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The Relation of Parental Emotion Dysregulation to Children’s Psychopathology Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Child Emotion Dysregulation

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Abstract

This study investigated the roles of parents’ and children’s emotion dysregulation in children’s display of internalizing and externalizing symptoms by incorporating person- and variable-centered approaches. Sixty-four children (ages 8–11) participated in this study with their mothers. Study variables were collected via multiple methods, including behavioral observation and questionnaire assessment from both parents’ and children’s perspectives. Using model-based cluster analysis, children’s profiles with regulating emotions were created by incorporating multiple measurements. Two profiles were identified and applied in a moderation model testing whether the combination of parents’ and children’s regulatory style influence child outcomes. Results showed that children’s emotion dysregulation profiles moderated the relationship between parental emotion dysregulation and child internalizing symptoms, with children who adopted more internalizing regulatory styles display more internalizing symptoms in the context of high parental emotion dysregulation. Implications for the measurement of emotion regulation in the family context, and future directions for intervention, are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Zhuo Rachel Han

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Anne Shaffer

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  1. Zhuo Rachel Han
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  2. Anne Shaffer
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Correspondence to Anne Shaffer.

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Han, Z.R., Shaffer, A. The Relation of Parental Emotion Dysregulation to Children’s Psychopathology Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Child Emotion Dysregulation. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 44, 591–601 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-012-0353-7

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