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Intergenerational Transmission of Emotion Dysregulation: The Role of Authoritarian Parenting Style and Family Chronic Stress

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Abstract

Objectives

Although studies support a direct association between parent and child emotion regulation, little work has considered potential mechanisms, such as family context. For example, parents who have difficulty regulating their emotions may be more likely to adopt an authoritarian parenting style, especially under high family chronic stress, and this parenting style may then influence children’s development of emotion regulation. The current study examined authoritarian parenting style as a potential mechanism of the intergenerational transmission of emotion regulation. We also examined how maternal emotion regulation and family chronic stress interact to influence parenting behaviors.

Methods

A total of 218 mother-adolescent dyads (M age = 15.5 years, 55% female) were recruited from the community and assessed using a mix of self-report measures of emotion dysregulation and parenting style, and interview-based measures of family chronic stress.

Results

Results showed maternal emotion dysregulation predicted authoritarian parenting style that, in turn, predicted adolescent emotion dysregulation, with a significant indirect effect. Family chronic stress strengthened the association between maternal emotion dysregulation and authoritarian parenting style, such that the indirect effect of maternal emotion regulation on adolescent emotion regulation via authoritarian parenting style was stronger at high levels of chronic stress.

Conclusions

Results suggest that authoritarian parenting style and family chronic stress serve as important factors in the intergenerational transmission of emotion regulation.

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Author Contributions

Z.A.S.: designed and executed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. L.R.S.: project principal investigator, collaborated with the design and writing of the study, and editing of the final manuscript.

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This study was funded by the University of Rochester.

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  1. Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, 491 Meliora Hall, Box 270266, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA

    Zoey A. Shaw & Lisa R. Starr

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  1. Zoey A. Shaw
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Correspondence to Zoey A. Shaw.

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Shaw, Z.A., Starr, L.R. Intergenerational Transmission of Emotion Dysregulation: The Role of Authoritarian Parenting Style and Family Chronic Stress. J Child Fam Stud 28, 3508–3518 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01534-1

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