Pereira Ariel S, Azhari Atiqah, Hong Chloe A, Gaskin Gerin E, Borelli Jessica L, Esposito Gianluca
Psychology Program, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, School of Social Science, Policy and Evaluation, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA 91711, USA.
Brain Sci. 2021 May 16;11(5):652. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11050652.
Savouring is an emotion regulation strategy and intervention that focuses on the process of attending, intensifying and prolonging positive experiences and positive affect associated with these memories. Personal savouring involves a reflection on positive memories that are specific to the individual and do not involve others. In contrast, relational savouring entails reflecting on instances when people were responsive to the needs of their significant others. Such interventions hold potential benefits in enhancing positive affect (PA) and reducing negative affect (NA) for both parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and parents of neurotypical children. Adults with greater symptoms of generalised anxiety have been found to have less PA and more NA. However, no study has investigated the effects of a mother's anxiety symptoms on the efficacy of savouring in enhancing PA and reducing NA. Thus, this paper combined personal and relational savouring to investigate whether savouring may enhance PA and reduce NA of a pooled sample of mothers of neurotypical children and mothers of children with ASD. 52 mothers of neurotypical children and 26 mothers of children with ASD aged 3-7 years old were given a series of questionnaires and randomly assigned to either relational savouring or personal savouring conditions. In relational savouring, mothers were asked to reflect upon a shared positive experience with their child while in the personal savouring condition, a personal positive experience was recalled. Across mothers of children with ASD and neurotypical children, findings suggest that savouring leads to a decrease in NA ( < 0.01) but not increases in PA. Similarly, mothers with higher levels of anxiety experience a greater decrease in NA ( < 0.001) compared to mothers with lower levels of anxiety post-savouring. This study proposes that a brief savouring intervention may be effective among mothers of preschoolers. As lower levels of negative affect is linked to healthier psychological well-being, mothers might be able to engage in more effective and warm parenting after savouring exercises, which would cultivate positive mother-child relationships that benefit their children in the long-term.
品味是一种情绪调节策略和干预方式，它专注于关注、强化和延长与这些记忆相关的积极体验和积极情感的过程。个人品味涉及对特定于个人且不涉及他人的积极记忆的反思。相比之下，关系品味则需要反思人们对其重要他人的需求做出回应的情况。这种干预对于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的父母和发育正常儿童的父母在增强积极情感（PA）和减少消极情感（NA）方面具有潜在益处。研究发现，具有更严重广泛性焦虑症状的成年人积极情感较少，消极情感较多。然而，尚无研究调查母亲的焦虑症状对品味在增强积极情感和减少消极情感方面的效果的影响。因此，本文结合个人品味和关系品味，以研究品味是否可以增强发育正常儿童的母亲和ASD儿童的母亲这一合并样本的积极情感并减少消极情感。52名发育正常儿童的母亲和26名3至7岁ASD儿童的母亲接受了一系列问卷调查，并被随机分配到关系品味或个人品味条件组。在关系品味中，母亲们被要求反思与孩子的一次共同积极经历，而在个人品味条件下，她们要回忆一次个人积极经历。在ASD儿童的母亲和发育正常儿童的母亲中，研究结果表明品味会导致消极情感减少（<0.01），但不会增加积极情感。同样，与品味后焦虑水平较低的母亲相比，焦虑水平较高的母亲消极情感减少得更多（<0.001）。本研究提出，简短的品味干预可能对学龄前儿童的母亲有效。由于较低水平的消极情感与更健康的心理健康状况相关，母亲们在进行品味练习后可能能够进行更有效和温暖的育儿，这将培养积极的母子关系，从长远来看对孩子有益。
