Date Approved
2024
Degree Type
Open Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department or School
Psychology
Committee Member
Angela D. Staples, PhD
Committee Member
Renee Lajiness-O’Neill, PhD
Committee Member
Jamie Lawler, PhD
Committee Member
Caroline Hoyniak, PhD
Abstract
In early childhood, caregivers are the primary agents of emotion socialization, helping their child identify, label, and healthily express their emotions. How a caregiver aids in emotion development and understanding has important implications for their child’s behavior regulation. Distressed caregivers may have difficulty helping their child cope with negative emotions leading to an increased likelihood of problem behaviors over time. While some literature has highlighted an association between caregiver anxiety and child behavior problems, little is known about the mechanisms by which anxiety negatively impacts child behaviors. Caregiver risk factors such as poor sleep, distress related to their child’s negative emotions, and emotion socialization behaviors (ESBs) may be contributing factors. Therefore, the current study focused on the relation between caregiver anxiety, sleep, distress reaction, and ESBs on child problem behaviors. Specifically, this study investigated the mediating role of ESBs on the relation between caregiver anxiety and sleep in predicting child behavior concerns and the moderating role of sleep and distress reaction on the relation between anxiety and ESBs. Results showed that both anxiety and distress reaction directly impacted both child behavior intensity and problem. Furthermore, the interaction between sleep and distress directly impacted ESBs, by country, such that those in the United Kingdom reported sleep and distress impacted helpful ESBs, while the United States reported that sleep and distress impacted unhelpful ESBs. While it is important to examine caregiver risk factors that might impact child behaviors such anxiety, sleep, distress, and ESBs, caregiver practices should also be considered in the larger context of the caregiver-child relationship.
Recommended Citation
Hicks, Amanda, "The role of caregiver anxiety, sleep, distress, and emotion socialization behaviors on child behaviors" (2024). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 1249.
https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1249