ISSN: 2225-8329
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Models of maternal emotion socialization emphasize that mothers' responses to their children's emotional experiences play a central role in shaping children's emotional development and behavioral functioning. Maternal negative emotion socialization, particularly about children's negative emotions, may be imprinted on children's current and future emotion regulation capacities and behaviour management. This paper reviews how maternal negative emotion socialization practices contribute to child problem behaviour, with a specific focus on sub-domains that are associated with internalizing and externalizing outcomes. Participants included 380 mothers of middle-aged children, whose data was collected through standardized assessments. Maternal emotion socialization was measured by the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES). The regulation of children's emotion was measured using the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC). Children's behavioral problems were estimated using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The results of this study have proven that such a maternal punitive, distress, and minimization reaction is positively related to behavioral issues in children, including both externalizing and internalizing problems. These findings emphasize the significant impact of maternal responses on children’s emotional and social well-being. These insights underscore the importance of targeted interventions to improve maternal emotion socialization practices as a means to enhance child developmental outcomes.
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