Preadolescents' Perceptions of Parental Emotion Socialization Responses to Positive Emotions: Links with Psychosocial Adjustment and Attachment Security

Emotion socialization (ES) has been studied primarily in the context of children's negative emotions. We evaluated whether 1) mothers and fathers are similar in their ES (savoring and dampening) of positive emotions; and 2) maternal and paternal ES are differentially related to preadolescents' psychosocial adjustment and attachment security. Preadolescents (N = 106; age M(SD) = 11.68 (1.03) years; 52 boys) reported parental ES, self-worth, and attachment security. Mothers reported children's psychosocial adjustment. Preadolescents perceived mothers as savoring more, but not dampening more, than fathers. Paternal dampening was associated with children's greater internalizing and conduct problems, and fewer prosocial behaviors. Maternal and paternal savoring were positively related to preadolescents' self-worth, however, only paternal savoring had a unique effect. Maternal and paternal savoring and dampening were associated with preadolescents' attachment security with each respective parent. Findings underscore the importance of perceived ES of positive emotions for preadolescents' psychosocial adjustment and attachment security.