Session: Experiential and Physiological Processes That Support Adaptive Emotion Regulation in the Context of Parenting (Society for Prevention Research 21st Annual Meeting)

Problems in emotion regulation are implicated in the majority of disorders in the DSM (Amsdtater, 2007). Furthermore, research has shown that emotions are a critically important aspect of parent-child relationships. Relationships that are characterized by parental awareness of and support for children’s affect promote children’s prosocial development across a broad range of domains, particularly children’s emotional functioning (Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1997). The goal of this symposium session is to present a series of studies that examine experiential and physiological processes involved in emotions and emotion regulation for parents, with an eye towards prevention science benefits from improved understanding of the antecedents and consequences of parental regulation.

The first paper, “Affective dynamics during parent-adolescent interactions: Physiological indices of emotion regulation capacity, and observed positive and negative influence functions, as well as repair efforts” examines the dynamic unfolding of emotions and attempts at regulation in the context of parent-child interactions. Results demonstrate that physiological processes that support emotional flexibility are associated with both positive and negative emotional engagement in the interaction, as well as attempts to de-escalate after the onset of negative emotion.

The second paper, “Problems in emotional awareness as a pathway from physiological inflexibility to impaired parenting practices” builds on the findings from the first paper by highlighting emotional awareness as a process that is both potentiated by physiological flexibility and related to adaptive parenting behaviors in the context of an emotion-enhanced intervention. Awareness of emotions is identified as a teachable skill that contributes to skillful parenting in an at-risk population.

The third paper, “Effects of a mindfulness-based family intervention on adolescent report of parent emotional awareness” takes up the task of evaluating changes in emotional awareness as the result of intervention. Results from this study demonstrate that an intervention program that aims to enhance mindfulness in parents brought about improvements in both awareness and acceptance of children’s emotions.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the discussant will make summary statements and moderate a discussion between the presenters and the symposium attendees. We expect that this symposium’s focus on specific aspects of emotion regulation in the context of parenting will contribute to the development and tailoring of prevention programs targeting malleable parenting skills that are important for child adjustment.