Parental reactions to children’s negative emotions and their emotion regulation in the early school years: The mediating role of parental competence

Abstract

Parents are the primary agents of emotion socialization and play a crucial role in their children’s emotion regulation. In this context, it is important to investigate how parents’ reaction to children’s negative emotions are related to their children’s emotional regulation, as well as possible mechanisms in this association, such as parental competence. The present study aimed to analyse the association between parental reactions to children’s negative emotions and their emotional regulation, mediated by parental competence. Parents (129 mothers and 45 fathers) of a child (n = 174) who attended the first cycle of basic education (M = 7.89; SD = 1.32; 50.6% girls) reported about their perception of reactions to children’s negative emotions, parental competence, and children’s emotion regulation. Data was collected online. Mediation analysis revealed that supportive reactions were related to children’s greater emotion regulation, whereas nonsupportive ones were related to children’s greater emotional lability/negativity. Importantly, these direct effects were differently mediated by parental self-efficacy and satisfaction (i.e., parental competence). The findings highlight the influence of parenting on children’s socioemotional adjustment and may inform intervention programs targeting parents and young children