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Maternal Emotion Coaching: A Protective Factor for Traumatized Children’s Emotion Regulation?

  • Emotion Regulation in Traumatized Children
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Abstract

This preliminary report aimed to shed light on parental emotion coaching as a potential protective factor in children’s reactions to trauma. The sample consisted of 15 children who had been referred to maltreatment services and were 46 to 58 months of age. Maternal emotion coaching of the child when discussing a negative event and child emotion regulation in a separate disappointment task were coded by blind, independent raters. The relationship between maternal emotion coaching and child emotion regulation was strong (r = .70) and was retained when controlling for internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of the child. The findings, their limitations, and the implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School, 21 Autumn Street, 1st floor, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    B. Heidi Ellis

  2. Monash Injury Research Institute, Monash University, Victoria, Australia

    Eva Alisic

Authors
  1. B. Heidi Ellis
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  2. Eva Alisic
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Correspondence to B. Heidi Ellis.

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Ellis, B.H., Alisic, E. Maternal Emotion Coaching: A Protective Factor for Traumatized Children’s Emotion Regulation?. Journ Child Adol Trauma 6, 118–125 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1080/19361521.2013.755651

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19361521.2013.755651

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