"Child temperament as an influence on maternal emotion socialization in" by Stephanie L. Clarke

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling & Counseling Psychology

Committee Chair

Amy Root

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relation between child temperament and maternal emotion socialization practices (e.g., supportive/non-supportive). Data were gathered from mothers of 3- and 4-year-olds; 51 mothers participated anonymously via Facebook, and 33 were drawn from a larger study on emotion socialization. Mothers completed a series of questionnaires, including a demographics questionnaire; the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; Putnam & Rothbart, 2000) to assess maternal perception of child temperament, and the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES; Fabes, Poulin, Eisenberg, & Madden-Derdich, 2002) to examine maternal responsiveness to children's emotions. Pearson r correlation tests were conducted and yielded no significant findings. However, post-hoc analyses revealed when the data were examined separately for boys and girls; mothers' ratings of soothability was significantly and positively related to (a) ratings of CCNES supportive -- anger and (b) ratings of CCNES supportive -- fear for boys, but not for girls. In addition, mothers' rating of anger was significantly and positively related to CCNES non-supportive -- fear for girls but not for boys. The tests examining 3- and 4-year-olds separately revealed one significant finding: CBQ soothability was significantly and positively related to CCNES supportive -- fear for 3-year-olds, but the same significant result did not hold true for 4-year-olds. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that child age and gender serve as influential factors of maternal emotion socialization practices (e.g., supportive/non-supportive).

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