Examining Maternal Responses to Children's Expression of Negative Emotion: Self-reported vs. Observed Responses, and the Impact of Maternal Depressive Symptoms

The relation between a mother’s self-reported and exhibited response to a child’s expression of a negative emotion was examined in the context of a pre-visit questionnaire completed by the mother and observation of a clean-up task performed during a mother/child lab visit. The study also examined connections between maternal depressive symptoms (assessed via the Beck Depression Inventory; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), self-reported responses, and observed responses. Eighty-five mother-child pairs were included in the study. Results indicated that mothers may think they are responding in one manner, but they are observed behaving in a somewhat different manner, at least in a brief controlled environment. Another finding of note is that the children of mothers with severe depressive symptoms displayed greater negative emotion overall, and the mothers with severe depressive symptoms responded to such displays with largely critical responses. On the other hand, the children of mothers with minimal or no depressive symptoms displayed less negative emotion during the clean-up task, and when the children did display negative emotion, the mothers with minimal or no depressive symptoms responded in an overall supportive manner. The results suggest that mothers may not be aware of the responses they send to a child’s expression of a negative emotion, and maternal depressive symptoms may play a role in a mother’s response to a child’s expression of negative emotion.No embargoAcademic Major: Human Development and Family Scienc