ABSTRACT

The current study examined (1) cross-cultural variations in mothers’ reports of how they would react to their children’s positive and negative emotions as triggered by different interpersonal situations and (2) their relations to children’s emotion regulation competence in Nepal, Korea, and Germany. Participants were 305 mothers whose children were first graders in elementary school. Mothers reported their reactions to children’s positive and negative emotions in hypothetical social scenarios and evaluated their children’s emotion regulation using a standardized measure. Research Findings: German mothers reported higher levels of emotion encouragement, while Nepali mothers reported higher levels of punitive and distress reactions. Korean mothers reported higher levels of distress reactions. Mothers’ encouragement of children’s pride expression was associated differently with children’s emotion regulation in each culture – negatively related in Nepal, unrelated in Korea, and positively related in Germany, whereas mothers’ distress in response to children’s shyness was related to children’s poorer emotion regulation in all cultures. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight the importance of contexts – in terms of both culture and specific emotions children express – in interpreting the meanings of emotion socialization practices. This research suggests considering cultural influences in designing parenting interventions to promote children’s emotional competence aligning with cultural expectations.

摘要

目前的研究调查了 (1) 母亲报告的跨文化差异，即她们如何应对不同人际环境引发的孩子的积极和消极情绪，以及 (2) 她们与尼泊尔、韩国和儿童情绪调节能力的关系。德国。参与者是 305 名母亲，他们的孩子是小学一年级学生。母亲们报告了他们在假设的社会情景中对孩子的积极和消极情绪的反应，并使用标准化的措施评估了孩子的情绪调节。研究成果：德国母亲报告了更高水平的情感鼓励，而尼泊尔母亲报告了更高水平的惩罚和痛苦反应。韩国母亲报告了更高水平的痛苦反应。在每种文化中，母亲对孩子骄傲表达的鼓励与孩子的情绪调节有着不同的关联——在尼泊尔是负相关，在韩国是无关的，在德国是正相关，而母亲对孩子害羞的反应与孩子的情绪调节较差有关。所有文化。实践或政策：这些发现强调了背景（就文化和儿童表达的特定情感而言）在解释情感社会化实践的意义方面的重要性。这项研究建议在设计育儿干预措施时考虑文化影响，以促进儿童的情感能力与文化期望相一致。