The Impact of Caregiver Emotion Socialization on Adolescent Implicit Theory of Emotions

Abstract

The way caregivers react to their child’s negative emotions relates to several important emotional outcomes, but it is not well known how these responses later impact the child’s implicit theory of emotion, or their belief that emotions can or cannot be changed. The present study aimed to understand this relationship in adolescence since it is an integral time for deepened emotional development. It was hypothesized that parental rewarding and overriding children’s emotions would predict a stronger belief that emotions can be changed, whereas magnifying a child’s emotions would correspond to a weaker belief of changeability. The impact of punishing emotions on implicit theories of emotion was kept exploratory. In the spring of 2020, adolescents completed the Emotions as a Child scale through Qualtrics, which assessed how often their caregiver rewarded, overrode, magnified, and punished their negative emotions as a child. Adolescents also completed the Implicit Theories of Emotion Scale, which measured teens’ agreement with four statements about the controllability of emotions. Eight hierarchical linear regressions were conducted through SPSS, in which adolescents’ implicit theory of emotion was regressed on mothers’ and fathers’ responses to their child’s negative emotions after controlling for the adolescent’s age and gender. Ultimately, it was found that higher maternal and paternal reward of emotions and paternal override of emotions predicted a stronger belief that emotions are changeable. Comparatively, higher magnification and punishment of emotions by fathers, but not by mothers, predicted weaker belief that emotions are changeable. All in all, the results suggest that the ways in which parents respond to their child’s emotions corresponds to how youth relate to their own emotions, with differences by mothers and fathers.

Start Time

16-4-2025 9:00 AM

End Time

16-4-2025 11:30 AM

Presentation Type

Poster

Presentation Category

Social Sciences

Student Type

Graduate Student - Doctoral

Faculty Mentor

Rachel Miller-Slough

Faculty Department

Psychology

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Apr 16th, 9:00 AM Apr 16th, 11:30 AM

The Impact of Caregiver Emotion Socialization on Adolescent Implicit Theory of Emotions

The way caregivers react to their child’s negative emotions relates to several important emotional outcomes, but it is not well known how these responses later impact the child’s implicit theory of emotion, or their belief that emotions can or cannot be changed. The present study aimed to understand this relationship in adolescence since it is an integral time for deepened emotional development. It was hypothesized that parental rewarding and overriding children’s emotions would predict a stronger belief that emotions can be changed, whereas magnifying a child’s emotions would correspond to a weaker belief of changeability. The impact of punishing emotions on implicit theories of emotion was kept exploratory. In the spring of 2020, adolescents completed the Emotions as a Child scale through Qualtrics, which assessed how often their caregiver rewarded, overrode, magnified, and punished their negative emotions as a child. Adolescents also completed the Implicit Theories of Emotion Scale, which measured teens’ agreement with four statements about the controllability of emotions. Eight hierarchical linear regressions were conducted through SPSS, in which adolescents’ implicit theory of emotion was regressed on mothers’ and fathers’ responses to their child’s negative emotions after controlling for the adolescent’s age and gender. Ultimately, it was found that higher maternal and paternal reward of emotions and paternal override of emotions predicted a stronger belief that emotions are changeable. Comparatively, higher magnification and punishment of emotions by fathers, but not by mothers, predicted weaker belief that emotions are changeable. All in all, the results suggest that the ways in which parents respond to their child’s emotions corresponds to how youth relate to their own emotions, with differences by mothers and fathers.