Abstract
Background: Parental emotion socialization promotes children’s socioemotional development. This study, which is linked to the project “Parenting Practices in Norway”, is the first to examine whether and to what extent genetic and environmental factors influence parental emotion socialization behaviours. Method: A shortened version of the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) was theoretically evaluated to investigate the emotion socialization responses of parents of 4- to 12-year-olds. The sample (N=913) included twins, siblings of twins, and full siblings. A parent-based design and the ACE statistical model, which assesses genetic and environmental influences on behaviour, were employed. Results: The reliable identified subscales of the shortened CCNES were EE, MR-PR and EFR-PFR. Significant non-shared environmental contributions (i.e., experiences that contribute to differences in traits among family members) accounted for 72% in the observed variation of EE, 71% in MR-PR, and 95% in EFR-PFR. Significant additive genetic influences (i.e., genetic variants that add up to shape a trait) accounted for 28% and 29% in the observed variation of EE and MR-PR respectively, but not for EFR-PFR. Nonsignificant shared environmental contributions (i.e., experiences that contribute to similarities in traits among family members) emerged for all studied behaviours. Conclusion: The shortened CCNES was empirically appropriate. All parental behaviours of emotion socialization were predominantly influenced by non-shared environmental factors and two of them moderately influenced by genetic effects. The formation of parental emotion socialization behaviours can occur outside the family, indicating a potential for change, for example, through participation in parental emotional guidance programmes.
Background: Parental emotion socialization promotes children’s socioemotional development. This study, which is linked to the project “Parenting Practices in Norway”, is the first to examine whether and to what extent genetic and environmental factors influence parental emotion socialization behaviours. Method: A shortened version of the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES) was theoretically evaluated to investigate the emotion socialization responses of parents of 4- to 12-year-olds. The sample (N=913) included twins, siblings of twins, and full siblings. A parent-based design and the ACE statistical model, which assesses genetic and environmental influences on behaviour, were employed. Results: The reliable identified subscales of the shortened CCNES were EE, MR-PR and EFR-PFR. Significant non-shared environmental contributions (i.e., experiences that contribute to differences in traits among family members) accounted for 72% in the observed variation of EE, 71% in MR-PR, and 95% in EFR-PFR. Significant additive genetic influences (i.e., genetic variants that add up to shape a trait) accounted for 28% and 29% in the observed variation of EE and MR-PR respectively, but not for EFR-PFR. Nonsignificant shared environmental contributions (i.e., experiences that contribute to similarities in traits among family members) emerged for all studied behaviours. Conclusion: The shortened CCNES was empirically appropriate. All parental behaviours of emotion socialization were predominantly influenced by non-shared environmental factors and two of them moderately influenced by genetic effects. The formation of parental emotion socialization behaviours can occur outside the family, indicating a potential for change, for example, through participation in parental emotional guidance programmes.