Parental Socialization of Emotion
Psychological InquiryPublished 1 October 1998
Nancy Eisenberg, Amanda Cumberland, Tracy L. Spinrad
Citations2,495
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.13
SNIP1.22
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TL;DR
Initial support is provided for the view that parental socialization practices have effects on children's emotional and social competence and that the socialization process is bidirectional, including parental negative emotionality and negative reactions to children's expression of emotion.
Abstract
Recently, there has been a resurgence of research on emotion, including the socialization of emotion. In this article, a heuristic model of factors contributing to the socialization of emotion is presented. Then literature relevant to the socialization of children's emotion and emotion-related behavior by parents is reviewed, including (a) parental reactions to children's emotions, (b) socializers' discussion of emotion, and (c) socializers' expression of emotion. The relevant literature is not conclusive and most of the research is correlational. However, the existing body of data provides initial support for the view that parental socialization practices have effects on children's emotional and social competence and that the socialization process is bidirectional. In particular, parental negative emotionality and negative reactions to children's expression of emotion are associated with children's negative emotionality and low social competence. In addition, possible moderators of effects such as level of emotional arousal are discussed.
Keywords
PsychologyHealth Professions
Imagination Cognition and PersonalityEmotional Intelligence
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