Parental influences on children's emotional development: Relations with social competence.

摘要

Research has indicated that aspects of children's emotional competence as indexed by emotion expression, emotion regulation, and understanding of emotions are related to social competence with peers. In addition, research has examined parental behaviors as correlates of children's social competence. The current study examines parental behaviors and children's emotional functioning as correlates of children's social competence. Moreover, the influence of potential antecedent variables is explored.;Seventy fifth-grade children together with their parents participated in the current study. A combination of self-report of parental behaviors and observation of parent-child interactions was used to assess a range of behaviors. Of particular interest were parents use of affect expression, regulation of children's emotions, coaching, and controlling behaviors. For children, observed emotion expression, self-reports of emotion regulation and understanding of emotions were obtained. Teachers and peers in the classroom setting were asked to rate children on behavioral characteristics linked to social competence (how liked or disliked, prosocial or aggressive).;Results indicated that several aspects of observed parental behavior are associated with children's emotional functioning. Parents' affect was related to children's emotion regulation whereas parental coaching was related to children's understanding of emotion. Parents' observed affect was associated with children's observed affect.;The results also indicated that fathers' observed behaviors predicted over and above mothers' behaviors certain aspects of children's emotional functioning. After controlling for mothers' behavior, fathers' coaching predicted children's understanding of emotions and fathers' expression predicted children's expressiveness of emotions.;Findings also support the hypothesis that children's emotional competence is related to their social competence with peers. Children's appropriate emotion regulation was related to being rated more positively and less negatively by both teachers and peers. Children's expression of emotion was also related to children's social competence as rated by teachers and peers. Moreover, results indicated that children's expression of emotion predicted negative peer ratings over and above the children's emotion regulation and their understanding of emotion.;This study also explored the relation of possible antecedent variables to parental behaviors. The results suggested that observed parent behaviors are related to aspects of the marital relationship and psychological functioning, especially for mothers. Mothers with more loneliness and depression and more negative marital characteristics used more negative affect and controlling behaviors in their interactions with children.;Limitations and strengths of the current research are discussed, including direction of effects and methodological issues. In addition, the practical and research implications as well as suggestions for future studies are addressed.