The Effects of Gender-Specific Parenting Styles in the Intergenerational Transmission of Emotional Regulation Difficulties To Adolescents

Prior research on the intergenerational transmission of emotional regulation difficulties has primarily examined maternal influences on adolescents, with limited attention to paternal contributions and parental dyadic processes. Guided by a family systems perspective, this study examined gender-specific parenting styles’ role in the intergenerational transmission of emotional regulation difficulties from parents to adolescents. Participants included 338 Chinese family units, each consisting of an adolescent (M_age = 14.10 years, SD = 0.95; 51.8% female) and their father and mother. Using structural equation modeling and Actor-Partner Interdependence Model analyses, results revealed that paternal (but not maternal) emotion regulation difficulties directly predicted adolescents’ difficulties. Parental emotion regulation difficulties also predicted both their own and the spouse’s authoritarian parenting, reflecting interparental spillover effects. However, parental difficulties in emotion regulation only have significant actor effects on their own authoritative parenting styles. Maternal authoritarian parenting significantly mediated the association between maternal emotion regulation difficulties and adolescents’ difficulties, while paternal authoritative parenting showed a marginal mediating effect in the paternal pathway. These findings broaden understanding of adolescent emotional development by moving beyond a mother-centered framework to highlight parental dyadic interdependence. The identified gender-specific transmission patterns underscore the importance of enhancing fathers’ authoritative parenting and supporting mothers in moving away from authoritarian practices in interventions aimed at alleviating adolescents’ emotion regulation difficulties.