The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library 8-2003 Emotion Management in Children with Anxiety Disorders: A Focus on the Role of Emotion-related Socialization Processes Cynthia M. Suveg Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Child Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Suveg, Cynthia M., "Emotion Management in Children with Anxiety Disorders: A Focus on the Role of Emotion-related Socialization Processes" (2003). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 49. http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/49 This Open-Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. EMOTION MANAGEMENT IN CHILDREN WITH ANXIETY DISORDERS: A FOCUS ON THE ROLE OF EMOTION-RELATED SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES BY Cynthia M. Suveg B.S. The Pennsylvania State University, 1998 A THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Psychology) The Graduate School The University of Maine August, 2003 Advisory Committee: Janice Zeman, Associate Professor of Psychology, Advisor Cynthia Erdley, Associate Professor of Psychology Geoffrey Thorpe, Professor of Psychology Cristin Sullivan, Clinical Psychologist, Developmental Pediatrics Michele Alexander, Assistant Professor of Psychology EMOTION MANAGEMENT IN CHILDREN WITH ANXIETY DISORDERS: A FOCUS ON THE ROLE OF EMOTION-RELATED SOCIALIZATION PRACTICES By Cynthia Suveg Thesis Advisor: Dr. Janice Zeman An Abstract of the Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Psychology) August, 2003 This study examined emotion management skills in anxious children and their mothers and investigated factors within the child and the parent, and the child-parent relationship that may relate to the development of adaptive emotion management. Three methods of emotion socialization were examined: parental reactions to children's emotions, discussion of emotion, and family expressivity. Children ages 8-1 1 years old were first screened for anxious syrnptomatology in their classrooms within the public school system. Children who scored in the clinical range on the self-report measure were then administered a semi-structured diagnostic interview. Those who met criteria for an anxiety disorder were included in the study. A total of 12 anxious boys and 13 anxious girls and their mothers, and a control group matched for sex and age, participated in the study. Children were administered a variety of questionnaires that assessed their emotion management abilities, goals for emotion management, and perceptions of the family emotional and social climate. Mothers completed questionnaires that assessed their own emotional expressivity, view of their child's emotion regulatory abilities, and perceptions of the family emotional and social climate. Children and their mothers also participated in an emotion-discussion task, in which they discussed a time the child felt negative emotions. Data were analyzed using simple correlational, regression, and Multivariate (MANOVA) techniques. Overall, results indicated that anxious children have difficulty managing emotionally evocative experiences and that their difficulties in modulating the intensity of emotional experience and a lack of self-efficacy should be considered as factors that may produce, maintain, andlor exacerbate anxiety. Mothers of anxious children did not indicate more maladaptive emotion management than mothers of control children and there were no significant correlations between children's and mothers' patterns of emotion management. This study revealed a theme of control in families with an anxious child with respect to truncated emotional expression, mothers' reports of controlling behaviors, and observation of mothers' behavior during an emotion discussion task. The implications of these results to the treatment of childhood anxiety are discussed. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to especially thank Michael Cassano, Mechelle Ganglfinger, April Nesin, and Sheri Stegall, who extensive assistance with data collection and coding made this project possible. I would also like to acknowledge the undergraduate research assistants for their dedication and willingness to work extra hours when needed. Recruiting participants for this project was extremely challenging - I greatly appreciated the willingness of participating school personnel to first learn about my project and then allow me to conduct screenings in their schools. Thank you to my committee for their constructive feedback on this project. I extend a special thanks to my graduate school mentor, Janice Zeman, whose approach to guidance and teaching has truly been exemplary. Lastly, I bestow my deepest gratitude to my family for their steady support throughout this challenging, yet gratifying, endeavor. TABLE OF CONTENTS .. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..ii LIST OF TABLES. .. .. ... .. .. ... .. ... ... ... ... .. .. ... ... .. ... ... .. .. ... .. .. .. .. vi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION.. .. .. .. .... I Childhood Anxiety.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... 4 Theoretical Rationale.. .. .. .. ... 8 Methods of Emotion Socialization.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .12 Development of Emotion Management Skills: The Role of Socialization.. .. ... .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..15 Parental Socialization of Emotion: Parental Reactions to Children's Emotions.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... 16 Normative Populations.. .. .. 16 Anxious Populations.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..23 Parental Socialization of Emotion: Discussion of Emotion.. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. -27 Normative Populations. .. , . ..27 Anxious Populations.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..32 Parental Socialization of Emotion: Family Expressiveness.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .3 5 Normative Populations.. .. .3 5 Anxious Populations.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. -39 Gender Differences in Emotion Socialization Practices ............41 The Present Study .................................................................. 45 Contributions of the Present Study.................................... 45 Hypotheses ................................................................ 47 Parental Reactions to Children's Emotions ..................47 Discussion of Emotion ......................................... 49 Family Expressiveness .........................................50 Emotion Management.......................................... 51 METHOD ...................................................................................54 . Participants ........................................................................ 54 Child Measures ....................................................................57 Psychopathology ......................................................... 57 Emotion Management ...................................................62 Family Expressiveness/Beliefs about Emotion Management ....... 64 . Intellectual Functioning ................................................-67 Mother Measures .................................................................. 67 Demographic Information ..............................................67 Maternal Psychopathology ............................................. 68 Child Psychopathology................................................. 68 Emotion Management ................................................... 69 Family Expressiveness/Beliefs about Emotion Management ......70 Socialization of Emotion Management............................... 72 Intellectual Functioning ..................................................73 Procedure ...........................................................................74 . Initial Screen.............................................................. 74 Primary Study ............................................................ 76 3 . RESULTS ...................................................................................78 Parental Reactions to Children's Emotions ....................................78 Discussion of Emotion ............................................................85 Family Expressiveness ............................................................87 Emotion Management ............................................................92 4 . DISCUSSION.. ...........................................................................115 Parental Reactions to Children's Emotions ..................................115 Discussion of Emotion .........................................................118 Family Expressiveness ......................................................... 120 Emotion Management ..........................................................123 Limitations .......................................................................128 Future Directions ...............................................................130 REFERENCES .................................................................................... 132 APPENDICES ................................................................................... -155 Appendix A: Parent Consent and Child Assent Forms ................... 155 Appendix B: Child Measures ................................................163