Maternal socialization of children’s positive affect regulation: Associations with children’s savoring, dampening, and depressive symptoms

Abstract

Maternal socialization of positive affect (PA) is linked to children's regulation of positive and negative emotions and the development of psychopathology. However, few studies have examined multiple types of emotion socialization as related to children's PA regulation and depressive symptoms. The current study examined how mothers’ socialization of children's PA regulation was related to children's PA regulation, and if children's PA regulation mediated the association between maternal socialization and children's depressive symptoms. Ninety‐six mother–child dyads (children aged 7–12) completed questionnaires and a five‐minute discussion about a positive event the child previously experienced; 76 dyads completed surveys again five months later. Partial correlations, controlling for child age and gender, indicated associations between maternal PA socialization and child PA regulation. Moderated mediation models suggested that maternal modeling of savoring predicted Time 2 child depressive symptoms via children's own savoring, which was moderated by Time 1 depressive symptoms. The moderated path indicated that only for children who reported higher depressive symptoms at Time 1, higher levels of savoring predicted lower depressive symptoms at Time 2. These results underscore the importance of examining multiple types of PA socialization and child PA regulation to predict children's depressive symptoms longitudinally.

How do my parents react when I feel happy? Longitudinal associations with adolescent depressive symptoms, anhedonia, and positive affect regulation

“…Nevertheless, enhancing has been related to lower prospective levels of anhedonia in adults (Nelis, Holmes, & Raes, ) and to less prospective depressive symptoms under times of stress in adolescents (Bijttebier et al, ). As already noted in previous papers, more research is needed to examine the conditions under which dampening and enhancing are predictive of symptom development (Nelis et al, ; Raes et al, ), and accordingly, under which conditions the suggested mediational processes exist (see Moran et al, ).…”

Maternal enhancing responses to adolescents’ positive affect: Associations with adolescents’ positive affect regulation and depression

“…Although there may be several reasons why emotion socialization relates to adolescent PA regulation, these findings suggest that youth may imitate their parents’ own constructive strategies for expressing, amplifying, and sustaining PA responses to emotional stimuli (Silk, Shaw, Skuban, Oland, & Kovacs, ). Recent work demonstrates that mothers’ own savoring PA strategies are directly associated with youth's savoring strategies (Moran, Root, Vizy, Wilson, & Gentzler, ). Another reason may be that maternal active‐constructive responses to PA when sharing positive life events directly reinforce adolescents’ expression of PA, sparking a process where youth learn that PA experiences are valued, that disclosing is encouraged, and that such sharing can amplify and sustain PA.…”

Positive affect regulation in youth: Taking stock and moving forward

“…The studies in this quartet provide further evidence connecting PA regulation to youth depression, and collectively show that parent socialization of PA—particularly enhancing or savoring versus dampening—predicts children's own PA regulation and depression. Importantly, this quartet provides both cross‐sectional (Fredrick, Mancini, & Luebbe, this issue) and longitudinal evidence (Moran, Root, Vizy, Wilson, & Gentzler, this issue; Nelis, Bastin, Raes, & Bijttebier, this issue; Raval, Luebbe, & Sathiyaseelan, this issue). The validity of these associations is bolstered by researchers’ use of different methods to assess socialization, including parent‐report (Moran et al; Raval et al), adolescent‐report (Moran et al; Nelis et al), and observed discussions (Fredrick et al, Moran et al).…”

“…Importantly, the effects for maternal responses held even when controlling family PA expressions, maternal warmth, and observed mother PA. Finally, Moran and colleagues (this issue) assessed multiple forms of maternal socialization of 7–12‐year‐old children's PA regulation (maternal modeling of PA regulation, contingent responses to child PA, and coaching savoring and dampening). The results indicated that mothers’ savoring predicted lower depressive symptoms in children at time 2 via children's own use of savoring, but only for the children who were higher in depression at time 1.…”

“…In terms of assessing positive ER or its socialization, ecological momentary assessment data and other‐report data would be important given that regulatory strategies can be non‐conscious or invisible to recipients (e.g., if a parent is getting a child to think more positively about an experience but subtly so that the child does not realize the parent's goal; Bolger, Zuckerman, & Kessler, ). Additionally, two studies (Fredrick et al, this issue; Moran et al, this issue) in this issue attempted to measure dampening in a discussion task but were not able to capture this low‐occurring PA regulatory behavior. Yet we know dampening occurs because people endorse it on self‐report measures.…”