Can attribution of a neutral emotional state in child discipline play an adaptive role in child internalising behaviour?

Abstract

Maternal rates of child internalising behaviour were compared across children's emotion attributions (neutral, fear, anger, sadness and happiness) to others in a discipline situation, after controlling for socio-demographic covariates. Sixty-five Brazilian mothers provided socio-demographic information and rated their preschool children's internalising behaviour. Children attributed emotions to a protagonist in a story facing maternal discipline. Analysis of covariance showed that children from homes with absent fathers, low-income or less-educated mothers received significantly higher internalising rates. Attribution of a neutral emotional state was linked to significantly lower child internalising behaviour, relative to attributions of anger, sadness or fear, independently from disciplinary tactics. Paternal absence was related to maternal rates of child internalising behaviour independently from diminished income, against a stereotype of Latino fathers as 'uninvolved'. Children's attribution of a neutral emotional state to others facing maternal discipline may be rare but seems to play an adaptive role in internalising behaviour.

Who gets mad, sad, scared or happy at discipline? Emotion attributions explain child externalizing behaviour

“…Children's emotion attributions in specific situational contexts are thought to reflect their own prior emotional experiences in analogous situations (Schultz et al, 2001). In this study, we looked at the specific context of parental discipline for moral and conventional transgressions and found that, out of four pre‐selected emotions plus Neutrality, Sadness is the one most often attributed to a disciplined protagonist in a vignette regardless of discipline modality, thus corroborating Alvarenga et al's earlier report (2011) with another Brazilian sample. In addition, although generally more rarely attributed to a disciplined peer, Anger, Happiness, and Neutrality were found to vary as a function of particular discipline modalities in use.…”

“…Table 1 summarizes the distribution of the mean emotion attribution rates by discipline modality and child age. As in Alvarenga et al's study (2011), Sadness was by far the emotion most readily attributed by sampled children to the protagonist undergoing discipline. This finding was independent of discipline modality, contrary to predictions.…”

“…How this reflects on the parent–child emotional climate during discipline in those cultures is not clear in the literature, though. In an earlier study with another sample (Alvarenga et al, 2011), Brazilian children were found to most likely attribute sadness to a protagonist being disciplined. In the present study, we try to replicate this finding in addition to testing for other emotions such as anger, fear, and happiness linked to various discipline modalities.…”

“…Both common sense and empirical data (Alvarenga et al, 2011; Perlman et al, 2008; Robinson & Cartwright‐Hatton, 2008) suggest that children, as well as parents, experience increased distress in the context of discipline, in which parents attempt to control child behaviour. Yet, not all modalities of discipline may elicit in children the same discrete emotions.…”

“…Child discipline, however, is not a prototypical situation in which any specific emotion can be easily chosen as ‘most appropriate’ cross‐culturally (Alvarenga et al, 2011), as pointed out by Kägitçibasi (2007) when discussing cultural variations in the reaction of children from different countries to parents' restrictive versus non‐restrictive discipline. In social contexts where parental restrictive control tends to be combined with a high level of parental warmth (e.g., some minority groups within the US, some Asian societies), the meaning and importance given to parental restrictive control may not be as negative as that associated with authoritarian parenting in Anglo‐Saxonic contexts (Akcinar & Baydar, 2014; Deater‐Deckard & Dodge, 1997; Kägitçibasi, 1996).…”