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Child Regulation of Negative Emotions and Depressive Symptoms: The

Moderating Role of Parental Emotion Socialization

Article  in  Journal of Child and Family Studies · February 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s10826-013-9850-y

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J Child Fam Stud
DOI 10.1007/s10826-013-9850-y

ORIGINAL PAPER

Child Regulation of Negative Emotions and Depressive

Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Parental Emotion
Socialization
Wesley Sanders • Janice Zeman • Jennifer Poon •

Rachel Miller

Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Abstract Research indicates that parents’ methods of fathers, at high levels of unsupportive responses to emo-
emotion socialization impact the development of their tions, children were perceived to have more anger dys-
children’s emotion expressivity, which, in turn, is impli- regulation, less anger coping, less sadness coping, and
cated in the emergence of internalizing symptoms. Rela- more depressive symptoms. Regression analyses indicated
tively little research, however, has examined the emotion that mothers’ unsupportive responses to sadness and
socialization behaviors that mothers and fathers use to fathers’ unsupportive responses to anger are associated
socialize their children’s emotion regulation with respect to with their children’s depressive symptoms. These findings
how these behaviors may differentially predict depressive support the notion that mothers and fathers play unique
symptoms in their sons and daughters. In the current study, roles in children’s emotion regulation skills and subsequent
the relations among these three variables were investigated risk for depression.
by having mothers and fathers report on their children’s
dysregulation and regulation coping of anger and sadness. Keywords Emotion regulation
Emotion
Sons and daughters reported on their perceived receipt of socialization
Depression
Fathers
parents’ responses to their anger and sadness expressivity,
as well as their own depressive symptoms. Correlational
analyses revealed that unsupportive responses to emotional Introduction
expressivity were related to greater child emotion dysreg-
ulation, poorer emotion coping, and depressive symptoms. Emotional development entails advances and maturation in
Moderation analyses revealed that, for both mothers and children’s abilities to understand, express, and manage
their emotions in a functional and adaptive manner (Zeman
Jennifer Poon graduated from William and Mary and is now at
et al. 2006). Although biological mechanisms contribute to
George Mason University. this development, socialization by parents and others (e.g.,
peers, siblings) strongly influences how children learn to
W. Sanders (&) regulate their emotions (for a review, see Zeman et al.
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, John Dewey
2013). Parental discouragement of emotional expressivity
Hall Rm 246, 2 Colchester Avenue, Burlington, VT 05405-0134,
USA (i.e., contingencies) is one socialization mechanism that
e-mail: [email protected] influences children’s development of emotion regulation
skills (Lunkenheimer et al. 2012; Zeman et al. 2013).
J. Zeman
Gottman et al. (1996) suggested that optimal emotion
College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA
socialization encourages children to express a range of
J. Poon emotions while learning how to manage both negative and
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA positive emotions in socially desirable ways (e.g., sustain
an adaptive level of positive emotionality, promote a return
R. Miller
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, to neutral affect). Through observing and interacting with
VA, USA parents, children develop regulatory strategies that help

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 J Child Fam Stud

them understand and meet the demands of their social suggests that children who consistently suppress their anger
environment (Campos et al. 2004). are more vulnerable to depression (Zahn-Waxler et al.
Emotion regulation has been conceptualized as ‘‘the 2000), other research indicates that children’s reported
extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, dysregulation of anger is associated with internalizing
evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially symptoms (Zeman et al. 2002). For example, Goodwin
their intensive and temporal features, to accomplish one’s (2006) found that 11–15 year old youth who reported using
goals’’ (Thompson 1994, pp. 27–28). In contrast, emotion a dysregulated, aggressive style of coping with negative
dysregulation may be reflected by an inflexible and/or emotions had a higher likelihood of experiencing depres-
inconsistent and unpredictable management of emotion; sive symptoms. These findings point to the importance of
neither approach meets the demands of the social context differentiating between specific emotional experiences as
(Chaplin and Cole 2005; Keenan 2000). Research indicates potential indicators of risk for psychopathology. By
that adaptive emotion regulation is associated with greater socializing regulatory patterns of different negative emo-
social competence and lower internalizing and externalizing tions, parents can influence the likelihood of these
symptoms (Zeman et al. 2006). Children who are unable to responses in their children, thus indirectly influencing the
effectively and routinely manage their emotions show poor development of depressive symptomatology.
social functioning (Eisenberg et al. 2003) and signs of Gottman et al. (1997) proposed that parents who dismiss
depression, depending on the type of emotion and the manner and invalidate rather than support their child’s emotions
in which it is dysregulated (Deater-Deckard 2001; Rudolph provide a less conducive environment for children to learn
and Asher 2000). Although emotion dysregulation is asso- adaptive emotion regulation skills. The notion of unsup-
ciated with many different forms of psychopathology (Sch- portive emotion socialization can reflect a diverse range of
wartz et al. 2011), we chose to examine depressive symptoms parental responses, with some research aggregating these
because of its high prevalence rates that rise dramatically in strategies into a unified construct in order to reduce com-
adolescence (Merikangas et al. 2010). Moreover, depression plexity (Baker et al. 2011; Cassano et al. in press; Gottman
predicts the presence of other psychological disorders and et al. 1996; Klimes-Dougan and Zeman 2007). In general,
negative life outcomes, such as anxiety, substance use, self- parents who utilize an unsupportive emotion socialization
injurious behavior, and suicide (Copeland et al. 2009). Thus, style tend to have children who express emotions in a
potential risk factors experienced in childhood that forecast dysregulated manner, resulting in a higher likelihood for
later depressive symptoms are a relevant and pressing internalizing and externalizing disorders, as well as poorer
concern. social competence (Fabes et al. 2001; Gottman et al. 1996;
When examining the relations between emotion regula- Lunkenheimer et al. 2007). By consistently responding to
tion and depression, research indicates that frequent feelings their child’s emotions in an unsupportive way, parents
of sadness can influence children’s subsequent response to reinforce the notion that emotions are ‘‘bad’’ and should be
this emotion, increasing the risk for depression (Abela et al. suppressed. In turn, the child internalizes this emotion
2002; Izard 2002). In general, frequent under-regulation of philosophy and adopts maladaptive regulatory styles.
sadness can serve as a risk factor for depression in childhood Parents may differentially socialize sadness and anger in
(Kovacs et al. 2008; Zeman et al. 2002). Importantly, the children because these emotions have different purposes
expression of sadness does not necessarily reflect mal- and consequences in a social context. It has been posited
adaptive behavior because sadness serves a functional pur- that the function of sadness expression is to gain support,
pose of soliciting attention and gaining social support to whereas anger is thought to be instrumental in removing
alleviate the distress (Barrett and Campos 1987; Buss and obstacles to obtaining goals (Barrett and Campos 1987). It
Kiel 2004). However, children in a family environment in appears that parents socialize sadness and anger differently
which negative emotions are frequent, erratic, and intensely in their sons and daughters based on their evaluation of the
expressed are more likely to respond with sadness that, goal of the emotion, whether the expression of the emotion
although contextually appropriate, reinforces the likelihood is contextually and socially appropriate, and how consistent
of a dysregulated response (Zeman et al. 2013). Taken the expression is with their meta-emotion philosophy
together, it appears that experiencing sadness frequently and (Cassano and Zeman 2010; Cassano et al. in press). Both
under-regulating sad emotions may place children at risk for child and parent gender play a significant role in deter-
depression. Limited research, however, has examined how mining the socialization strategies employed by parents
mothers’ and fathers’ anger and sadness socialization may when discussing emotions with their child (Cassano et al.
differentially predict depressive symptoms in their sons and 2007). Research demonstrates that parents are more likely
daughters (Kovacs et al. 2008). to discuss sadness with girls and anger with boys, and that
Maladaptive regulatory responses to anger may also mothers tend to talk about emotions more with their
contribute to depression. Although previous research daughters than sons (e.g., Fivush et al. 2000). Less is

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J Child Fam Stud

known about the impact that fathers have on their children of their parents’ socialization efforts are less likely to be
when discussing emotions, as previous research primarily impacted by social desirability. Consistent with previous
has focused on maternal or combined parental responses research (Baker et al. 2011; Cassano et al. in press; Klimes-
(Cassano et al. 2006). The available literature, however, Dougan and Zeman 2007), a composite variable was
suggests that fathers are more likely to engage in gendered formed using socialization strategies that characterize
emotion socialization, encouraging the discussion of anger perceived unsupportive emotion socialization practices.
in boys and sadness in girls, but not vice versa (Cassano Because children in middle childhood and adolescence are
et al. 2007; Cassano et al. in press). thought to be the best informants on their internalizing
Although research demonstrates that parents play a crit- experiences (Durbin 2010), they were asked to report on
ical role in the emotional development of their child, many their depressive symptoms.
gaps in the literature remain. The link between emotion Based on theory and the empirical literature, we offer
regulation difficulties and depression has been established four hypotheses. First, we hypothesized that children’s
(Kovacs et al. 2008), yet the influence of parental emotion perceived unsupportive parenting would be positively
socialization on this association needs more empirical associated with more emotion dysregulation, less adaptive
consideration. The present study focuses on the emotion coping, and greater depressive symptoms. Second, emotion
socialization roles of both mothers and fathers because, dysregulation was expected to be positively associated with
historically, fathers have received scant attention in the depressive symptoms, whereas emotion coping was
parental emotion socialization literature (Cassano et al. expected to be inversely related to depressive symptoms.
2006) despite indications of their important role in chil- Third, regarding parental differences, we hypothesized that
dren’s development (Chaplin et al. 2005; Flanders et al. perceived maternal unsupportive responses to sadness
2009; Garside and Klimes-Dougan 2002). In addition, little would be a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms than
research has examined differences between maternal and for anger. The opposite was hypothesized for fathers; that
paternal emotion socialization practices as a function of is, perceived paternal unsupportive responses to anger
emotion type. Research indicates that parents respond dif- would be a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms than
ferentially to specific types of emotions in their children that for sadness. Fourth, we tested the moderating effect of
reflect gender-typical emotion expression norms (Cassano unsupportive emotion socialization on the association
and Zeman 2010; Fivush et al. 2000). Finally, research on between child emotion dysregulation and coping and
emotion socialization and emotion regulation has focused depressive symptoms. We expected that more unsupportive
largely on infancy or early childhood with little focus paid to parental responses would increase a child’s vulnerability to
middle childhood with its unique milestones and challenges depressive symptoms, whereas less unsupportive parenting
(Klimes-Dougan and Zeman 2007). We examined this age would decrease the association.
group (i.e., ages 8–11), in order to better understand how
parents continue to exert influence on emotional develop-
ment in a stage when children are consolidating emotion Method
skills learned in preschool and early childhood and
becoming more independent and skilled in their emotion Participants
regulation efforts. Parents’ expectations concerning their
children’s emotional competencies change with increasing A total of 133 families participated as part of a larger study.
age, which are then reflected in their emotion socialization For the purposes of the current research, only 2-parent
behaviors (Cassano et al. 2007). Although there is not a high households were included yielding a final sample of 84
prevalence of clinical depression in middle childhood, this families. All families had complete data from both mothers
age group marks an important latency period prior to the and fathers. There were 48 sons and 36 daughters ranging
upsurge in depression in adolescence, particularly for girls from 8 to 11 years old (M age = 10.1 years, SD = 1.00)
(Keenan and Hipwell 2005). Thus, investigating risk factors who were enrolled in the second (n = 2, 2.4 %), third
that potentially contribute to setting the stage for later (n = 28, 33.3 %), fourth (n = 25, 29.8 %), or fifth (n = 29,
depressive episodes is critical for prevention and early 34.5 %) grades. Although the sample was comprised of
intervention efforts (Garber 2006). significantly more boys than girls, t(81) = 7.96, p \ .001,
In this study, we utilized a multi-informant method in there were no significant differences between the sexes on
which parents reported on two facets of their child’s age, race, or socioeconomic status (SES). Children identi-
emotion management (i.e., emotion dysregulation, emotion fied as Caucasian (84.1 %), African-American (6.1 %),
regulation coping). Children reported on their perceived Hispanic (1.2 %), Asian (2.4 %), or Other (6.1 %). Mothers
receipt of parents’ anger and sadness socialization strate- and fathers identified as Caucasian (84.1, 87.7 %), African-
gies because children’s experience and subsequent report American (6.1, 6.2 %), Hispanic (3.7, 2.5 %), Asian (2.4,

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 J Child Fam Stud

1.2 %), or Other (2.4, 1.2 %). The majority of parents were focus on negative emotion socialization styles, the Reward
the child’s biological parents (94.0 % of mothers, 89.3 % of subscale items were reverse-coded and also included in the
fathers), whereas 3.6 % of mothers and 3.6 % of fathers unsupportive socialization scale. Given our interest in
were adoptive parents and 2.4 % of mothers and 6.0 % of comparing mothers and fathers, scores for each parent were
fathers were step-parents. On average, families were of used as separate predictors. Internal consistencies for the
middle to upper SES (M = 50.11, SD = 11.97; Hollings- unsupportive emotion socialization subscales were ade-
head 1975). quate (Mother: Anger, a = .70, Sadness, a = .60; Father:
Anger, a = .77, Sadness, a = .68). Skewness and kurtosis
for each subscale were within the normative range prior to
Measures centering.

Emotion Socialization Child Emotion Regulation

Emotions as a Child Scale: Child Report Children’s Anger and Sadness Management Scales: Parent
Report
(EAC; Magai 1996). The EAC is a 15-item measure of
child perceptions of parental emotion socialization strate- (P-CAMS, P-CSMS; Cassano et al. 2007). This scale con-
gies. Children are asked to rate on a 5-point Likert-style sists of 11 items for anger and 12 items for sadness and
scale (1 = not at all like my mother/father, 5 = a lot like assesses parents’ perception of their child’s ability to man-
my mother/father) how likely it is that their mothers and age his or her anger or sadness. Parents are asked to rate how
fathers responded to their emotional behavior in certain often their child exhibits the following behaviors using a
ways within the last month. Children reported on their 3-point Likert-style scale (1 = hardly ever, 2 = sometimes,
mothers and fathers separately. These questions correspond 3 = often). This scale is applicable for children ranging in
to five types of parental responses to children’s expressions age from 6 to 16. This questionnaire yields three subscales
of anger and sadness: Neglect, Punish, Magnify, Override, but for the purposes of this study only the Dysregulated
and Reward. The Neglect subscale evaluates whether Expression and Regulation Coping scales were used.
children perceive their parents as ignoring or dismissing The 3-item Dysregulated Expression subscale assesses
their angry or sad emotions (e.g., ‘‘When I was sad, my the under-control of anger or sadness (e.g., ‘‘My child says
mom did not pay attention to my sadness’’). The Punish mean things to others when he/she is mad’’). The Regula-
subscale measures the extent to which children perceive tion Coping subscale consists of four items for anger and
their parents as providing negative consequences for their five items for sadness, and assesses the child’s ability to
anger or sadness displays (e.g., ‘‘When I was angry, my dad cope constructively with anger or sadness (e.g., ‘‘My child
told me I was acting younger than my age’’). The Magnify stays calm and doesn’t let sad things get to him/her’’). The
subscale measures the degree to which parents’ emotions CEMS have consistently demonstrated acceptable coeffi-
match or exceed that of their child’s (e.g., ‘‘When I was cient alphas and test–retest reliability (Zeman et al. 2001,
sad, my mom got very sad’’). The Override subscale 2010). Given the significant pattern of correlations between
reflects the parents’ attempt to dismiss or disregard their mother and father reports of their child’s emotion man-
child’s emotions (e.g., ‘‘When I was sad, my dad bought agement (see Table 1), the reports were combined. Internal
me something to cheer me up’’). Finally, the Reward consistencies were in the acceptable range (Anger: Coping,
subscale is a measure of the parent’s acknowledgement and a = .87, Dysregulation, a = .74; Sadness; Coping,
validation of their child’s emotions (e.g., ‘‘When I was sad, a = .76, Dysregulation: a = .63). Skewness and kurtosis
my mom helped me deal with the issue that made me for each subscale were within the normative range prior to
sad’’). Reliability and validity of the EAC have been centering.
established in the literature (Magai 1997).
Based on these five subscales, a mean score for per- Child Depressive Symptomology
ceived unsupportive emotion socialization was initially
computed for mothers and fathers. Exploratory factor Children’s Depression Inventory: Self-report
analyses revealed item loadings below the recommended .4
value (Browne 1968; Stevens 1996) for items 12 (neglect) (CDI; Kovacs 1992) The CDI is a 27-item measure of
and 5 (punish), as well as conflicting loadings for the items depressed mood in children aged 7–17. Children were
on the Override subscale. Given the poor incremental value asked to choose one of three statements that best describes
of these items, they were dropped from subsequent analy- how they felt over the past 2 weeks, with each corre-
ses. In order to increase reliability while maintaining a sponding to an absence of symptoms, a mild or probable

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Table 1 Summary of intercorrelations, means, and standard deviations among controls, predictors and outcomes
Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1. Child age – .02 .11 .02 .16 .10 -.12 .17 .04 -.18^ .03
^ ** ^
2. SES – -.21 -.16 -.32 -.16 .11 -.05 .20 -.03 -.18
3. UER-AM – .82** .58** .57** -.16 .19^ -.21* .11 .34**
4. UER-AF – .63** .69** -.19^ .34** .33** .22* .46**
** ^ **
5. UER-SM – .75 -.19 -.34 -.18 .14 .42**
* ** ** *
6. UER-SF – -.25 .33 -.32 .22 .32**
** ** **
7. Coping-anger – -.43 .61 -.46 -.38**
** **
8. Dys-anger – -.43 .33 .40**
9. Coping-sadness – -.74** -.41**
10. Dys-sadness – .24*
11. CDI –
M 121.11 50.11 2.00 2.15 1.91 2.00 3.12 2.49 3.02 2.48 7.69
SD 12.02 11.97 .55 .66 .47 .57 .77 .71 .57 .59 6.91
Age scores reflected in months
UER unsupportive emotion responses, AM anger, mothers, SM sadness, mothers, AF anger, fathers, SF sadness, fathers
^
p \ .10; * p \ .05; ** p \ .01

symptom, or a definite symptom. The CDI has demon- Hypothesis 1: Correlational Analyses for Unsupportive
strated acceptable psychometric properties (Kovacs 1992) Parenting Correlational analyses were conducted to test
with strong internal consistency demonstrated in the pres- associations between perceived unsupportive emotion
ent study (a = .89). In the current sample, 15.5 % of the socialization and child emotion regulation as well as child
sample (13 children) received total raw scores of 13 or depressive symptoms. Unsupportive parental responses for
higher, indicating mild to moderate levels of depression anger from both mothers and fathers were associated with
(Kazdin 1989; Smucker et al. 1986). greater child anger dysregulation and poorer coping with
anger with one exception: perceived unsupportive respon-
Procedure ses by mothers were not associated with child anger cop-
ing. For sadness, unsupportive paternal responses were
After obtaining IRB approval, we contacted local ele- associated with greater child sadness dysregulation and
mentary schools from a southeastern USA school district. poorer coping whereas for mothers these associations were
Principals provided permission to send letters home with not significant. Further, unsupportive parental responses for
children in grades three to five. Parents were given the both anger and sadness by both mothers and fathers were
option of contacting the researcher by phone, mail, or positively associated with depressive symptom scores.
email. Participating families came to the university lab,
Hypothesis 2: Correlational Analyses for Child Emotion
where parents completed questionnaires in separate rooms
Regulation Correlational analyses were used to test for
while the research assistant read questionnaires aloud to the
associations between child emotion regulation and depres-
child and recorded the answers. Families were compen-
sive symptoms. Parental reports of child anger and sadness
sated for their time.
dysregulation were positively associated with depressive
symptom scores, whereas parental report of child coping
was negatively associated with depressive symptoms.
Results

Correlational Analyses Preliminary Analyses for Regressions

Correlational analyses were computed to test for associations Bootstrapped comparisons of child sex revealed a signifi-
between controls (child sex, SES), predictors (perceived cant difference for anger coping [M difference = -.34,
parent unsupportive socialization, child emotion regulation, 95 % CI (-.65, -.01), p = .04], with parental reports of
child sex), and outcome variable (depressive symptoms). child anger coping higher for girls than for boys, and a
Table 1 displays correlations among the study variables as marginally significant difference for sadness coping
well their means, standard deviations, and ranges. [M difference = -.20, 95 % CI (-.44, .04), p = .09]. No

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 J Child Fam Stud

Table 2 Regressions predicting depressive scores by emotion type

Predictor variables Mothers Fathers
b (bias; SE) DF b (bias; SE) DF

Step 1
SES -.10 (.00; .07) 1.94 -.10 (-.00; .07) 1.94
Sex -1.64 (-.02; 1.52) -1.64 (.06; 1.49)
Step 2
UER-anger 1.50 (-.12; 1.60) 5.11** 4.62 (-.04; 1.54)** 5.40**
*
UER-sadness 4.91 (.04; 2.17) -.02 (-.01; 1.94)
UER unsupportive emotion responses
^
p \ .10; * p \ .05; ** p \ .01

significant differences were found for comparisons of child were significantly associated with depressive symptoms
age for all predictors. Child sex and SES were entered in [b = 4.91, 95 % CI (.77, 9.50), p = .009], whereas
the first block as control variables in all regressions. mothers’ unsupportive responses to anger were not
(b = 1.50, ns). In the second regression, perceptions of
Hypothesis 3: Differences Between Anger and Sad-
fathers’ unsupportive responses to anger and sadness were
ness Our third hypothesis proposed that perceived
entered as predictors of depressive scores in step 2 after
maternal unsupportive responses for sadness would be a
entering child sex and SES in step 1. This model was also
stronger predictor of depressive symptoms than for anger,
significant, F(2, 81) = 5.40, p = .001; fathers’ unsup-
whereas for fathers, perceived unsupportive responses for
portive responses to anger [b = 4.62, 95 % CI (1.66, 7.79),
anger would be a stronger predictor of depressive symp-
p = .009] but not sadness (b = -.02, ns) were signifi-
toms than for sadness. Bootstrapped unstandardized
cantly associated with depressive symptoms (Table 2).
regression coefficients (the mean regression coefficient
across bootstrapped samples), two-tailed significance lev- Hypothesis 4: Moderation Analyses In order to test our
els for the bootstrapped regression coefficients, bias, and hypothesis that parents’ unsupportive emotion socialization
the bootstrap standard error are presented in Table 2. In moderated the association between child emotion regula-
order to compare associations between depressive symp- tion and depressive symptoms, eight hierarchical multiple
toms and parental socialization by type of emotion, two regression analyses were conducted to predict depressive
bootstrapped regressions were conducted. In the first symptoms from emotion coping and dysregulation. These
regression, perceptions of mothers’ unsupportive responses analyses were conducted separately by emotion type (anger
to anger and sadness were entered as predictors of or sadness), parent gender (mothers or fathers), and the
depressive symptoms in step 2 after entering child sex and emotion management subscale (coping or dysregulation).
SES in step 1. The model was significant, F(2, 81) = 5.11, In order to reduce the likelihood of Type I error, a
p = .001. Mothers’ unsupportive responses to sadness nonparametric resampling method (bias-corrected and

Table 3 Coping 9 unsupportive emotion responses predicting child depressive symptoms

Predictors Mother, anger Father, anger Mother, sadness Father, sadness
b (bias; SE) DF b (bias; SE) DF b (bias; SE) DF b (bias; SE) DF

Step 1
SES -.09 (-.00; .07) 1.81 -.10 (-.00; .07) 1.94 -.10 (-.00; .07) 1.94 -.10 (-.00; .07) 1.94
Sex -1.79 (.00; 1.51) -1.64 (-.01; 1.53) -1.64 (.01; 1.49) -1.64 (-.06; 1.47)
Step 2
Cope -2.91 (-.00; 1.02)* 9.44** -2.66 (-.06; 1.03)* 14.02** -4.05 (.10; 1.56)** 14.22** -3.96 (.09; 1.50)* 8.50**
* ** **
UER 3.31 (.02; 1.33) 4.14 (-.03; 1.19) 5.24 (-.02; 1.56) 2.39 (.04; 1.50)
Step 3
UER 9 -5.16 (-.03; 1.89)* 10.19** -3.13 (.19; 1.43)* 7.08** -3.61 (.30; 1.89)* 5.98* -4.13 (.32; 1.76)* 8.49**
Cope
UER unsupportive emotion responses, Cope coping
^
p \ .10. * p \ .05. ** p \ .01

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J Child Fam Stud

Table 4 Dysregulation 9 unsupportive emotion responses predicting child depressive symptoms

Predictors Mother, anger Father, anger Mother, sadness Father, sadness
b (bias; S.E.) DF b (bias; S.E.) DF b (bias; S.E.) DF b (bias; S.E.) DF

Step 1
SES -.09 (-.00; .07) 1.81 -.10 (-.00; .07) 1.94 -.10 (-.00; .07) 1.94 -.10 (.01; .07) 1.94
Sex -1.79 (.01; 1.49) -1.64 (.03; 1.43) -1.64 (.06; 1.50) -1.64 (-.02; 1.49)
Step 2
Dys 3.40 (-.03; .98)** 10.68** 2.66 (-.04; .90)** 12.89** 2.14 (-.12; 1.12)^ 9.39** 2.10 (-.07; 1.18)^ 5.03**
* ** ** ^
UER 3.05 (-.01; 1.27) 3.61 (-.04; 1.19) 5.54 (-.16; 1.71) 3.02 (-.02; 1.59)
Step 3
UER 9 5.40 (-.27; 2.12)* 7.89** 4.63 (-.18; 1.17)** 13.80** 2.02 (-.57; 2.44) 1.32 3.46 (-.45; 2.07)^ 4.39*
Dys
UER unsupportive emotion responses, Dys dysregulation
^
p \ .10; * p \ .05; ** p \ .01

Fig. 2 Interaction between child’s anger dysregulation and parent’s

unsupportive responses on depressive symptoms. Note UER unsup-
Fig. 1 Interaction between child’s anger coping and parent’s unsup-
portive emotion responses
portive responses on depressive symptoms. Note UER unsupportive
emotion responses
by Aiken and West (1991), significance testing was con-
ducted to determine if the simple slopes differed from zero.
accelerated bootstrapping) was used to estimate a 95 %
Plots for these interactions can be found in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4.
confidence interval (CI) based on 1,000 randomized sam-
ples drawn with replacement from the original data
Regression Models for Mothers
(N = 84). This form of resampling has been used in pre-
vious analyses to adjust for bias in datasets (Hayes 2009;
Anger Socialization and Anger Dysregulation
Russell and Dean 2000). All continuous variables were
centered prior to analysis in order to reduce the likelihood
Predictor variables of perceptions of mothers’ unsupportive
of multicollinearity. Predictor variables were entered in
responses to anger and child anger dysregulation in block 2
three blocks: (a) the control variables of child sex and SES;
accounted for 21 % additional variance from block 1,
(b) mothers’ and fathers’ unsupportive responses, child
F(2, 78) = 10.68, p \ .001. Both maternal unsupportive
emotion management subscales; and (c) all two-way
responses to anger and child anger dysregulation were
interactions between the variables (Tables 3 and 4).
positively associated with depressive symptoms scores in
In order to observe interactions among the parenting and block 2. In block 3, the interaction of perceived unsup-
emotion management variables, significant models were portive maternal responses 9 anger dysregulation was
plotted at low (-1 SD) and high (?1 SD) values of perceived significant [b = 5.40, 95 % CI (1.26, 8.98), p = .013], and
unsupportive parental responses. This allowed us to evaluate accounted for an additional 7 % of the variance, F(1,
whether the child’s emotion regulation related to depressive 77) = 7.89, p = .006. When interpreting the interaction, a
symptoms differently at varying levels of perceived unsup- positive association between anger dysregulation and
portive parental socialization. Using procedures discussed depressive symptom scores was found for high levels of

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 J Child Fam Stud

Fig. 3 Interaction between child’s sadness coping and parent’s

unsupportive responses on depressive symptoms. Note UER unsup- Fig. 4 Interaction between child’s sadness dysregulation and fathers’
portive emotion responses unsupportive responses on depressive symptoms. Note UER unsup-
portive emotion responses
maternal unsupportive responses [b = 6.09, 95 % CI (2.80,
10.63), p = .002], whereas the association at low levels of Sadness Socialization and Sadness Coping
maternal unsupportive responses was not significant
(b = - 1.16, ns). Predictor variables of perceptions of mothers’ unsupportive
responses to sadness and child sadness coping at block 2
Anger Socialization and Anger Coping accounted for 25 % additional variance, F(2, 79) = 14.21,
p \ .001. Unsupportive maternal responses to sadness were
Predictor variables of perceptions of mothers’ unsupportive positively associated with depressive symptoms in block 2,
responses to anger and child anger coping at block 2 whereas child sadness coping was negatively associated
accounted for 19 % additional variance, F(2, 78) = 9.44, with depressive symptoms. In block 3, the interaction of
p \ .001. Unsupportive maternal responses to anger was unsupportive sadness maternal responses 9 sadness regu-
positively associated with depressive symptoms in block 2, lation coping was significant [b = -3.61, 95 % CI (-6.60,
whereas child anger coping was negatively associated with 2.33), p = .045], and accounted for an additional 5 % of the
depressive symptoms. In block 3, the interaction of unsup- variance, F(1, 78) = 5.98, p = .017. When interpreting the
portive anger responses 9 anger regulation coping was interaction, a negative association between sadness coping
significant [b = -5.16, 95 % CI (-8.94, -1.48), and depressive symptom scores was found for high levels of
p = .015], and accounted for an additional 9 % of the var- maternal unsupportive sadness responses [b = -6.00,
iance, F(1, 78) = 10.19, p = .002. When interpreting the 95 % CI (-8.92, -1.16), p = .004], whereas the associa-
interaction, a negative association between anger coping tion at low levels of maternal unsupportive sadness
and depressive symptom scores was found for high levels of responses was not significant (b = -1.13, ns).
maternal unsupportive anger responses [b = - 5.31, 95 %
CI (- 8.07, -2.30), p .009], whereas the association at low Regression Models for Fathers
levels of unsupportive maternal anger response was not
significant (b = .28, ns). Anger Socialization and Anger Dysregulation

Sadness Socialization and Sadness Dysregulation Predictor variables of perceptions of fathers’ unsupportive
responses to anger and child anger dysregulation at block 2
Predictor variables of perceptions of mothers’ unsupportive accounted for 24 % additional variance, F(2, 79) = 12.89,
responses to sadness and sadness dysregulation at block 2 p \ .001. Both paternal unsupportive responses to anger and
accounted for 18 % additional variance, F(2, 79) = 9.39, child anger dysregulation were positively associated with
p \ .001. Both maternal unsupportive sadness responses and depressive symptoms in block 2. In block 3, the interaction
child sadness dysregulation were positively associated with of paternal unsupportive responses to anger 9 anger dys-
depressive symptoms in block 2. In block 3, the interaction of regulation was significant [b = 4.63, 95 % CI (1.71, 6.39),
maternal unsupportive sadness responses 9 sadness dys- p = .002], and accounted for an additional 11 % of the
regulation was not significant (b = 2.02, ns). variance, F(1, 78) = 13.80, p \ .001. When interpreting the

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J Child Fam Stud

interaction, a positive association between anger dysregu- significantly associated with depressive symptoms. In
lation and depressive symptoms was found for high levels of block 3, the interaction of paternal unsupportive sadness
fathers’ unsupportive responses to anger [b = 4.27, 95 % responses 9 sadness coping was significant [b = -4.13,
CI (2.16, 6.56], p = .001], whereas the association at low 95 % CI (-6.93, 1.05), p = .014], and accounted for an
levels of fathers’ unsupportive parental responses to anger additional 8 % of the variance, F(1, 78) = 8.49, p = .005.
was not significant (b = -1.36, ns). When interpreting the interaction, a negative association
between sadness coping and depressive symptoms was
Anger Socialization and Anger Coping found for high levels of fathers’ unsupportive responses to
sadness [b = -6.14, 95 % CI (-9.41, -1.19), p = .001],
Predictor variables of perceptions of fathers’ unsupportive whereas the association at low levels of fathers’ unsup-
responses to anger and child anger coping at block 2 portive responses to sadness was not significant (b = -.70,
accounted for 25 % additional variance, F(2, 79) = 14.02, ns).
p \ .001. Unsupportive paternal responses to anger was
positively associated with depressive symptoms in block 2,
whereas child anger coping was negatively associated with Discussion
depressive symptoms. In block 3, the interaction of pater-
nal unsupportive responses to anger 9 anger regulation The results of the current study indicated that children’s
coping was significant [b = -3.13, 95 % CI (-5.65, .46), perceptions of unsupportive parental responses to their
p = .032], and accounted for an additional 6 % of the emotions interacted with parent report of their child’s
variance, F(1, 78) = 7.08, p = .009. When interpreting the emotion regulation, which, in turn, was associated with
interaction, a negative association between anger coping child report of depressive symptoms. (For ease of com-
and depressive symptoms was found for high levels of munication, the reporter used to evaluate the constructs
fathers’ unsupportive parental responses to anger [b = will not be reported herein). These findings highlight the
-4.22, 95 % CI (-7.28, -.99), p = .009], whereas the link between child emotion regulation and depressive
association at low levels of fathers’ unsupportive responses symptoms such that children’s regulation coping of both
to anger was not significant (b = -.76, ns). anger and sadness was associated with fewer depressive
symptoms. Finally, the current study documented that
Sadness Socialization and Sadness Dysregulation parental emotion socialization practices play an important
role in this association through both maternal and paternal
Predictor variables of perceptions of fathers’ unsupportive responses to their child’s expression of anger and sadness.
responses to sadness and sadness dysregulation at block 2 Our first hypothesis proposed positive associations
accounted for 11 % additional variance, F(2, 79) = 5.03, between parents’ unsupportive emotion responses to anger
p = .009. Paternal unsupportive responses to sadness and and sadness, child’s emotion dysregulation, and depressive
child sadness dysregulation were marginally positively symptoms, and negative associations between parents’
associated with depressive symptoms in block 2. In block unsupportive emotion responses, children’s emotion cop-
3, the interaction of unsupportive paternal responses to ing, and depressive symptoms. This hypothesis received
sadness 9 sadness dysregulation was marginally signifi- partial support. Unsupportive responses to both anger and
cant [b = 3.46, 95 % CI (-.70, 6.14), p = .092]. When sadness by mothers and fathers were associated with
interpreting the interaction, a positive association between greater dysregulation and less frequent coping of both
sadness dysregulation and depressive symptoms was found anger and sadness. There was one exception, in that
for high levels of fathers’ unsupportive responses to sad- mothers’ unsupportive responses to anger and sadness were
ness [b = 4.29, 95 % CI (.87, 6.39), p = .013], whereas not related to children’s coping with anger or sadness,
the association at low levels of fathers’ unsupportive respectively. These results extend previous research that
responses to anger was not significant (b = -1.22, ns). links negative parental responses to emotions with resultant
dysregulated emotions by the child (Katz and Hunter 2007;
Sadness Socialization and Sadness Coping Morris et al. 2007). In this study, positive associations
between unsupportive responses to sadness and sadness
Predictor variables of perceptions of fathers’ unsupportive dysregulation, and negative correlations between these
responses to sadness and child sadness coping at block 2 unsupportive responses and sadness coping were found
accounted for 17 % additional variance, F(2, 79) = 8.50, only for fathers. These findings appear to highlight poten-
p \ .001. Child sadness regulation coping was negatively tial differences in emotion socialization between mothers
associated with depressive symptoms in block 2, whereas and fathers that are specific to sadness. One potential
paternal unsupportive responses to sadness were not explanation for these parent sex differences may concern

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the role of expectancy violations in emotion responses. associations between sadness and anger for mothers and
Research indicates that fathers respond more negatively fathers, unsupportive responses across both emotions and
when their children express emotions atypical of expected parental sexes were significantly associated with depressive
gender norms (Cassano and Zeman 2010). Thus, fathers’ symptoms. Thus, regardless of which parent responded to
responses to sadness might be moderated by the degree to the child’s sadness or anger, unsupportive parental
which norms are violated. It also may be that mothers are responses to a child’s emotions were associated with child
more comfortable with and accepting of their children’s depressive symptoms. When comparing the individual
sadness expression. Thus, the consistency of mothers’ contribution of each emotion type however, results indi-
positive responses result in their reactions not being as cated that the associations between parental unsupportive
salient as fathers’ responses to children’s sadness expres- responses for anger and sadness differed with respect to
sivity (Brody and Hall 2000; Cassano et al. 2007). parent sex. For mothers, unsupportive responses to sadness
Building on past research (Eisenberg et al. 2003; Sch- predicted depressive symptoms after accounting for un-
wartz et al. 2011), for both mothers and fathers and across supportive responses to anger; the opposite pattern was
both emotions, unsupportive parental responses were pos- found for fathers. These results extend previous research
itively associated with children’s depressive symptoms. suggesting that fathers’ responses to anger can be espe-
The current study provides more specificity to previous cially salient, whereas mothers’ emotion socializing influ-
established general patterns of findings by indicating that ences may lie more in the domain of sadness (Brody and
both parents’ responses mattered for both discrete emo- Hall 2000; Cassano et al. 2007). These results also attest to
tions. Although the link between sadness and depression is the importance of socializing responses to emotional ex-
intuitive, research has recently indicated that the manage- pressivity while also highlighting the significant role that
ment of anger is also implicated in depression (Goodwin fathers play in this socialization process, an important
2006; Zeman et al. 2002). The findings of this study point contribution to the emotion socialization literature that has
to the importance of considering parents’ responses to their previously lacked empirical acknowledgement (Cassano
own as well as their children’s anger expressions. That is, and Zeman 2010; Cummings et al. 2004).
parental responses may be setting the stage for how chil- Our fourth hypothesis stated that the associations
dren learn to cope with their anger in ways that may place between child emotion regulation and depressive symp-
them at risk or protect them from depressive symptom- toms would vary as a function of unsupportive parental
atology (Bariola et al. 2011). These findings also suggest responses to emotion; it received partial support. For
the need to study multiple negatively valenced emotions children who perceived receiving high levels of maternal
rather than global negative emotionality when examining and paternal unsupportive responses to anger and sadness,
emotion socialization processes and their contributions to depressive symptoms were higher if they also experienced
child depressive symptoms. high levels of anger and sadness dysregulation, as well as
Our second hypothesis proposed that depressive symp- low levels of anger and sadness regulation coping. Future
toms would be positively associated with emotion dys- research is needed to disentangle the directionality of these
regulation and inversely related to emotion coping. The results. For example, similar to previous studies showing
results provided support for this hypothesis, with findings biased reporting from depressed mothers), perhaps children
emerging for both anger and sadness. It appears that in who report more depressive symptoms may perceive their
addition to sadness, dysregulated anger may contribute to parents’ socialization efforts more negatively than those
depressive symptoms in middle childhood. Our findings are who report fewer symptoms. Nevertheless, these findings
consistent with previous studies linking maladaptive anger suggest that frequent unsupportive responses to negative
coping to depressive symptoms (Goodwin 2006; Zeman valence emotions may be particularly influential for those
et al. 2002). Overall, the present findings add further evi- children who are not viewed as effective emotion
dence to the well-validated link between emotion dysreg- regulators.
ulation and child psychopathology (Kovacs et al. 2008; It would be interesting for future research to uncover
McCauley et al. 2001; Schwartz et al. 2011). whether this pattern of reactivity may be explained as a
A unique addition to the literature is our focus on dis- diathesis-stress interaction, in which the diathesis repre-
crete emotion and sex differences in parents’ emotion sents a genetic or temperamental predisposition (e.g.,
socialization. Our third hypothesis proposed that, after inhibitory style) that is influenced by the presence of
controlling for shared variance between emotions, per- stressors in the environment. Previous research has pro-
ceived unsupportive responses to sadness by mothers posed such a model in the development of depression
would predict depressive symptoms more strongly than (Monroe and Simons 1991) and subsequent research has
their unsupportive responses to anger. The opposite pattern supported this association between stress and depression
was predicted for fathers. Despite differences in (Abela 2001; Driscoll et al. 2009). It may be that when

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children with poor emotion regulation are faced with high parents’ emotion socialization practices are important
levels of unsupportive emotion parenting, some children (Cassano et al. in press; Lunkenheimer et al. 2012). Future
may experience an emergence of depressive symptoms. research should direct more attention to how the roles of
Interestingly, no differences were found for unsupportive father and mother are conceptualized within families given
parental responses at low levels of emotion dysregulation the societal changes that are producing more flexible par-
and high levels of emotion coping. Consistent with the enting roles (e.g., stay-at-home dads; see Cummings et al.
diathesis-stress model, it is possible that children who are 2004) that may impact emotion socialization practices.
able to cope well with negative emotions and not become
dysregulated may be able to withstand unsupportive par- Strengths and Limitations
enting responses to emotion. However, it is important to
note that low levels of unsupportive responses to emotion The present study provides additional support for the
are not necessarily equivalent to high levels of supportive notion that parental socialization of their child’s emotional
responses to emotion. Thus, it is not clear whether low expressivity continues into middle childhood, predicts
levels of unsupportive responses to emotion contribute to child emotion regulation skills, and has an indirect asso-
children’s emotional competence. It may be that there is a ciation with child depressive symptoms. The use of mul-
certain threshold that must be exceeded in order for un- tiple reporters in the family provided a more nuanced
supportive responses to exert a negative influence on child picture of the role mothers and fathers play in the emotion
depressive symptoms. For example, parents who are socialization process. Indeed, although much of the
occasionally unsupportive in response to their child’s research to date has focused on the contributions of
emotions may not necessarily increase the frequency or mothers, it appears that parenting responses from fathers
intensity of depressive symptoms. are also associated with child emotion regulation and
Although we were unable to address the directionality of depressive symptoms. In addition, the examination of
effects given the cross-sectional design, previous research specific emotions permitted evaluation of mothers’ and
indicates the dynamic bidirectionality of parent–child fathers’ unique responses to their child’s sadness versus
influence (Morelen and Suveg 2012). That is, children with anger expressions.
greater dysregulated emotions may elicit more unsupport- Several limitations must be considered that can offer
ive responses to their emotions from their parents, which directions for future research. First, a relatively small
then result in more dysregulation. Additionally, potential sample size prevented the use of alternative analyses that
reporter bias might be operating in children who evidence would have allowed for comparisons of fit between dif-
emotion dysregulation. For example, past research has ferent models. Although bootstrapped regressions were
indicated that adult informants with depressive symptom- used to account for these limitations, some of these results
atology may provide distorted reports of their child’s yielded significant p values while still indicating a null
behavior (Boyle and Pickles 1997). When examining value within the 95 % confidence interval. Thus, although
children who perceived experiencing low or high levels of these results were significant, these interactions should be
unsupportive parental responses to emotion, those children interpreted with caution. Second, the use of multiple
with better regulatory abilities (i.e., low dysregulation and methodologies would have strengthened the validity of the
high coping) were perceived as exhibiting few differences findings as would examining different emotion socializa-
in depressive symptoms. These findings suggest a potential tion practices among single-parent, two-parent, and multi-
compensatory effect of emotion regulation skills. That is, caregiver families in order to determine how family con-
children low in emotion dysregulation and high in emotion stellation affects children’s emotional development. Third,
coping may be less sensitive to unsupportive parental our examination of emotion socialization relied on a
responses to their emotions with respect to experiencing composite variable that incorporated several negative par-
depressive symptoms. enting behaviors. It would be valuable to determine whe-
The present findings highlight the contribution of fathers ther each type of parenting behavior may be differentially
in the emotion socialization process. Although significant associated with children’s emotion regulation strategies
models predicting depressive symptoms from unsupportive and depressive symptoms, and whether certain socializa-
responses to emotion were found for both mothers and tion behaviors by mothers versus fathers are more predic-
fathers across both emotion types, mothers’ responses to tive of negative outcomes than others. For example, given
sadness and fathers’ responses to anger provided a unique that children report expressing negative emotions more
contribution to depressive scores after controlling for often to their mothers than their fathers due to an expec-
overlap between the two emotions. Although mothers’ and tation that they will receive more interpersonal support
fathers’ responses to specific emotions appear to contrib- from their mothers (Zeman and Garber 1996; Zeman and
ute differently to children’s depressive symptoms, both Shipman 1996), perhaps the active punishment of negative

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emotions by mothers may be more strongly associated with reciprocate aggression, and fail to positively reinforce
children’s depressive symptoms relative to that of fathers. positive behaviors, have been associated with an increase
As previously mentioned, it is possible that children’s in depression in adolescence (for a review, see Schwartz
perceptions of their parents’ responses may reflect their et al. 2012).
own emotion regulation deficits or psychopathology such In sum, the present findings provide a nuanced look at
that children who are perceived by their parents to be the moderating role of parental emotion socialization in the
highly emotionally dysregulated and/or depressed may link between child emotion regulation and depressive
perceive their parents to be less supportive, regardless of symptoms. Our findings suggest that unsupportive parental
their parents’ actual behavior. Fourth, we recruited a responses to emotion may impact children differently,
community sample of middle childhood age children that depending on the child’s present ability to regulate his or
reflects general population norms for depressive symptoms. her emotions in an adaptive manner. Future research should
However, despite the low incidence of depression observed examine how children’s emotion regulation may influence
in both the current sample and middle childhood more later parental socialization, such that a negative cycle of
generally (Kazdin 1989; Smucker et al. 1986), we chose to influence may increase the risk for different types of child
examine depressive symptoms in this age group in order to psychopathology.
discover whether there are patterns of emotion socializa-
tion that may place children at risk for the development of
depressive symptoms in adolescence. Lastly, future studies
could explore other contextual variables that may influence
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