The Intergenerational Transmission of Emotion Socialization

• Published in: Developmental psychology Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 390 - 402
• Main Authors: Leerkes, Esther M, Bailes, Lauren G, Augustine, Mairin E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01.03.2020
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Affective Behavior; African Americans; Attachment Behavior; Correlation; Crying; Emotions - physiology; Female; Humans; Infant; Infants; Intergenerational Relations; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Maternal Behavior - physiology; Memory, Episodic; Middle Aged; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers; Parent Child Relationship; Prediction; Pregnancy; Race; Recall (Psychology); Schemata (Cognition); Social Behavior; Social Perception; Socialization; Socioeconomic Status; Toddlers; Video Technology; Young Adult
• DOI: 10.1037/dev0000753
• ISSN: 0012-1649

We examined the extent to which new mothers' recollections of their mothers' emotion socialization practices during childhood predict sensitive/supportive responses to their own toddlers in distressing situations both directly and indirectly via effects on mothers' social information processing about infant cry signals. Mothers' adult attachment was tested as a possible moderator and we tested model invariance across racial groups. These questions were assessed using a 3-wave longitudinal study of first-time mothers (131 African American, 128 European American) followed from pregnancy until children were 14 months old. Expectant mothers were administered the Adult Attachment Interview and self-report measures of remembered childhood emotion socialization. When infants were 6 months old, mothers' cry processing was assessed using a video-recall method in which they watched videos of their interactions with their infants during distress tasks and reported on their emotions and cognitions during the interaction. Maternal sensitivity to distress at 14 months was assessed via observed maternal sensitivity during distress tasks and mothers' self-reported responses to child distress. Consistent with prediction, mothers who recalled their own mothers as high on nonsupportive responses to their distress in childhood engaged in more self-focused and negative cry processing at 6 months, which in turn predicted less supportive responding to their toddlers in distressing situations. This indirect effect was statistically significant. These effects were not moderated by adult attachment coherence. The full model was invariant across racial groups. Thus, remembered childhood emotion socialization experiences have longstanding consequences for subsequent social behavior, including parenting the next generation.