological and physical implications. Caregiving quality and adolescents' regulatory skills, such as inhibitory control, may play an essential role in the development of adolescent eating behaviour. This preregistered study investigated whether maternal caregiving throughout the first 14 years of life predicts adolescent diet quality and emotional eating and whether potential associations are mediated by adolescents’ inhibitory control. In this low-risk community cohort, maternal caregiving quality was observed at child ages five weeks, 12 months, 2.5, 10, and 14 years. At age 14, diet quality and emotional eating were assessed through self-report. Adolescent inhibitory control was assessed with three behavioural tasks and a maternal report. Mediation analyses were performed with structural equation modelling in R. No evidence was found for links between maternal caregiving quality and adolescent diet quality and emotional eating. Higher levels of adolescent inhibitory control predicted better adolescent diet quality. Longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to investigate directionality, and replication studies are needed in more representative samples (e.g. including high-risk families). Such studies will shed further light on potential links between the history of caregiving behaviour and adolescent regulatory and eating behaviour.
A study on the use of mental state terms in natural contexts of Chinese children aged 3 to 6 years
2022, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Chinese children’s mental state terms were studied in a sample of 79 Chinese mother–child pairs (with children aged 3–6 years). Children’s mental state term categories were calculated according to age, gender, and context as well as socioeconomic status (SES) variations. The study found that there were no significant age or gender differences in the Chinese children’s mental state terms use during the 3- to 6-year stage and that the Chinese children’s perception, disposition, and cognition terms were highly dependent on the use of particular words: “see” “like” and “know”. After removing the highly dependent word “know,” children’s cognition terms showed significant age differences. Further research on disposition terms showed that with age negative terms displayed an increasing trend. In addition, the use of Chinese children’s mental state terms was closely related to specific contexts. For example, references to volition occurred most often in the context of drawing, whereas references to cognition occurred when playing with blocks. Meanwhile, disposition terms were maintained at a minimum frequency in all contexts, although the picture book used in the reading context was embedded with many disposition cues. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the mental state terms of children aged 3 to 6 years with high and low SES. Furthermore, in addition to perception terms, mothers’ mental state terms were significantly and positively related to children’s mental state terms of the same type. These findings provide evidence for the developmental pattern of mentalization development and appropriate education for Chinese children aged 3 to 6 years.
Higher maternal education is related to negative functional connectivity between attention system networks and reading-related regions in children with reading difficulties compared to typical readers
2021, Brain Research
Ten to 15% of school-age children have reading difficulties (RD, or dyslexia), defined by deficits in phonological processing, fluency, and executive functions (EFs). Although RD is referred to as a genetic disorder, reading ability may also be affected by environmental factors such as inadequate exposure to literacy and a lack of parental involvement. These environmental components are a part of the socioeconomic status (SES) measure, which is defined by parental occupation, educational attainment, and household income and are positively correlated to reading ability. The goal of the current study was to relate maternal education, a construct of SES to executive functions (EFs) that relate to reading in children with RD compared to typical readers (TRs) using behavioral and neurobiological resting-state fMRI data. The results show that higher maternal education is negatively correlated to inhibitory control for TRs and not for children with RD. Higher maternal education was also associated with negative functional connectivity of the frontal-parietal network to the left central opercular cortex and left occipital gyrus for children with RD compared to TRs. These results suggest that higher maternal education has contrasting roles on the behavioral and neurobiological correlates of EFs for children with RD compared to TRs. We conclude that higher education levels for mothers may provide their children with a structured environment and educational resources that may assist their children with RD and TRs with cognitive development based on their reading profile.
Role of maternal affect and regulatory strategies in toddlers’ emotion and behavior regulation
2020, Infant Behavior and Development
Using a moment-to-moment multilevel approach, we examined the relative effectiveness of (a) toddlers’ lagged (i.e., previous-interval) regulatory strategies and toddlers’ lagged expression of negative emotion, as moderated by maternal affect, and (b) maternal lagged regulatory strategies, on toddlers’ current-interval (1) expression of negative emotion, and, (2) ability to delay gratification during a wait task. Two-level random coefficient models, with twelve repeated-measurement occasions (10 s-intervals) of observed behaviors (N = 1571) nested within 134 mother-toddler dyads from low-income families (67 girls; M_age = 25.77 months, SD_age = 1.60) were examined. Cross-level interactions revealed that maternal positive affect buffered severity of toddlers’ expression of negative emotion between lagged and current-intervals, while maternal negative affect disrupted toddlers’ effective utilization of lagged regulatory strategies on current-interval expression of negative emotion. However, regardless of maternal affect, toddlers who displayed higher expression of negative emotion and utilized more regulatory strategies in lagged-intervals displayed greater delay of gratification in current-intervals. Also, as mothers displayed greater minimization of toddlers' emotional distress, higher physical restraint, and used fewer distractions, toddlers displayed more intense expression of negative emotion in subsequent intervals. Similarly, as mothers used higher physical restraint and fewer distractions, toddlers were less able to wait in subsequent intervals. Results illustrate the disruptive roles of maternal negative affect and unsupportive regulatory strategies on toddlers' emotion and behavior regulation. Together, these findings point to targeting maternal positive affect in combination with supportive regulatory strategies to promote toddlers’ transition from external- to internal-regulation.
Mothers’ competence profiles and their relation to language and socioemotional development in Chilean children at 12 and 30 months
2020, Infant Behavior and Development
The study of early parental competences is relevant because such competences are related to children’s development; however, most studies have considered competences using a variable-centered approach in which each parental competence is examined in isolation. This paper approaches these competences using a person-centered approach, generating profiles that combine different competences in Chilean mothers assessed when their children were aged 12 months and again at 30 months. The aim of this study was to generate and compare these profiles and to analyze the associations of these profiles with children’s language and socioemotional skills. Mother-child interactions in the contexts of storytelling and free play were videotaped at two different times. Ninety mother-child dyads were assessed using the Adult Sensitivity Scale (E.S.A.), the Evaluation of the Mentalization of Significant Caregivers, the Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO), Bayley’s language scale and the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS). Profiles of mothers’ behaviors were identified through person-centered within-group analyses of six aspects: sensitivity, mentalization, affection, responsiveness, encouragement, and teaching. Cluster analyses yielded three similar profiles for mothers at both ages: highly competent, average competent, and poorly competent. The mothers’ profiles were related to maternal age, socioeconomic status (SES) and educational level, and the mothers improved their profiles at the 30-month assessment. The mothers’ profiles were related to children’s language and socioemotional outcomes at both ages. These results and their applicability to promotion and intervention programs are discussed.
Parenting Styles and Their Effects
2020, Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development
Over 40 years ago, researchers identified four main types of parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and indifferent. We describe characteristics of each parenting style and its association with children's development. Little research attempts to link parenting styles and early parent-child relationship dynamics. As such, we include considerations of parenting unique to infancy and early childhood. We examine variations in the effects of parenting styles across cultures. We close with emerging research looking at greater heterogeneity in quantity and quality of parenting and child outcomes in more diverse family structures and across a broader span of development.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Modeling maternal emotion-related socialization behaviors in a low-income sample: Relations with toddlers’ self-regulation

Abstract

Highlights

Section snippets

Defining ERSBs

Defining self regulation

Relevance of ERSBs to self-regulation and gaps in the literature

ERSB components

ERSBs in a low-income population

Modeling the latent construct

The current study

Participants and procedure

Preliminary analyses

Discussion

Implications for practice and for further research

Limitations

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Gender differences in parent–child conversations about past emotions: A longitudinal investigation

Sex Roles

Emotion socialization by mothers and fathers: Coherence among behaviors and associations with parent attitudes and children's social competence

Social Development

Factors related to social competence in elementary school among children of adolescent mothers

Social Development

Biological systems and the development of self-regulation: Integrating behavior, genetics, and psychophysiology

Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

Socioeconomic risk, parenting during the preschool years and child health at age 6 years

European Journal of Public Health

From external regulation to self-regulation: Early parenting precursors of young children's executive functioning

Child Development

Biological processes in prevention and intervention: The promotion of self-regulation as a means of preventing school failure

Development and Psychopathology

Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement

The Lancet

Structural equations with latent variables

The role of family emotional expressiveness in the development of children's social competence

Journal of Marriage and the Family

Longitudinal pathways to competence and psychological adjustment among African American children living in rural single-parent households

Child Development

Enhancing early social-emotional development in infants and toddlers using a relationship-based Infant Mental Health model: The BEES curriculum project

Administration for Children and Families

Toddlers’ social-emotional competence in the contexts of maternal emotion socialization and contingent responsiveness in a low-income sample

Social Development

Socioemotional development in the toddler years: Transitions and transformations

Fly, little bird

Home observations for measurement of the environment (HOME)-revised edition

Developmental transitions as windows to parental socialization of emotion

Psychological Inquiry

Self-regulatory processes in early personality development: A multilevel approach to the study of childhood social withdrawal and aggression

Development and Psychopathology

Long story short: The serotonin transporter in emotion regulation and social cognition

Nature Neuroscience

The Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA)

Labels and explanations in mother–child emotion talk: Age and gender differentiation

Developmental Psychology

A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales

Educational and Psychological Measurement

Preschoolers’ emotion regulation strategy understanding: Relations with emotion socialization and child self-regulation

Social Development

Mutual emotion regulation and the stability of conduct problems between preschool and early school age

Development and Psychopathology

Emotional security as a regulatory process in normal development and the development of psychopathology

Development and Psychopathology

Maximum likelihood from incomplete data via the EM algorithm

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society

Parental contributions to preschoolers’ emotional competence: Direct and indirect effects

Motivation and Emotion

Social-emotional competence as support for school readiness: What is it and how do we assess it?

Early Education and Development

Maternal and child predictors of preschool children's social competence

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Family talk about feeling states and children's later understanding of others’ emotions

Developmental Psychology

Mothers’ beliefs about feelings and children's emotion understanding

Early Education & Development

A conceptual model for the development of externalizing behavior problems among kindergarten children of alcoholic families: Role of parenting and children's self regulation

Developmental Psychology

Parental socialization of emotion

Psychological Inquiry

Associations of emotion-related regulation with language skills, emotion knowledge, and academic outcomes