Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relationships Between Mother–Child Conversations About Emotion and Socioemotional Development of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mother–child emotion-related conversations, as a practice of parental socialization of emotion, can help children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) develop socio-emotional skills. This study intends to explore relationships between mother–child conversations about emotions and socio-emotional skills of children with ASD by accounting for the moderating role of children personality traits and mothers’ emotional openness. Mothers of children with ASD (n = 49) responded to five questionnaires describing their conversations about emotions, emotional openness as well as their child’s socio-emotional skills and personality. We conducted hierarchical regression and moderation analyses. Our findings indicate that frequent mother–child conversations about emotions significantly predict higher emotional regulation and Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in children with ASD (p < 0.05). Moreover, children’s consciousness and openness to experience, along with mothers’ emotional openness significantly moderate the relation between mother–child conversations about emotions and children’s ToM skills (p < 0.05). Mother–child conversations about emotions, as a practice of parental socialization of emotion, could be beneficial for children with ASD. Children’s personality traits and mothers’ openness to emotion may act as a protective factor of ToM skills in children with ASD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alostaz, J., Baker, J. K., Fenning, R. M., Neece, C. L., & Zeedyk, S. (2021). Parental coping as a buffer between child factors and emotion-related parenting in families of children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication.

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). American psychiatric publication.

  • Bougher-Muckian, H. R., Root, A. E., Coogle, C. G., & Floyd, K. K. (2016). The importance of emotions: The socialisation of emotion in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Early Child Development and Care, 186(10), 1584–1593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K. A. (2015). Mother—child emotion communication and childhood anxiety symptoms. Cognition and Emotion, 29(3), 416–431.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cai, R. Y., Richdale, A. L., Uljarević, M., Dissanayake, C., & Samson, A. C. (2018). Emotion regulation in autism spectrum disorder: Where we are and where we need to go. Autism Research, 11(7), 962–978.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calkins, S. D., & Johnson, M. C. (1998). Toddler regulation of distress to frustrating events: Temperamental and maternal correlates. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 379–395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012). The social motivation theory of autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16, 231–239.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cui, L., Criss, M. M., Ratliff, E., Wu, Z., Houltberg, B. J., Silk, J. S., & Morris, A. S. (2020). Longitudinal links between maternal and peer emotion socialization and adolescent girls’ socio-emotional adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 56(3), 595–607.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Denham, S. A., Zoller, D., & Couchoud, E. A. (1994). Socialization of preschoolers’ emotion understanding. Developmental Psychology, 30, 928–936.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N. (2020). Findings, issues, and new directions for research on emotion socialization. Developmental Psychology, 56(3), 664–670.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., & Spinrad, T. L. (1998). Parental socialization of emotion. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 241–273.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Falkmer, T., Anderson, K., Falkmer, M., & Horlin, C. (2013). Diagnostic procedures in autism spectrum disorders: A systematic literature review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 22(6), 329–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R., Marin, K. A., McWilliams, K., & Bohanek, J. G. (2009). Family reminiscing style: parent gender and emotional focus in relation to child well-being. Journal of Cognition and Development, 10, 210–235.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Garner, P. (2006). Prediction of prosocial and emotional competence from maternal behaviour in African American preschoolers. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 12, 179–198.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garner, P. W., Dunsmore, J. C., & Southam-Gerrow, M. (2008). Mother-child conversations about emotions: Linkages to child aggression and prosocial behavior. Social Development, 17(2), 259–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. (2013). Emotion regulation: Taking stock and moving forward. Emotion, 13(3), 359–365.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, T. L., Prelock, P. A., & Bonazinga, L. (2012). Psychometric evaluation of the Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI): A study of typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42(3), 327–341.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, E., Mazzone, S., Simon, P., & Nader-Grosbois, N. (2019). The unexpected impact of parental emotional socialization on theory of mind and emotion regulation: The case of children with intellectual disabilities. Psychology, Special Issue on Developmental Psychology, 10, 1302–1332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jahromi, L. B., Meek, S. E., & Ober-Reynolds, S. (2012). Emotion regulation in the context of frustration in children with high functioning autism and their typical peers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53, 1250–1258.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C. R., Simonoff, E., Baird, G., Pickles, A., Marsden, A. J., Tregay, J., & Charman, T. (2018). The association between theory of mind, executive function, and the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 11(1), 95–109.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, S., Eisenber, N., Fabes, R. A., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2002). Parents’ reactions to elementary school children’s negative emotions: Relations to social and emotional functioning at school. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 48(2), 133–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, R., Kalvin, C. B., Ibrahim, K., & Sukhodolsky, D. G. (2021). Parent emotion socialization in children with autism spectrum disorder and co-occurring anxiety. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(1), 125–137.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Konstantareas, M., & Stewart, K. (2006). Affect regulation and temperament in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 143–154.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kochanska, G., Aksan, N., & Joy, M. E. (2007). Children’s fearfulness as a moderator of parenting in early socialization: Two longitudinal studies. Developmental Psychology, 43(1), 222–237.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laible, D., & Song, J. (2006). Constructing emotional and relational understanding: The role of affect and mother—child discourse. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 44–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laurent, A. C., & Gorman, K. (2018). Development of emotion self-regulation among young children with autism spectrum disorders: The role of parents. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(4), 1249–1260.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lozada, F. T., Halberstadt, A. G., Craig, A. B., Dennis, P. A., & Dunsmore, J. C. (2015). Parents’ beliefs about children’s emotions and parents’ emotion-related conversations with their children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(5), 1525–1538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masi, A., DeMayo, M. M., Glozier, N., & Guastella, A. J. (2017). An overview of autism spectrum disorder, heterogeneity and treatment options. Neuroscience Bulletin, 33(2), 183–193.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, N. L. (2014). Is it all in the family? the importance of siblings and peers for theory of mind and school readiness in children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 74(11), No pagination specified.

  • Mazzone, S., & Nader-Grosbois, N. (2017a). Variability and predictors of mothers and fathers’ socialization behaviors and bidirectional links with their preschoolers socio-emotional competencies. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 7, 621–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzone, S., & Nader-Grosbois, N. (2017b). How are parental reactions to children’s emotions linked with theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder? Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 40, 41–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzone, S., Roskam, I., Mikolajczak, M., & Nader-Grosbois, N. (2017). Do parents talk about emotions with their children? The questionnaire of parent-child conversations about emotions (QPCCE). Psychology, 8(07), 987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, A. L., Kiely Gouley, K., Seifer, R., Dickstein, S., & Shields, A. (2004). Emotions and behaviors in the Head Start classroom: Associations among observed dysregulation, social competence, and preschool adjustment. Early Education and Development, 15(2), 147–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, L. E., Perkins, K. A., Dai, Y. G., & Fein, D. A. (2017). Comparison of parent report and direct assessment of child skills in toddlers. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 41, 57–65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moffitt, J. M., Baker, J. K., Fenning, R. M., Erath, S. A., Messinger, D. S., Zeedyk, S. M., Paez, S. A., & Seel, S. (2021). Parental socialization of emotion and psychophysiological arousal patterns in children with autism spectrum disorder. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(3), 401–412.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morelen, D., & Suveg, C. (2012). A Real-Time Analysis of Parent-Child Emotion Discussions: The Interaction Is Reciprocal. Journal of Family Psychology, 26, 998.

  • Nader-Grosbois, N., & Mazzone, S. (2014). Emotion regulation, personality and social adjustment in children with autism spectrum disorders. Psychology, 5(15), 1750.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordahl-Hansen, A., Kaale, A., & Ulvund, S. E. (2014). Language assessment in children with autism spectrum disorder: Concurrent validity between report-based assessments and direct tests. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(9), 1100–1106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ordre des psychologues du Québec et Collège des Médecins. (2012). Les troubles du spectre de l’autisme, l’évaluation clinique : lignes directrices. https://www.ordrepsy.qc.ca/documents/26707/63191/spectre-de-lautisme

  • Reicherts M. (1999). Dimensions de l’ouverture émotionnelle (DOE). Concept théorique, instrument validation. 8th Congress of the Swiss Society of Psychology; 24 September; Fribourg.

  • Reicherts, M., Casellini, D., Duc, F., & Genoud, P. A. (2007). L’ « Ouverture émotionnelle » dans les Troubles de la dépendance les Troubles de la personnalité [“Emotional openness” in addiction and personality disorders]. Annales Médico-Psychologiques, 165(7), 485–491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richard, E. (2015). La socialisation parentale des émotions : comparaison de deux mesures d'évaluation des conversations parentales autour des émotions. Observations directe VS questionnaires [Mémoire de master, Université catholique de Louvain]. http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/thesis:3076

  • Roskam, I., de Maere-Gaudissart, A., & Vandenplas-Holper, C. (2000). Mise au point d’un instrument d’évaluation de la personnalité des enfants à partir du Modèle à Cinq Facteurs. L’orientation Scolaire Professionnelle, 29, 661–672.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samson, A. C., Wells, W. M., Phillips, J. M., Hardan, A. Y., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from parent interviews and children’s daily diaries. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(8), 903–913.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sachse, S., & Von Suchodoletz, W. (2008). Early identification of language delay by direct language assessment or parent report? Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 29, 34–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schopler, E., Reichler, R. J., De Velus, R. F., Daly, & K. . (1980). Toward objective classification of childhood autism: Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 10, 91–103.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schriber, R. A., Robins, R. W., & Solomon, M. (2014). Personality and SELF-INSIGHT IN INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM disorder. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 112–130.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shields, A., & Cicchetti, D. (1997). Emotion regulation among school-age children: The development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 906–916.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, V., Peterson, C. C., & Mackintosh, E. (2007). Mind what mother says: Narrative input and theory of mind in typical children and those on the autism spectrum. Child Development, 78(3), 839–858.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tingley, E. C., Gleason, J. B., & Hooshyar, N. (1994). Mothers’ lexicon of internal state words in speech to children with Down syndrome and to nonhandicapped children at mealtime. Journal of Communication Disorders, 27(2), 135–155.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. Monographs for the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 25–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors salute the work of Amélie Lampron who helped the first author in the literature review. The authors would like to thank Rémi Thériault and Hubert Trépanier who gave a considerable amount of time in the revision of this article.

Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada

    Marie-Joëlle Beaudoin & Nathalie Poirier

  2. Université Catholique de Louvain, Place de l′Université 1, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium

    Nathalie Nader-Grosbois

Authors
  1. Marie-Joëlle Beaudoin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nathalie Poirier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nathalie Nader-Grosbois
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

MJB wrote the manuscript and conducted all statical analyses. NP and NNG conducted the recruitment and provided the data base. NNG wrote a part of the introduction.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie-Joëlle Beaudoin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interests in the subject matter of materials discussed in this manuscript.

Ethical Approval

All the study design was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of University of Quebec in Montreal. (Ethics Approval Number: 2014_A_140022_e_224_120).

Consent to Participant

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Beaudoin, MJ., Poirier, N. & Nader-Grosbois, N. Relationships Between Mother–Child Conversations About Emotion and Socioemotional Development of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 4022–4034 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05267-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05267-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation