Palmer Alyssa R, Labella Madelyn, Plowman Elizabeth J, Foster Rachel, Masten Ann S
University of Minnesota.
Soc Dev. 2020 Aug;29(3):732-749. doi: 10.1111/sode.12435. Epub 2019 Dec 28.
Adaptive emotion regulation (ER) in parents has been linked to better parenting quality and social-emotional adjustment in children from middle-income families. In particular, early childhood may represent a sensitive period in which parenting behaviors and functioning have large effects on child social-emotional adjustment. However, little is known about how parent ER and parenting are related to child adjustment in high-risk families. In the context of adversity, parents may struggle to maintain positive parenting behaviors and adaptive self-regulation strategies which could jeopardize their children's adjustment. The current study investigated parents' own cognitive ER strategies and observed parenting quality in relation to young children's internalizing and externalizing problems among families experiencing homelessness. Participants included 108 primary caregivers and their four- to six-year-old children residing in emergency shelters. Using multiple methods, parenting and parent ER were assessed during a shelter stay and teachers subsequently provided ratings of children's internalizing and externalizing difficulties in the classroom. Parenting quality was expected to predict fewer classroom internalizing and externalizing behaviors as well as moderate the association between parent ER strategies and child outcomes. Results suggest that parenting quality buffered the effects of parent maladaptive ER strategies on child internalizing symptoms. The mediating role of parenting quality on that association was also investigated to build on prior empirical work in low-risk samples. Parenting quality did not show expected mediating effects. Findings suggest that parents experiencing homelessness who use fewer maladaptive cognitive ER strategies and more positive parenting behaviors may protect their children against internalizing problems.
父母的适应性情绪调节（ER）与中等收入家庭中儿童更好的养育质量和社会情绪调节有关。特别是在幼儿期，这可能是一个敏感期，养育行为和功能对儿童的社会情绪调节有很大影响。然而，对于高风险家庭中父母的情绪调节和养育方式如何与儿童的适应能力相关，我们知之甚少。在逆境中，父母可能难以维持积极的养育行为和适应性的自我调节策略，这可能会危及孩子的适应能力。本研究调查了经历无家可归的家庭中，父母自身的认知情绪调节策略以及观察到的养育质量与幼儿内化和外化问题之间的关系。参与者包括108名主要照顾者及其居住在紧急避难所的4至6岁儿童。采用多种方法，在避难所居住期间评估养育方式和父母的情绪调节，随后教师对儿童在课堂上的内化和外化困难进行评分。预计养育质量可以预测课堂上较少的内化和外化行为，并调节父母情绪调节策略与儿童结果之间的关联。结果表明，养育质量缓冲了父母适应不良的情绪调节策略对儿童内化症状的影响。还研究了养育质量在这种关联中的中介作用，以借鉴低风险样本中的先前实证研究。养育质量并未显示出预期的中介作用。研究结果表明，经历无家可归的父母如果较少使用适应不良的认知情绪调节策略，更多地采用积极的养育行为，可能会保护他们的孩子免受内化问题的影响。
