NCJ Number
221586
Journal
Journal of Early Adolescence Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 153-176
Date Published
February 2008
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study examined how parental expression and explanation of emotion within family narratives of shared experiences differs by gender of parent, and if they are related to early adolescence self-esteem and adjustment.
Abstract
Results indicate that relations between parental emotion talk within family narratives and children's whose subsequent self-esteem and adjustment differ by gender of parent, by gender of adolescent, and by the emotional valence of the events. When considering family co-constructed narratives, the relations among each family member’s contributions to the narrative are systematic and complex. Each member is contributing independent information, yet is also immersed in an ongoing narrative construction and is influenced by the responses and contribution of others. Mothers and fathers contribute differently to the emotional content of the family narratives. Mothers and fathers showed similar styles, especially concerning explanations of emotional experiences. Mothers who explained more emotion were married to fathers who explained more emotion across narrative type, and mothers who expressed more emotion in the positive narrative were married to fathers who expressed more emotion, although this pattern did not hold for the negative narratives. Regardless of the family style, mothers talk more overall about emotions than fathers. Furthermore, maternal expressions and exclamations of emotion within family narratives seem to be related to positive self-esteem and adjustment for sons and daughters, although maternal emotion talk in the positive narrative may be negatively related to sons’ self-esteem and adjustment. However, paternal emotion talk in negative narratives shows positive relations with sons' self-esteem and adjustment. Mothers reminisce in more emotional ways than fathers do, even as their children grow older. Perhaps the most important finding was that in general mothers expression and explanation of emotional aspects of the shared past were positively related to children's self-esteem and adjustment. Implications for adolescent development, parental scaffolding of emotion, and gender roles within the family are discussed. The 2-phase data collection consisted of 42 parent families who self-identified as middle-class with children between the ages of 9 and 12. Tables, figure, notes, references