Socialization of Coping: Influence of Parental Mental Health and Parenting Practices

Socialization of coping is the idea that child coping methods are learned through parents’ modeling of response to stressors. Literature has examined how various aspects of parenting quality may influence their children’s coping behaviors. However, a dearth of research has studied the lasting effect of coping socialization in emerging adulthood, a distinctive time period with the greatest onset rate of psychiatric disorders. Thus, the current study examined how parental mental health, coping responses and discipline strategies influence emerging adult mental health and coping behavior. Two separate multiple regression analyses and a series of moderation and mediation analyses were conducted. Results indicated that emerging adult gender moderated the association between paternal and emerging adult disengagement coping. Additionally, the association between parental and emerging adult mental health was mediated by emerging adults’ disengagement coping. Lastly, the effect of poor maternal coping on emerging adult coping behavior was moderated by parental mental health