MATERNAL REGULATION OF CHILDRENS EMOTIONS

This study investigated maternal regulation of children's emotional be havior and feelings. Mothers and their children ages 3, 5, 7, and 9 we re interviewed concerning how the children would feel and act and how the mothers would intervene in 12 prototypical situations that elicit joy, anger, sadness, or fear. Mothers reported many regulatory strateg ies for each type of emotion situation. Children's age was a significa nt factor in regulation of angry and sad situations. Children's gender influenced some maternal predictions concerning their children's resp onses, but did not affect regulation of those responses. Agreement bet ween mothers' predictions and children's self-reported responses was g reater for older than younger children. Mothers were better at predict ing their children's internal emotional experience than their emotiona l behavior, with mothers typically expecting verbal responses, whereas children more commonly reported nonverbal behavior. Children's negati ve temperament influenced maternal anger regulation and overall accura cy of mothers' predictions. Negative family expressivity influenced ma ternal responses to happy and angry situations.