Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Expressed Emotion in Mothers of School-Age Children: Relations to Maternal Maltreatment and Parenting Behavior

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The five-minute speech sample is an indirect measure of familial emotional climate, measuring the degree of criticism and/or emotional over-involvement a parent displays while describing a child. Originally developed for parents of adult children with chronic mental illness, the five-minute speech sample has more recently been used among parents of younger children, with inconsistent results. The first aim was to investigate the five-minute speech sample as a measure of parenting perceptions for nonclinical youth by analyzing relations of criticism and emotional over-involvement with self-reported and observed measures of parenting behavior in a diverse community sample of mothers (N = 64) with school-age children (M age = 9.48). Self-reported emotion socialization behaviors and observed parenting practices were correlated with criticism and emotional over-involvement ratings. The second aim was to analyze criticism and emotional over-involvement as mediators in a relationship between a mother’s history of maltreatment and her parenting behaviors. Findings indicated that criticism and emotional over-involvement are related to observed and self-reported parenting behaviors, though emotional over-involvement appears to be an aspect of positive parenting in this youth sample. All subtypes of maltreatment were correlated with significantly less emotionally supportive behaviors, but not with more unsupportive behaviors. Higher levels of emotional over-involvement significantly mediated the relationship between a history of sexual abuse and supportive and unsupportive parenting practices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alexander, P. C., Teti, L., & Anderson, C. L. (2000). Childhood sexual abuse history and role reversal in parenting. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24, 829–838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appleyard, K., Egeland, B., Dulmen, M. H., & Alan Sroufe, L. (2005). When more is not better: The role of cumulative risk in child behavior outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 235–245.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, H. N., DeOliveira, C. A., Wolfe, V. V., Evans, E. M., & Hartwick, C. (2012). The impact of childhood maltreatment history on parenting: A comparison of maltreatment types and assessment methods. Child Abuse & Neglect, 36, 236–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, B. L., Heller, T. L., & Henker, B. (2000). Expressed emotion, parenting stress, and adjustment in mothers of young children with behavior problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 907–915.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrowclough, C., & Hooley, J. M. (2003). Attributions and expressed emotion: A review. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 849–880.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A., Daley, D., Hastings, R. P., & Stevenson, J. (2004). Mothers’ expressed emotion towards children with and without intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 48, 628–638.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belsky, J. (1993). Etiology of child maltreatment: A developmental ecological analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 413–434.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berlin, L. J., Appleyard, K., & Dodge, K. A. (2011). Intergenerational continuity in child maltreatment: Mediating mechanisms and implications for prevention. Child Development, 82, 162–176.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, D., & Fink, L. (1998). Childhood trauma questionnaire: A retrospective self-report. San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.

  • Boger, K. D., Tompson, M. C., Briggs-Gowan, M. J., Pavlis, L. E., & Carter, A. S. (2008). Parental expressed emotion toward children: Prediction from early family functioning. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 784.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Briere, J., & Runtz, M. (1990). Differential adult symptomatology associated with three types of child abuse histories. Child Abuse & Neglect, 14, 357–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. W., Monck, E. M., Carstairs, G. M., & Wing, J. K. (1962). Influence of family life on the course of schizophrenic illness. British Journal of Preventive & Social Medicine, 16, 55–68.

  • Brown, J., Cohen, P., Johnson, J. G., & Salzinger, S. (1998). A longitudinal analysis of risk factors for child maltreatment: Findings of a 17-year prospective study of officially recorded and self-reported child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22, 1065–1078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bugental, D. B., & Johnston, C. (2000). Parental and child cognitions in the context of the family. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 315–344.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burchinal, M. R., Roberts, J. E., Hooper, S., & Zeisel, S. A. (2000). Cumulative risk and early cognitive development: A comparison of statistical risk models. Developmental Psychology, 36, 793–807.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burkett, L. P. (1991). Parenting behaviors of women who were sexually abused as children in their families of origin. Family Process, 30, 421–434.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cruise, R. C., Sheeber, L. B., & Tompson, M. C. (2011). Behavioral correlates of maternal expressed emotion in interaction tasks. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 781

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Darling, N., & Steinberg, L. (1993). Parenting style as context: An integrative model. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 487–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delvecchio, E., Di Riso, D., Chessa, D., Salcuni, S., Mazzeschi, C., & Laghezza, L. (2013). Expressed emotion, parental stress, and family dysfunction among parents of nonclinical Italian children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23, 989–999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dix, T., Ruble, D. N., & Zambarano, R. J. (1989). Mothers’ implicit theories of discipline: Child effects, parent effects, and the attribution process. Child Development, 60, 1373–1391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, A., Shipman, K., & Brown, A. (2005). The socialization of emotional understanding: A comparison of neglectful and nonneglectful mothers and their children. Child Maltreatment, 10, 293–304.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., & Spinrad, T. L. (1998). Parental socialization of emotion. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 241–273.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Carlo, G., Troyer, D., Speer, A. L., Karbon, M., & Switzer, G. (1992). The relations of maternal practices and characteristics to children’s vicarious emotional responsiveness. Child Development, 63, 583–602.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., Bernzweig, J. (1990). Coping with children’s negative emotions scale (CCNES): description and scoring. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.

  • Fabes, R. A., Poulin, R. E., Eisenberg, N., & Madden-Derdich, D. A. (2002). The coping with children's negative emotions scale (CCNES): Psychometric properties and relations with children's emotional competence. Marriage & Family Review, 34, 285–310.

  • Fitzgerald, M. M., Shipman, K. L., Jackson, J. L., McMahon, R. J., & Hanley, H. M. (2005). Perceptions of parenting versus parent-child interactions among incest survivors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 29, 661–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J. W., Olchowski, A. E., & Gilreath, T. D. (2007). How many imputations are really needed? Some practical clarifications of multiple imputation theory. Prevention Science, 8, 206–213.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grusec, J. E. (2011). Socialization processes in the family: Social and emotional development. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 243–269.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Han, Z. R., & Shaffer, A. (2014). Maternal expressed emotion in relation to child behavior problems: Differential and mediating effects. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23, 1491–1500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hermanns, J., Florin, I., Dietrich, M., Rieger, C., & Hahlweg, K. (1989). Maternal criticism, mother-child interaction, and bronchial asthma. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 33, 469–476.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hibbs, E. D., Hamburger, S. D., Lenane, M., Rapoport, J. L., Kruesi, M. J., Keysor, C. S., & Goldstein, M. J. (1991). Determinants of expressed emotion in families of disturbed and normal children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 757–770.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hooley, J. M. (2007). Expressed emotion and relapse of psychopathology. Annual Review Clinical Psychology, 3, 329–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kershner, J. G., Cohen, N. J., & Coyne, J. C. (1996). Expressed emotion in families of clinically referred and nonreferred children: Toward a further understanding of the expressed emotion index. Journal of Family Psychology, 10, 97–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, K., Trickett, P. K., & Putnam, F. W. (2010). Childhood experiences of sexual abuse and later parenting practices among non-offending mothers of sexually abused and comparison girls. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 610–622.

  • Lindsay, W. R., Law, J., Quinn, K., Smart, N., & Smith, A. H. (2001). A comparison of physical and sexual abuse: Histories of sexual and non-sexual offenders with intellectual disability. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 989–995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons-Ruth, K., & Block, D. (1996). The disturbed caregiving system: Relations among childhood trauma, maternal caregiving, and infant affect and attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 17, 257–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, C. E., Lamb, M. E., Belsky, J., & Baum, C. (1990). An affective-cognitive model of mother-child aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magana-Amato, A. (2012). Manual for coding expressed emotion from the Five Minute Speech Sample. Unpublished manual from the author.

  • McCarty, C. A., & Weisz, J. R. (2002). Correlates of expressed emotion in mothers of clinically‐referred youth: An examination of the five‐minute speech sample. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 759–768.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Newcomb, M. D., & Locke, T. F. (2001). Intergenerational cycle of maltreatment: A popular concept obscured by methodological limitations. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 1219–1240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peris, T. S., & Miklowitz, D. J. (2015). Parental expressed emotion and youth psychopathology: New directions for an old construct. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 46, 863–873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 717–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogosch, F. A., Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (2004). Expressed emotion in multiple subsystems of the families of toddlers with depressed mothers. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 689–709.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ruscio, A. M. (2001). Predicting the child-rearing practices of mothers sexually abused in childhood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 369–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff, A. J., Seifer, R., Barocas, R., Zax, M., & Greenspan, S. (1987). Intelligence quotient scores of 4-year-old children: Social-environmental risk factors. Pediatrics, 79, 343–350.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Serbin, L. A., & Karp, J. (2003). Intergenerational studies of parenting and the transfer of risk from parent to child. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 138–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipman, K. L., Schneider, R., Fitzgerald, M. M., Sims, C., Swisher, L., & Edwards, A. (2007). Maternal emotion socialization in maltreating and non‐maltreating families: Implications for children’s emotion regulation. Social Development, 16, 268–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipman, K. L., & Zeman, J. (1999). Emotional understanding: A comparison of physically maltreating and nonmaltreating mother-child dyads. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 28, 407–417.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stubbe, D. E., Zahner, G. E., Goldstein, M. J., & Leckman, J. F. (1993). Diagnostic specificity of a brief measure of expressed emotion: A community study of children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 139–154.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trickett, P. K., & McBride-Chang, C. (1995). The developmental impact of different forms of child abuse and neglect. Developmental Review, 15, 311–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Humbeeck, G., Van Audenhove, C., De Hert, M., Pieters, G., & Storms, G. (2002). Expressed emotion: A review of assessment instruments. Clinical Psychology Review, 22, 321–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wamboldt, F. S., O’Connor, W., Wamboldt, M. Z., Gavin, L. A., & Klinnert, M. D. (2000). The Five Minute Speech Sample in children with asthma: Deconstructing the construct of expressed emotion. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 887–898.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zvara, B. J., Mills-Koonce, W. R., Carmody, K. A., & Cox, M., Family Life Project Key Investigators. (2015). Childhood sexual trauma and subsequent parenting beliefs and behaviors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 44, 87–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Psychology Building, Athens, GA, 30601, USA

    Hannah M. Rea & Anne Shaffer

Authors
  1. Hannah M. Rea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anne Shaffer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hannah M. Rea.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the IRB at the relevant university and informed consent was obtained by all participants prior to completing the study procedures.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rea, H.M., Shaffer, A. Expressed Emotion in Mothers of School-Age Children: Relations to Maternal Maltreatment and Parenting Behavior. J Child Fam Stud 25, 3749–3759 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0500-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0500-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation