Emotion socialization behaviors and child outcomes: An examination across generations

The main purpose of this research is to examine the emotion socialization process in depth in the preschool period. Two studies were conducted for this purpose. In Study 1, environmental characteristics in which mothers' grew up and individual characteristics that predict emotional socialization behaviors were investigated. In Study 2, the role of mother-child relationship and children's emotion regulation skills in the relationship between mothers' emotional socialization behaviors and children's prosocial and problem behaviors were investigated. 76 grandmothers (Mean = 58.66, SD = 6.49) and mothers (Mean = 34.39, SD = 3.99) participated to Study 1. Study 1 showed that mother's dismissing meta-emotional philosophy and neuroticism predicted supportive emotion socialization behaviors negatively, non-supportive emotion socialization behaviors positively; suppression predicted supportive emotion socialization behaviors positively and nonsupportive emotion socialization behaviors negatively. Grandmothers' supportive emotion socialization behaviors positively predicted mothers' supportive emotion socialization behaviors. Grandmother's nonsupportive emotional socialization behaviors positively predicted mothers' nonsupportive emotion socialization behaviors. Finally, level of suppression negatively predicted mothers' didactic emotional socialization behaviors. 172 mothers (Mean = 34.41, SD = 4.51) and children (Mean = 50.91, SD = 4.51) = 9.26) participated to Study 2. Study 2 indicated that mothers' with low education minimizing and explaining social norms behaviors decreased mother-child conflict and which in turn increased children's emotion regulation skills, and this increased prosocial and decreased problem behaviors of children. In addition, solution-offering behaviors of mothers with high education increased mother-child cooperation and this increased children's emotion regulation skills, and which in turn increase prosocial and decrease internalizing and externalizing problems of children. The present study contributed to the literature in terms of being the first study to examine intergenerational transmission of emotion socialization behaviors. The findings of two studies revealed that education level is an important determinant of emotion socialization behaviors.