The Association between Parental Meta-Emotion, Child Temperament and the Development of Coping Skills in Middle School Children

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine how adolescent temperament

and parental meta-emotion influence the development of coping skills in middle school

children. A number of different findings regarding the relationship between temperament

and coping skills have been found in past studies (e.g., Ebata & Moos, 1994; Connor-

Smith, and Jaser, 2004). Similarly, previous research studies have shown significant

correlations between parenting styles and their influence on child development including

the ability to regulate emotions and cope with stressful situations (Eisenberg, Valiente,

Morris, Fabes, Cumberland, Reiser, Gershoff, Shepard, & Losoya, 2003; Dusek &

Danko, 1994). However, within the context of parental meta-emotion, previous research

has not directly focused on how parental meta-emotion influences or predicts coping

skills in children. Past studies have also not examined how temperament and parental

meta-emotion interact together to influence coping skills developed by middle school

children. In the current study, 37 students and their parents completed a number of

questionnaires to assess parental meta-emotion style, adolescent temperament, and

coping skills. Significant interactions were found between emotion-coaching parenting

and each of the four temperament dimensions in the prediction of distraction coping

strategies. Two more significant interactions were found between emotion-coaching and

emotion-dismissing (separately) and affiliation in the prediction of supportive coping.