Mediated paths to overreactive discipline: Mothers' experienced emotion, appraisals, and physiological responses.

Abstract

The present investigation was designed to evaluate whether mothers' emotion experience, autonomic reactivity, and negatively biased appraisals of their toddlers' behavior and toddlers' rates of misbehavior predicted over-reactive discipline in a mediated fashion. Ninety-three community mother-toddler dyads were observed in a laboratory interaction, after which mothers' emotion experience and appraisals of their toddler's behavior were measured via a video-recall procedure. Autonomic physiology and over-reactive discipline were measured during the interactions. Mothers' negatively biased appraisals mediated the relation between emotion experience and over-reactive discipline. Heart rate reactivity predicted discipline independent of this mediation. Toddler misbehavior appeared to be an entry point into the above process. Interventions that more actively target physiological and experiential components of mothers' emotion may further reduce their over-reactive discipline.

Frustration influences impact of history and disciplinary attitudes on physical discipline decision making

“…For example, both trait anger (e.g., Wilkowski, Robinson, Gordon, & TroopGordon, 2007;Wingrove & Bond, 2005), and reactive aggression have been linked to hostile attribution biases (Crick & Dodge, 1994;Dodge & Coie, 1987). Lorber and O'Leary (2005) lend support to the notion that cognition may mediate the impact of negative affect on behavior. Their interactive laboratory paradigm examined the role of emotion in parenting for mothers of preschool aged toddlers.…”

“…Their interactive laboratory paradigm examined the role of emotion in parenting for mothers of preschool aged toddlers. When parent report of moment-to-moment negative emotion was considered, modeling indicated a pathway whereby child misbehavior led to parent negative emotion, which resulted in parent negative appraisal biases and, as a consequence, parent overreactivity (Lorber & O'Leary, 2005).…”

A Dynamic Approach to Risk Factors for Maternal Corporal Punishment in Early to Middle Childhood

“…Noting its inconsistent conceptualization in the parenting literature, we define parenting stress as the perception of the parenting role as overwhelming, consistent with psychological theories of stress that emphasize the appraisal of environmental circumstances as beyond one's coping resources (Cohen, Gianaros, & Manuck, 2016). Stress is strongly associated with the experience of negative emotion and increases in cardiovascular activity (Cohen et al, 2000), each of which is implicated in CPUN and/or harsh discipline (e.g., Leung & Slep, 2006;Lorber & O'Leary, 2005).…”

Parenting Style and Emotion Regulation in Mothers of Preschool Children

“…Studies examining parenting style and disciplines have found that poorer emotion regulation strategies (such as suppression and reappraisal) (Lorber & O'leary, 2005) and greater negative emotional arousal in parenting tasks (measured with self-report as well as with physiological measures) are linked with over-reactive discipline (Lorber & O'leary, 2005) .…”