CORRESPONDENCE OF GLOBAL AND MOMENTARY REPORTS OF EMOTION-RELATED SOCIALIZATION BEHAVIORS AMONG CAREGIVERS OF YOUNG CHILDREN
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Date
2024-01-09
Authors
Wright, Joanna
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Parents and other primary caregivers support their children's social and emotional development through emotion-related socialization behaviors, which include assistance with emotion regulation strategies. Most research in this area relies on global caregiver self-report measures, but no studies have measured caregiver assistance with child emotion regulation strategies in naturalistic settings or examined correspondence between global and momentary reports. This warrants attention because information captured by global reports may not fully reflect emotion-related socialization behaviors as they occur in dynamic contexts of daily life. To address this gap, the present study employed ecological momentary assessment methods to investigate correspondence between global and momentary reports of caregiver assistance with child use of four emotion regulation strategies: acceptance; distraction; cognitive reappraisal; and expressive suppression. The present study also evaluated whether caregiver stress and household socioeconomic status moderated the correspondence between global and momentary measures. A United States sample of 174 primary caregivers with children ages 1.5-5 years completed virtual check-ins up to three times per day for seven days. Caregivers reported their child’s emotion and the emotion regulation strategies they helped their child use. Caregivers also completed a global measure of assistance with child emotion regulation strategies, a global measure of stress, and demographics. Correlation and regression analyses showed evidence of correspondence between global and momentary reports for acceptance and expressive suppression but not for distraction or cognitive reappraisal. Caregiver stress and socioeconomic status did not significantly moderate associations between global and momentary reports.
Results caution against assumptions that global measures of caregiver support for child emotion regulation accurately index individual differences in these behaviors in daily life. Correspondence between global and momentary reports differed across strategies, showing stronger alignment for acceptance and expressive suppression, but weaker alignment for more complex, multifaceted cognitive reappraisal and distraction strategies. Future research can build on this work by investigating potential drivers of the varied correspondence patterns observed here, drawing on more diverse samples, and using validated momentary measures designed to align closely with their global counterpart.
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Keywords
Early childhood, Emotion regulation, Emotion socialization, Measurement