Influence of Gender on Parental Socialization of Children's Sadness Regulation

Mothers' (N = 60) and fathers' (N = 53) perceptions of and desire for change in their 6‐ to 11‐year‐old daughters' (N = 59) and sons' (N = 54) sadness regulation behaviors (i.e., inhibition, dysregulation, coping) were examined in addition to parental responses to children's...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social development (Oxford, England) England), 2007-05, Vol.16 (2), p.210-231
Main Authors: Cassano, Michael, Perry-Parrish, Carisa, Zeman, Janice
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Differences
Children
Children & youth
Daughters
Emotions
Fathers
Gender
Gender differences
Grade 1
Grade 4
Mothers
Multivariate Analysis
parent gender
Parent Influence
Parenting Styles
Parents
Parents & parenting
Preschool Children
Psychological Patterns
Regulation
Sadness
sadness regulation
Sex
Socialization
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Summary:Mothers' (N = 60) and fathers' (N = 53) perceptions of and desire for change in their 6‐ to 11‐year‐old daughters' (N = 59) and sons' (N = 54) sadness regulation behaviors (i.e., inhibition, dysregulation, coping) were examined in addition to parental responses to children's hypothetical sadness displays. Results of multivariate analyses of variance and regression analyses suggest that parental perceptions of and desired change in children's sadness behavior differ as a function of parent gender, child gender and child age (younger (grades 1, 2), older (grades 4, 5)), and predict the likelihood of contingent responses to children's sadness behavior. Overall, fathers reported being likely to respond to sadness with minimization whereas mothers reported being likely to respond with expressive encouragement and problem‐focused strategies. These parent‐reported socialization response tendencies, however, were more fully explained by the interaction between perceptions of children's sadness regulation behaviors and satisfaction with these behaviors. These findings highlight the need to include parent gender and parental cognitions as important variables in emotion socialization research.
ISSN:0961-205X
1467-9507
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00381.x