The development of adolescent emotion regulation among Black and White youth: the role of negative emotionality and parental emotion socialization

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Yuji Y. Kim (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Susan Keane

Abstract: The purpose of the current study was to explore the interactive effect of youth’s dispositional susceptibility to negative emotions—or negative emotionality (NE)—and parental socialization of youth’s negative emotions in predicting adolescent emotion regulation (ER). ER is characterized by an individual’s ability to modify activated emotions. It was hypothesized that higher levels of NE in youth would predict subsequent poor ER skills, particularly in youth whose parents endorsed greater levels of non-supportive responses to their negative emotions. However, this effect would be mitigated among Black youth relative to White youth (Dunbar, Leerkes, Coard, Supple, & Calkins, 2017; Leerkes, Supple, & Gudmunson, 2014). In the large-scale, longitudinal study from which the current secondary analyses were drawn, mothers completed measures on youth’s NE at 5 years of age and their non-supportive responses to their child’s emotions at 5, 7, and 10 years of age. Adolescents (N = 371; 70.6% White, 29.4% Black; Mage = 15.64 years) completed a measure of ER at 15 years of age. A multi-group analysis indicated no significant moderation of race on the interaction between NE and non-supportive parental responses. However, a significant main effect of non-supportive responses emerged, where greater non-supportive responses across childhood predicted lower ER in all adolescents. Exploratory post hoc analyses revealed differential outcomes for non-supportive responses to dominant versus submissive emotions as well as differential outcomes for non-supportive responses of discrete emotions to adolescent ER between Black and White youth. Potential interpretations and contributions to the literature are discussed.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2020
Keywords
Emotion regulation, Negative emotionality, Parental emotion socialization, Race
Subjects
Emotions in children
Emotions in adolescence
Mother and child

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