Emotion expression among abusive mothers is associated with their children\u27s emotion processing and problem behaviours

The current study evaluated the quality of facial and vocal emotional expressions in abusive and nonabusivemothers, and assessed whether mothers’ emotional expression quality was related to theirchildren’s cognitive processing of emotion and behavioural problems. Relative to non-abusivemothers, abusive mothers produced less prototypical angry facial expressions, and less prototypicalangry, happy, and sad vocal expressions. The intensity of mothers’ facial and vocal expressions ofanger was related to their children’s externalising and internalising symptoms. Additionally,children’s cognitive processing of their mothers’ angry faces was related to the quality of mothers’facial expressions. Results are discussed with respect to the impact of early emotional learningenvironments on children’s socioemotional development and risk for psychopathology