Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

How Do I Feel About Feelings? Emotion Socialization in Families of Depressed and Healthy Adolescents

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Emotional and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence set the stage for the development of adaptive or maladaptive beliefs about emotions. Although research suggests that parents’ behaviors and beliefs about emotions relate to children’s emotional abilities, few studies have looked at parental socialization of children’s emotions, particularly in families with depressed adolescents. The present study examined associations between parent and adolescent meta-emotion philosophies (MEP), defined as thoughts, reactions, and feelings about their own emotions. Additionally, adolescent depressive status was tested as a moderator of relationships between parents’ and adolescents’ MEP. One hundred and 52 adolescents, aged 14–18 (65.8% female), and their parents (148 mothers, 106 fathers) participated in a study on emotion socialization in families of depressed and healthy adolescents. Depressed adolescents (n = 75) and matched healthy adolescents (n = 77) were recruited based on research criteria for mental health status. The sample was largely Caucasian (82%) and of middle socioeconomic class status. Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ MEP about their children’s emotions were associated with adolescents’ MEP, although parents’ MEP about their own emotions was unrelated to adolescents’ MEP. Fathers’ MEP about children’s emotions made unique contributions to adolescents’ MEP across both adolescent groups. Adolescents’ depressive status moderated the relationship between mothers’ and adolescents’ MEP such that mothers’ MEP was particularly relevant for depressed adolescents. The continued influence of parents in the emotional lives of adolescents is discussed as well as differences in emotion socialization in families with depressed and healthy adolescents.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ackard, D. M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., & Perry, C. (2006). Parent-child connectedness and behavioral and emotional health among adolescents. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30, 59–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newberry Park, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 217–237.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Allison, P. D. (2002). Missing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asarnow, J. R., Jaycox, L. H., Duan, N., LaBorde, A. P., Rea, M. M., Tang, L., et al. (2005). Depression and role impairment among adolescents in primary care clinics. Journal of Adolescent Health, 37(6), 477–483.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychology research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore, S. J., & Choudhury, S. (2006). Development of the adolescent brain: Implications for executive function and social cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 296–312.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brody, L. R., & Hall, J. A. (2000). Gender, emotion, and expression. In M. Lewis & J. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (Vol. 2, pp. 338–349). New York: Guildford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleary, R. P., & Katz, L. F. (2008). Family-level emotion socialization and children’s comfort with emotional expressivity. The Family Psychologist, 24, 7–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, P. M., Tamang, B. L., & Shrestha, S. (2006). Cultural variations in the socialization of young children’s anger and shame. Child Development, 77, 1237–1251.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl, R. E. (2001). Affect regulation, brain development, and behavioral/emotional health in adolescence. CNS Spectrums, 6, 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denham, S. A., Cook, M., & Zoller, D. (1992). Baby looks very sad: Implication of conversations about feelings between mother and preschooler. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 10, 301–315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denham, S., & Kochanoff, A. (2002). Parental contributions to preschoolers’ understanding of emotion. Marriage & Family Review, 34, 311–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denham, S. A., Mitchell-Copeland, J., Strandberg, K., Auerbach, S., & Blair, K. (1997). Parental contributions to preschoolers’ emotional competence: Direct and indirect effects. Motivation and Emotion, 21, 65–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Murphy, B. C. (1996). Parents’ reactions to children’s negative emotions: Relations to children’s social competence and comforting behavior. Child Development, 67, 2227–2247.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Murphy, B., Maszk, P., et al. (1995). The role of emotionality and regulation in children’s social functioning: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 66, 1360–1384.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Guthrie, I. K., Murphy, B. C., & Reiser, M. (1999). Parental reactions to children’s negative emotions: Longitudinal relations to quality of children’s social functioning. Child Development, 70(2), 513–534.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Zhou, Q., Spinrad, T. L., Valiente, C., Fabes, R. A., & Liew, J. (2005). Relations among positive parenting, children’s effortful control, and externalizing problems: A three-wave longitudinal study. Child Development, 76, 1055–1071.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Essau, C. A. (2004). The association between family factors and depressive disorders in adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33, 365–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galaif, E. R., Sussman, S., Chou, C., & Wills, A. (2003). Longitudinal relations among depression, stress, and coping in high risk youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32, 243–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garber, J., Braafladt, N., & Weiss, B. (1995). Affect regulation in depressed and nondepressed children and young adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 93–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Georgiades, K., Lewinsohn, P. M., Monroe, S. M., & Seeley, J. R. (2006). Major Depressive Disorder in adolescence: The role of subthreshold symptoms. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45, 936–944.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gottman, J. M., Katz, L. F., & Hooven, C. (1997). Meta-emotion: How families communicate emotionally. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halberstadt, A. G. (1991). Towards an ecology of expressiveness: Family expressiveness in particular and a model in general. In R. S. Feldman & B. Rime (Eds.), Fundamentals in nonverbal behavior (pp. 106–160). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helsen, M., Vollebergh, W., & Meeus, W. (2000). Social support from parents and friends and emotional problems in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29(3), 319–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hessler, D. M., Hunter, E. C., Katz, L. F., & Windecker-Nelson, B. (2005). The child and adolescent meta-emotion coding system. Unpublished manuscript, University of Washington.

  • Hessler, D. M., & Katz, L. F. (2010). Brief report: Associations between emotional competence and adolescent risky behavior. Journal of Adolescence, 33, 241–246.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, E. C., Hessler, D. M., Katz, L. F., Hooven, C., & Mittman, A. (2006). The parent meta-emotion coding system. Unpublished manuscript, University of Washington.

  • Jacobs, R. H., Reinecke, M. A., Gollan, J. K., & Kane, P. (2008). Empirical evidence of cognitive vulnerability for depression among children and adolescents: A cognitive science and developmental perspective. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 759–782.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1986). The meta-emotion interview. Unpublished manual, University of Washington, Department of Psychology, Seattle, WA.

  • Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1997). Buffering children from marital conflict and dissolution. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26, 157–171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, L. F., & Hunter, E. C. (2007). Maternal meta-emotion philosophy and adolescent depressive symptomatology. Social Development, 16, 343–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, L. F., Mittman, A., & Hooven, C. (1994). The Parent Meta-Emotion Coding System. Unpublished manuscript. University of Washington.

  • Katz, L.F., & Windecker-Nelson, B. (2002). The child/adolescent meta-emotion interview. Unpublished manuscript, University of Washington.

  • Katz, L. F., & Windecker-Nelson, B. (2004). Parental meta-emotion philosophy in families with conduct-problem children: Links with peer relations. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 385–398.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, L. F., & Windecker-Nelson, B. (2006). Domestic violence, emotion coaching, and child adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 56–67.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klimes-Dougan, B., Brand, A. E., Zahn-Waxler, C., Usher, B., Hastings, P. D., Kendziora, K., et al. (2007). Parental emotion socialization in adolescence: Differences in sex, age, and problem status. Social Development, 16, 326–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaBounty, J., Wellman, H. M., Olson, S., Lagattuta, K., & Liu, D. (2008). Mothers’ and fathers’ use of internal state talk with their young children. Social Development, 17, 757–775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewinsohn, P. M., Hops, H., Roberts, R. E., Seeley, J. R., & Andrews, J. A. (1993). Adolescent psychopathology: I. Prevalence and incidence of depression and other DSM-III-R disorders in high school students. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 133–144.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, M. C., Graczyk, P. A., O’Hare, E., & Neuman, G. (2000). Maternal depression and parenting behavior: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 20, 561–592.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Magaro, M. M., & Weisz, J. R. (2006). Perceived control mediates the relation between parental rejection and youth depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 863–872.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, A. S., Silk, J. S., Steinberg, L., Myers, S. S., & Robinson, L. R. (2007). The role of the family context in the development of emotion regulation. Social Development, 16, 361–388.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nahm, E. Y. (2007). A cross-cultural comparison of Korean American and European American parental meta-emotion philosophy and its relationship to parent-child interaction. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 67, 4136.

  • Orvaschel, H., & Puig-Antich, J. (1994). Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children—Epidemiologic Version 5 (K-SADS-E). Nova Southeastern University.

  • Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramsden, S. R., & Hubbard, J. A. (2002). Family expressiveness and parental emotion coaching: Their role in children’s emotion regulation and aggression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 657–667.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reeb, B. T., & Conger, K. J. (2009). The unique effect of paternal depressive symptoms on adolescent functioning: Associations with gender and father-adolescent relationship closeness. Journal of Family Psychology, 23I, 758–761.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, D. B. (1976). Inference and missing data. Biometrika, 63, 581–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheeber, L. B., Allen, N., Davis, B., & Sorensen, E. D. (2000). Regulation of negative affect during mother-child problem-solving interactions: Adolescent depressive status and family processes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 28, 467–479.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheeber, L. B., Allen, N. B., Leve, C., Davis, B., Shortt, J. W., & Katz, L. F. (2009). Dynamics of affective experience and behavior in depressed adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 1419–1427.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheeber, L. B., Davis, B., Leve, C., Hops, H., & Tildesley, E. (2007). Adolescents’ relationships with their mothers and fathers: Associations with depressive disorder and subdiagnostic symptomatology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 144–154.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheeber, L. B., Johnston, C., Chen, M., Leve, C., Hops, H., & Davis, B. (2009). Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions for adolescent behavior: An examination in families of depressed, subdiagnostic, and nondepressed youth. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 871–881.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shortt, J., Stoolmiller, M., Smith-Shine, J. N., Eddy, J. M., & Sheeber, L. (2010). Maternal emotion coaching, adolescent anger regulation, and siblings’ externalizing symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. (in press).

  • Smith, M., & Walden, T. (1998). Developmental trends in emotion understanding among a diverse sample of African-American preschool children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 19, 177–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg, L. (2005). Cognitive and affective development in adolescence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 69–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stice, E., Ragan, J., & Randall, P. (2004). Prospective relations between social support and depression: Differential direction of effects for parent and peer support? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 155–159.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stocker, C. M., Richmond, M. K., Rhoades, G. K., & Kiang, L. (2007). Family emotional processes and adolescents’ adjustment. Social Development, 16, 310–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, M. S., McElwain, N. L., & Halberstadt, A. G. (2009). Parent, family, and child characteristics: Associations with mother-and father-reported emotion socialization practices. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 452–463.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zeman, J., & Shipman, K. (1997). Social-contextual influences on expectancies for managing anger and sadness: The transition from middle childhood to adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 33, 917–924.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wells College, Aurora, NY, USA

    Erin C. Hunter

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Lynn Fainsilber Katz

  3. Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR, USA

    Joann Wu Shortt, Betsy Davis, Craig Leve & Lisa B. Sheeber

  4. Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR, USA

    Joann Wu Shortt

  5. University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Nicholas B. Allen

  6. 1715 Franklin Blvd, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA

    Lisa B. Sheeber

Authors
  1. Erin C. Hunter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lynn Fainsilber Katz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Joann Wu Shortt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Betsy Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Craig Leve
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Nicholas B. Allen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Lisa B. Sheeber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa B. Sheeber.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hunter, E.C., Katz, L.F., Shortt, J.W. et al. How Do I Feel About Feelings? Emotion Socialization in Families of Depressed and Healthy Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 40, 428–441 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9545-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9545-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation