Date of Graduation
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
College of Education and Human Services
Department
Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling & Counseling Psychology
Committee Chair
Amy E Root
Committee Co-Chair
Amy Gentzler
Committee Member
Suzanne Hartman
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the maternal socialization of disappointment and its impact on prosocial behavior. In a structured laboratory observation, sixty-five preschool aged children and their mothers underwent a disappointment task. The mothers (M = 34.27 years) completed two questionnaires to assess response to disappointment and children's frequency to prosocial behavior. Maternal observed behaviors of negative affect were positively associated with higher maternal reports of prosocial behavior in children. Also, mothers who reported using problem-focused responses to children's disappointment reported having children who were more prosocial. There were also significant gender differences. Mothers of sons only had significant findings when using problem-focused responses. While mothers of daughters saw the same results yielded from the full sample. Mothers also spent more time engaged with daughters during times of disappointment than with sons. These findings take previous research one step further by focusing on a new aspect of disappointment and by examining the socialization of a specific emotion. The findings generated from this study can be used in real world applications to help mothers teach children to perspective take and be more prosocial towards others.
Recommended Citation
Svolos, Alexandria, "The Effects of Maternal Emotion Socialization of Disappointment on Prosocial Behavior in Preschool Aged Children" (2018). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6749.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/6749