Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015;15(3):135-157.
doi: 10.1080/15295192.2015.1053312. Epub 2015 Jul 31.

Parent Gender Differences in Emotion Socialization Behaviors Vary by Ethnicity and Child Gender

Geoffrey L Brown  1 , Ashley B Craig  2 , Amy G Halberstadt  3
Affiliations

Parent Gender Differences in Emotion Socialization Behaviors Vary by Ethnicity and Child Gender

Geoffrey L Brown et al. Parent Sci Pract. 2015.

Abstract

Objective: This study examined ethnicity (African American, European American, and Lumbee American Indian) and child gender as moderators of gender differences in parents' emotion socialization behaviors.

Design: Mothers and fathers from two samples responded to questionnaires assessing self-expressiveness in the family (N=196) or reactions to children's negative emotions (N=299).

Results: Differences between mothers and fathers varied as a function of ethnicity. Mothers and fathers showed similar levels of negative expressiveness in European American and African American families, whereas fathers were more negatively expressive than mothers in Lumbee families. Mothers reported more supportive reactions than fathers among European Americans and Lumbees, but African American mothers and fathers reported nearly equal levels of supportive reactions. Parent gender x ethnicity interactions were further moderated by child gender. Mothers were generally more supportive of girls' negative emotions than fathers across all ethnicities. For boys, however, parent gender differences in supportive reactions to negative emotions varied by ethnicity. Mothers were more supportive than fathers among European American parents of boys, but mothers were less supportive than fathers among African American parents of boys.

Conclusions: Results highlight the contextualized nature of emotion socialization, and the need to consider ethnicity and child gender as influences on mothers' and fathers' gender-specific emotion socialization.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Negative expressiveness by parent gender and ethnicity. Note. * denotes a significant difference (p < .05) between mothers and fathers within ethnicity. Error bars represent standard errors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Supportive reactions to children’s submissive negative emotion by parent gender and ethnicity. Note. * denotes a significant difference (p < .05) between mothers and fathers within ethnicity. Error bars represent standard errors.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Supportive reactions to children’s submissive negative emotion by parent gender and ethnicity for girls only Note. * denotes a significant difference (p < .05) between mothers and fathers within ethnicity. Error bars represent standard errors.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Supportive reactions to children’s submissive negative emotion by parent gender and ethnicity for boys only Note. * denotes a significant difference (p < .05) between mothers and fathers within ethnicity. Error bars represent standard errors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adams S, Kuebli J, Boyle PA, Fivush R. Gender differences in parent-child conversations about past emotions: A longitudinal investigation. Sex Roles. 1995;33:309–323. doi: 10.1007/BF01954572. - DOI
    1. Angell G, Jones G. Recidivism, risk, and resiliency among North American Indian parolees and former Prisoners: An examination of the Lumbee first nation. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work. 2003;12:61–77. doi: 10.1300/J1051v12n02_04. - DOI
    1. Baker JK, Crnic K. The relation between mothers’ reports of family-of-origin expressiveness and their emotion-related parenting. Parenting: Science and Practice. 2005;5:333–346. doi: 10.1207/s15327922par0504_2. - DOI
    1. Baker JK, Fenning RM, Crnic KA. Emotion socialization by mothers and fathers: Coherence among behaviors and associations with parent attitudes and children’s social competence. Social Development. 2011;20:412–430. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2010.00585.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barbarin OA. Halting African American boys’ progression from pre-K to prison: What families, schools, and communities can do! American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2010;80:81–88. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01009.x. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources