EMOTION REGULATION AMONG MOTHERS OF TODDLERS IN THE CONTEXT OF INTENSIVE MOTHERING

By

ALENA PRIKHIDKO

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

2018

© 2018 Alena Prikhidko

To my mother, father, my husband and my son

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my mother and father, who constantly supported me in all

my endeavors, my husband, who helped me to discover my inner potential and my son,

who I love endlessly. I thank my committee chair, Dr. Jacqueline Swank, for being the

best advisor in my entire life for mentoring me with such a grace and support. I thank

my committee, Dr. Sondra Smith, Dr. Stephen Smith and Dr. John Super, for providing

me with an immense amount of support and feedback through this process.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 8

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 9

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 10

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER

1 MOTHERS OF TODDLERS: AN INTRODUCTION ................................................ 13

Mothers of Toddlers in the Context of Intensive Mothering ..................................... 14

Background of the Study......................................................................................... 16 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................... 17 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................ 17

Research Purpose .................................................................................................. 18 Research Hypotheses............................................................................................. 18

Delimitations and Assumptions ............................................................................... 19 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................................ 19 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................... 19

2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................................................... 21

Experiences of Modern Mothers ............................................................................. 21 Connection Between a Mother And a Child ............................................................ 22

Physiological Concordance .............................................................................. 22

Emotional Synchrony ....................................................................................... 23 Emotion Regulation in Mother-Child Dyad........................................................ 24

Social Context of Modern Motherhood.................................................................... 27

Intensive Mothering as a Hegemonic Paradigm ............................................... 28 Intensive Mothering and Mental Health ............................................................ 29 Intensive Mothering and Religion ..................................................................... 34

Negative Emotional Experiences of Mothers .......................................................... 35

Hostile Emotions Towards Children ................................................................. 36 Hostile Emotions Toward Oneself .................................................................... 38

Emotion Regulation ................................................................................................ 40

Emotion Regulation Theory and Practice ......................................................... 41 Research on Emotion Regulation of Anger ...................................................... 47 Research on Emotion Regulation of Guilt......................................................... 50

Research on Emotion Regulation among Mothers ................................................. 54 Gender and Emotion Regulation ............................................................................. 59

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Summary of the Chapter ......................................................................................... 60

3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 61

Research Design .................................................................................................... 61 Research Purpose .................................................................................................. 61 Research Hypotheses............................................................................................. 61 Participants ............................................................................................................. 62 Procedures ............................................................................................................. 62

Instrumentation ....................................................................................................... 63 Demographic Questionnaire ............................................................................. 63 Intensive Parenting Attitudes Questionnaire ..................................................... 63 Revised Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-9 .................................................. 64 Parent Anger Scale .......................................................................................... 65

Guilt Proneness ................................................................................................ 65 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 66

Ethical Considerations ............................................................................................ 67 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................... 68

4 RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 69

Exploratory Data Analysis ....................................................................................... 69 Research Hypothesis One ...................................................................................... 71

Research Hypothesis Two ...................................................................................... 72 Research Hypothesis Three ................................................................................... 73

Research Hypothesis Four ..................................................................................... 73 Research Hypothesis Five ...................................................................................... 74

Research Hypothesis Six ........................................................................................ 74 Research Hypothesis Seven ................................................................................... 75

Chapter Summary ................................................................................................... 75

5 DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................... 78

Summary of the Study ............................................................................................ 78

Participants ............................................................................................................. 79 Research Hypothesis One ...................................................................................... 79

Child-centeredness and Emotion Suppression ................................................. 80

Fulfillment and Emotion Suppression ............................................................... 81 Essentialism and Cognitive Reappraisal .......................................................... 82

Research Hypothesis Two ...................................................................................... 83 Research Hypothesis Three ................................................................................... 84 Research Hypothesis Four ..................................................................................... 85 Research Hypothesis Five ...................................................................................... 86 Research Hypothesis Six ........................................................................................ 87

Research Hypothesis Seven ................................................................................... 88 Limitations ............................................................................................................... 88 Implications for Research ....................................................................................... 89

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Implications for Practice .......................................................................................... 91

Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 96

APPENDIX

A INTENSIVE PARENTING ATTITUDES QUESTIONNAIRE (IPAQ) ........................ 99

B PARENT ANGER SCALE ..................................................................................... 100

C GUILT PRONENESS SCALE ............................................................................... 102

D REVISED NINE-ITEM EMOTION REGULATION QUESTIONNAIRE .................. 103

E DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................... 104

F IRB PROTOCOL ................................................................................................... 105

G INFORMED CONSENT ........................................................................................ 107

H LETTER TO PRINCIPALS .................................................................................... 110

I LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................... 111

LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 112

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 125

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LIST OF TABLES

Table page 4-1 Sample demographics. ....................................................................................... 76

4-2 Correlational data of intensive parenting attitudes, emotion regulation, and parent anger. ...................................................................................................... 77

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure page 1-1 The relationship between IPA, ER, anger and guilt. ........................................... 20

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Anger

A strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure or hostility

Cognitive reappraisal

An emotion regulation strategy that refers to changing thought processes in order to cope with one’s own emotions

Emotion regulation

Emotion regulation refers to the processes that influence an individual’s emotions, when they have them, and how they experience and express them

Emotion suppression

An emotion regulation strategy that refers to suppressing one’s own emotional expression

Guilt A feeling of having done wrong or failing an obligation

Intensive mothering

Intensive mothering is the expectation that mothers should give of themselves and their resources unconditionally to their children, including but not limited to their time, money, emotional support, and love.

Mothers of toddlers

Mothers of children in an age range from 18 to 48 months

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Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

EMOTION REGULATION AMONG MOTHERS OF TODDLERS IN THE CONTEXT OF

INTENSIVE MOTHERING

By

Alena Prikhidko

May 2018

Chair: Jacqueline M. Swank Major: Counseling and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between intensive

parenting attitudes, emotion regulation, and experiences of anger and guilt among

mothers of toddlers (N = 122). Specifically, the researcher investigated whether

intensive parenting attitudes predicted the choice of emotion regulation strategies

among mothers (hypothesis one). Additionally, the study focused on examining the

relationship between intensive parenting attitudes and parent anger (experience and

expression of anger) of mothers of toddlers. The researcher hypothesized that (a)

intensive parenting attitudes and parent anger would be positively correlated

(hypothesis two), (b) intensive parenting attitudes would correlate with guilt proneness

(hypothesis three), and (d) parent anger would correlate with guilt proneness

(hypothesis four). The researcher also expected that there would be differences in

intensive parenting attitudes and parent anger based on religiosity and working status of

a mother (hypothesis five and six).

The researcher conducted a Spearman correlational analysis to explore the

relationships between intensive parenting attitudes, emotion regulation strategies, and

experiences of anger and guilt. Additionally, the researcher used multiple regression

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analysis with intensive parenting attitudes as an independent variable and emotion

regulation as a dependent variable. Next, the researcher implemented a Mann-Whitney

test to compare groups of mothers based on their religiosity and a One-Way ANOVA to

compare parent anger based on work status.

Findings from the study indicated that intensive parenting attitudes correlated

with emotion regulation, parent anger, and guilt proneness among mothers of toddlers.

Additionally, mothers differed in their experiences of anger based on their working

status and endorsed intensive parenting attitudes differently based on their religiosity.

However, contrary to expectations, there was no correlation between parent anger and

guilt proneness. Furthermore, results from the multiple regression demonstrated a

difference in expression, but not in experience of anger based on the working status of

the mother. The researcher also discusses the limitations of the study, and implications

for research and practice.

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CHAPTER 1 MOTHERS OF TODDLERS: AN INTRODUCTION

Within this chapter, the researcher introduces information about the ideology of

intensive mothering (IM; Hays, 1996), which influences beliefs of mothers about ways to

raise their children. The author explores the relationship between maternal emotion

regulation (ER) and emotional experiences, and the ways they are connected to a

child’s development. Additionally, the author states the problem, presents a rationale

for the proposed study, and outlines the proposed research questions.

The connection between a mother and a child is vital for a child’s development.

The research on emotional synchrony demonstrates that mothers and their children

experience concordance in their emotional and bodily reactions, mirroring one another

in responses of the autonomic nervous system (Ebisch et al., 2012; Creaven, Skowron,

Hughes, Howard, & Loken, 2014). Laurent, Ablow, and Measelle (2012) found that

mothers’ and toddlers’ cortisol levels increased simultaneously while performing

challenging tasks. Family stress also moderates emotional synchrony, along with self-

regulation, in a mother-child dyad (Suveg, Shaffer, Davis, 2015). Furthermore, parental

punitive actions can be harmful for a child’s ER development (Eisenberg, Fabes, &

Murphy, 1996), whereas positive behavioral synchrony is a predictor of healthy self-

regulation in children (Feldman, Greenbaum, & Yermia, 1999).

Maternal scaffolding affects children’s observed ER (Lincoln, Russell, &

Donohue, 2016). When a mother is non-supportive to children’s negative emotions,

children do not develop sufficient ER (Perry, Calkins, Nelson, Leerkes, & Marcovitch,

2014). Therefore, parental ER affects children’s ER development as children socialize

through modeling parents’ behavior (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998). Thus,

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maternal ER is crucial to a child’s emotional development. However, the research on

mothers’ ER is in its nascence. There is a dearth of studies that are focused on the

relationship between attitudes towards mothering and emotional experiences related to

these mothering attitudes. There is also a paucity of studies on ER strategies that

mothers of toddlers implement to muddle through penetrating negative emotions that

relate to internalized social ideals. Therefore, a need exists for investigating ways that

mothers of young children regulate emotions that are linked to the internalization of

mothering ideals, along with examining the relationship between these ideals and ER

strategies mothers use to cope with negative emotions.

Children start to develop their ER in toddlerhood, while the brain matures (Cole,

Martin, & Davis, 2004). Mothers of toddlers may have difficulty coping with their

emotions due to toddlers’ behaviors, which may be characterized by disobedience and

boundary testing. Simultaneously, mothers of toddlers may feel the pressure of

dominant cultural norms pertaining to social expectations towards motherhood, which

prescribe extensive maternal involvement in the context of IM (Hays, 1996).

Mothers of Toddlers in the Context of Intensive Mothering

Most research on toddlerhood and parenting focuses on the emotional

development of children, and ways mothers can enhance it (Eisenberg, Fabes, &

Murphy, 1996; Katz, & Windecker-Nelson, 2004; Kohlhoff, Hawes, Mence, Russell,

Wedgwood, & Morgan, 2016; Lincoln, Russell, Donohue, & Racine, 2016; Miklosi,

Szabo, Martos, Galambosi, & Forintos, 2013; Shewark, & Blandon, 2014; Wilson,

Petaja, Yun, King, Berg, Kremmel, & Cook, 2014). This, on its own, reflects the ideology

of IM. Mothers’ ER rarely becomes a focus of scientific investigation (Lorber, 2012).

However, the IM paradigm prescribes constant maternal involvement in the child’s

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development, which when not being followed, can lead to extensive maternal guilt,

considered detrimental to the mental health of a mother (Liss, Schiffrin, & Rizzo, 2012).

A mother’s mental health also affects the mental health of a child, especially

when a mother has depression or anxiety (Hoffman, Crnic, & Baker, 2006). A family

system, as a whole, may manifest the IM ideology. When this occurs, a mother

becomes trapped to fulfill social expectations, while having no support in challenging the

IM ideals, which are unrealistic, especially for working mothers (Medina & Magnuson,

2009).

Mothers of toddlers are a vulnerable population as they have to be resilient when

experiencing their children’s challenging misbehavior. This challenge pertains to the

cognitive and emotional development of children. As their brains mature, they try to

regulate their emotions, which engages the prefrontal cortex of the brain. The pathway

to ER development is not always smooth, as toddlerhood is a period when a child

experiences multiple tantrums. Tantrums are challenging for mothers, as they are

emotionally attuned to children and may experience emotional turmoil with anger and

sadness being mixed due to processes of emotional contagion (Zhang & Lu, 2013).

Thus, a mother may feel angry when a child doesn’t obey, while simultaneously feeling

empathy for the child because he is emotionally struggling.

Unfortunately, mothers are rarely educated about strategies to regulate their

emotions when a child is experiencing a tantrum. Mothers self-educate through reading

modern literature on communication with children (Prikhidko, Swank, under review;

Gottman & DeClaire, 1997). However, mothers may also benefit from targeted

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interventions directed at supporting their ER development, which, in turn, affects the

emotion socialization of their children.

Background of the Study

This study focused on the relationship between IM attitudes, ER strategies used

by mothers of toddlers, and their hostile emotional experiences toward children (anger),

and toward self (guilt). Four key constructs were examined in this study to understand

the relationship between ER, IM and emotional experiences of mothers of toddlers: (a)

emotion regulation, (b) intensive parenting attitudes, (c) parent anger (PA), and (d) guilt

proneness (GP). ER is crucial for the mental health of mothers of toddlers as it helps

them to balance their own negative emotional arousal and aids them in coping with

possible consequences of anger, which can manifest in guilt for not regulating oneself

appropriately (Rotkirch & Janhunen, 2010; Lorber, 2012). Maternal ER is also

associated with the emotion socialization of a child. Therefore, the better equipped a

mother is at regulating her anger, the better the child is at learning to express his

emotions in healthy ways and acquiring skills critical for his social and emotional

development.

The IM paradigm has a profound influence on modern mothers, who are living

with the pressure of unrealistic ideals of motherhood (Medina & Magnuson, 2009). IM

attitudes may also have an effect on the emotional experiences of a mother, restricting

her behavior and causing her to feel perceived as unable to express any negative

emotions towards her child. However, children benefit from observing a full range of

emotional experiences, as their emotional socialization occurs in constant contact with

their caregiver (Shewark & Blandon, 2014).

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Statement of the Problem

The IM paradigm requires extensive maternal involvement in the cognitive and

emotional development of a child. According to IM ideals, a mother has no right to

express her negative emotions towards her children (Hays, 1996). Embracing the IM

ideals, may therefore cause her to suppress her negative feelings, such as anger.

These feelings may then “build up” and be expressed as aggressive and violent

behavior (Brown & Taghehchian, 2016).

Little is known about the ways mothers cope with emotions towards children. The

general belief is that a mother has to know how to control herself and should not be

aggressive or violent, as it would be detrimental for a child (Hays, 1996). Additionally,

the research on ER of anger is also scarce, and it is not studied in the context of

motherhood. Thus, it is vital to examine the emotional experiences of mothers and ways

they regulate their emotions in the context of IM to inform training for mothers about

safe ways to express their anger, so that it is not displayed as aggression, which, in

turn, may cause extensive maternal guilt (Rotkirch & Janhunen, 2010).

Significance of the Study

Although previous research studies had focused on the relationship between a

mother and child, researchers have not distinctively emphasized the mother, whose

emotional behavior and ER may be influenced by her attitudes towards mothering.

Attitudes toward mothering may be detrimental for mothers’ mental health. Specifically,

mothers may struggle to achieve social ideals of IM; and therefore, experience self-

doubt as parents. Mothers may think that they are not “good enough” because they are

not able to achieve the ideal of IM and are not accepting their real selves as mothers.

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The discrepancy between mothers’ ideal and real selves was significant for the

current study because self-discrepancy theory proposes that guilt and shame result

from perceived differences between one’s actual and ideal self (Liss, Schiffrin, & Rizzo,

2012). When a mother is striving to become an excellent parent but doesn’t believe she

achieves this, then the discrepancy increases between her real and ideal motherhood.

Therefore, the guilt becomes more intense. Intensive guilt, in turn, is related to

depressive symptoms (Kim, Thibodeau, & Jorgensen, 2011) and perfectionism

(Stoeber, Harris, & Moon, 2006). Thus, a need exists for research in this area that

would inform counseling practices. Counseling may focus on addressing maternal guilt

and ways to overcome the stress of striving for perfection multiplied by the lack of ER

skills. In working with mothers on IM attitudes, counselors may help mothers to attune to

their real selves and sojourn feeling guilty for not being a perfect parent, which may

support their mental health. Children may also benefit from this because their primary

caregiver has a crucial role in their development.

Research Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between intensive

parenting attitudes (IPA), ER and emotional experiences of anger and guilt among

mothers of toddlers. There were six research hypotheses.

Research Hypotheses

1. IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with ER strategies (as measured by ERQ) chosen by mothers.

2. IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with PA (as measured by PAS).

3. IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with GP (as measured by GP-5).

4. PA (as measured by PAS) correlates with GP (as measured by GP-5).

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5. Mothers differ in their IPA (as measured by IPAQ) and PA (as measured by PAS) based on their religiosity.

6. Mothers differ in their IPA (as measured by IPAQ) and PA (as measured by PAS) based on their work status.

7. Mothers differ in their PA based on the number of children they have.

These hypotheses are presented in a schematic fashion in Figure 1-1.

Delimitations and Assumptions

There were a few delimitations and assumptions associated with this study. First,

the researcher assumed that the participants provided responses openly and honestly.

Additionally, the researcher expected the participants to identify as a mother of a

toddler, as defined in the definitions of terms.

Ethical Considerations

For this study, the researcher expected that the participants would experience

little to no discomfort. However, the author provided information regarding relevant

counseling resources for mental health problems, as needed, for the participants. The

researcher obtained approval from the institutional review board (IRB) at her university

before recruiting participants for the study. A webinar on ER of anger was provided as

an incentive for the participants in this study.

Chapter Summary

This chapter focused on the contexts influencing the ER development of mothers

of toddlers. Mothers are affected by the broad context of IM beliefs, which shapes their

self-perception and limits their emotional expression, leading to suppression of anger

(Hays, 1996). Each of these contexts influences maternal ER and affects children’s ER

development, as they actively engage in emotional socialization during toddlerhood.

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Learning to cope with negative emotions towards children is essential for

maternal mental health and the emotional development of children who are closely tied

to their caregivers, due to synchronous emotional experiences. However, there is a gap

in research on ER and IM related to how mothers of toddlers regulate their emotions

that are influenced by IM attitudes. Additionally, little is known about ER of mothers of

toddlers in comparison to the ER development of children. The research on emotional

experiences of anger and guilt among mothers has been scant in scholarly publications.

Thus, this study focused on examining ER, IM attitudes, and emotional experiences of

anger and guilt for a clear conceptualization of mothers of toddlers ER. With a clearer

understanding, mental health professionals may implement interventions to improve the

ER of mothers of toddlers. Chapter 2 focuses on discussing the relevant literature

related to the constructs of ER, IM, and the emotional experiences of mothers.

Figure 1-1. The relationship between IPA, ER, anger and guilt.

Emotion regulation strategies

Emotional experiences

Intensive parenting

attitudes (IPA)

IPA

guiltcognitive

reappraisal

angeremotional supression

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CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Within this chapter, the researcher discusses the literature related to the IM

paradigm, along with beliefs about child-rearing and their influence on the mental health

of mothers. The researcher also focuses on ER theory and related studies, with an

emphasis on the emotional experiences of mothers of young children. Finally, the

chapter concludes with an examination of the literature focused on the integration of IM

beliefs and ER among mothers of young children.

Experiences of Modern Mothers

Working and stay-at-home mothers experience a myriad of problems that may

lead them to pursue counseling. Primarily, they experience emotions that may cause

exhaustion and burnt-out, such as anger (Hajal et al., 2015) and anxiety (Teetsel,

Ginsburg, & Drake, 2013). Pregnancy may cause a mother to feel tired even before the

baby arrives, especially if she is employed full-time (Alstveit, Severinsson, & Karlsen,

2010). Additionally, the life of a new mother is influenced by modern ideals of

motherhood, which may evoke guilt and shame for not being a perfect parent. A mother

is often viewed as a person who is solely responsible for the cognitive and emotional

development of a child (Elvin-Nowak, 1999; Hays, 1996).

Social perception of motherhood influences mothers’ mental health by increasing

stress levels that may lead to depression (Medina & Magnuson, 2009; Kim, Thibodeau,

& Jorgensen, 2011). Additionally, maternal depression affects scaffolding during early

childhood, decreasing children’s emotional competence (Hoffman, Crnic, & Baker,

2006). Moreover, parental negative emotionality and negative reactions to children’s

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expression of emotion correlate with children’s negative emotionality and low social

competence (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 2009).

Connection Between a Mother And a Child

Family stress moderates the psychological synchrony and self-regulation,

including ER in a mother-child dyad (Suveg, Shaffer, Davis, 2015). Laurent, Ablow, and

Measelle (2012) measured stress level among mother and 18-month old infant dyads.

Specifically, the dyads were introduced to two sessions, one focused on attachment

stress (the Strange Situation) and the other on goal-oriented tasks (cleanup, emotion-

eliciting task battery). Saliva samples were collected along with pre-stress, stress, and

post-stress responses. The researchers found that as mothers’ cortisol level increased,

indicating stress, 18-month-infants cortisol levels also typically increased

simultaneously. Cortisol levels were higher during attachment stress and alpha-amylase

levels were higher during challenge stress.

Physiological Concordance

Creave, Skowron, Hughes, Howard, and Loken (2013) examined the between-

dyads (BD, comparing average measures for a mother and a child) and within-dyads

(WD, or dynamic concordance, when changes in maternal arousal correlate with the

changes in children's arousal) autonomic physiology concordance in mother-child dyads

during resting conditions, with risk status (child maltreatment - СМ) as a control

variable. They examined heart rate (HR) and measured the change in oscillatory

dynamics of the heart across the respiration cycle (RSA), which indicated stress

vulnerability. The sample consisted of 208 mothers from low income, rural communities,

with 52 being categorized as engaged in CM and 52 non-CM mothers. The children

ranged in age from three to five years old and mothers ranged in age from 20 to 49

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years. The results revealed that BD concordance was observed only for CM dyads,

whereby higher average maternal HR was associated with higher child HR and lower

child RSA. However, WD concordance was observed among non-CM dyads for

maternal HR with child HR and RSA measures. The results demonstrated that when a

mother exhibited low levels of child maltreatment, the concordance between a mother

and a child was higher than it was between mothers and children in families where

mothers neglected their children. A limitation of the study was that the sampling of

physiological measures was restricted. Future research in this area may focus on

examining the nature of CM effects, such as various types of abuse and neglect on the

physiological concordance between parents and toddlers.

Emotional Synchrony

Ebisch et al. (2012) examined whether maternal empathy was concordant with

synchrony between a mother and a child in autonomic responses. Specifically, they

recorded facial thermal imprints of 12 mothers ranging in age from 31 to 46 years and

their biological children ranging in age from 38 to 42 months and found that the mothers

were affected emotionally when observing their children’s distress, with the arousal

mediated by the autonomous nervous system. Mothers and their children had similar

facial thermal modulations, which correlated at both individual and group levels. This

study provides some evidence for affective sharing that involves the nervous system.

However, the study involved a small sample that warrants further research.

The results from the above studies demonstrate that mothers and children may

be synchronous in their emotional experiences when they are close to each other and

also when they experience emotionally provoking situations. The overall idea of

synchrony underlines the significance of the present study. Specifically, it demonstrates

24

how important it is for a mother to implement ER strategies in emotionally arousing

situations to provide a nurturing environment to support her child’s growth and

development.

Feldman, Greenbaum and Yermia (1999) examined the role of early childhood

synchrony in the development of self-regulation. They recruited 36 mother-infant pairs

with equal number of boys and girls in well-baby clinics in Jerusalem, Israel. They first

collected data when the infants were 12 to 15 months old and then a second time when

the children turned 2 years old. The researchers found that mutual regulatory processes

in infancy affected future emotion socialization. Thus, the researchers concluded that

positive behavioral synchrony is linked to child self-regulation (Feldman, Greenbaum, &

Yermia, 1999). This synchrony between the emotional states of mothers and their

children raises a question about the relationship between maternal ER and children’s

capacities to regulate their emotions.

Emotion Regulation in Mother-Child Dyad

Research on maternal ER is scarce (Lorber, 2012). The majority of ER research

focuses on the relationship between a mother or father and a child and explores the

specific components of parent-child interactions related to parents’ perceptions of a

child and the child’s observed ER (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Murphy, 1992; Lincoln, Russell,

& Donohue, 2016; Perry, Calkins, Nelson, Leerkes, & Marcovitch, 2014; Cole, Dennis,

Smith-Simon, & Cohen, 2009). Eisenberg, Fabes, and Murphy (1996) reported that

parental punitive actions can be harmful for children’s ER development. Specifically,

they found that parental punitive reactions to children's negative emotions were

associated with avoidant (i.e., avoiding rather than coping with an emotionally arousing

situation) and inappropriate ER strategies (Eisenberg et al., 1992). Moreover,

25

preschoolers and children in kindergarten sought revenge or ran from situations that

involved anger, being unable to regulate their anger (Eisenberg, Fabes, Nyman,

Bernzweig, & Pinuelas, 1994). Thus, parental behavior influences children’s ER

development. However, when parents do not stop acting in punitive ways in response to

their children’s misdemeanor, parents limit their children’s ability to learn about ER.

Children’s emotional socialization is shaped by influential models such as parents,

characters on children’s TV, friends and teachers at school. Children observe people’s

behavior and internalize specific behavioral patterns through imitation. Bandura (1977)

described ways parents can reinforce children’s behavior through punishment and

reward. It is crucial for the development of emotion regulation that children learn from

their parents, including modeling of behavior for children. Additionally, the way parents

perceive their children’s emotion regulation capabilities may influence children’s

emotion regulation behavior (Bandura, 1977).

Lincoln, Russel and Donohue (2016) explored mothers’ (N = 30) perceptions of

their children’s abilities to regulate their emotions along with children’s observed ER.

The children and their mothers first engaged in a play session, which was followed by

an observed task for the children and a set of questionnaires for the mothers. The

questionnaires focused on assessing the children’s ER. The results showed that

maternal behavior during the children’s play predicted the children’s hostility, while the

mothers’ perceptions of their children’s ER abilities predicted the children’s compliance.

The researchers concluded that maternal scaffolding, along with perceptions of a child’s

abilities to self-regulate, affected children’s observed ER. They also stated that

interventions aimed at changing mothers’ negative attitudes toward their children, along

26

with facilitating preschoolers’ play, may support mother-child interactions that could

foster children’s ER development.

Perry, Calkins, Nelson, Leerkes, and Marcovitch (2014) focused on exploring the

relationship amongst mothers’ behavior aimed at children’s emotion socialization and

physiological regulation, as indexed by cardiac vagal suppression. The study was based

on Porges (1995) Polyvagal theory, which implies that ER is developed in conjunction

with the maturation of the autonomous nervous system, connected to the vagus nerve,

which mobilizes or calms an individual through changes in heart functioning. The vagal

suppression is the change in RSA (vagal tone) from a baseline measure to a task

measure and is associated with balanced ER. Mothers (N = 197) and their children

participated, with children engaging in a task that elicited frustration, and mothers

completing a questionnaire about the child’s observed ER. The results revealed a

relationship between punitive maternal reactions and children’s negative emotions.

Poorer ER was evident for children with lower vagal suppression. The researchers

concluded that poorer physiological regulation accompanied with non-supportive

maternal reactions to children’s negative emotions was related to observed insufficient

children’s ER. However, there was only one instrument used to measure emotion

socialization, and it was a self-report questionnaire completed by mothers. Additionally,

information from the fathers was not available.

Although the studies discussed above provide insight about ER, there is a

paucity of research that focuses on the relationship between beliefs towards mothering,

emotional experiences related to these ideas, and ER strategies that mothers of

toddlers use to cope with intense negative feelings that are connected to internalized

27

social ideals. Therefore, a need exists for understanding how mothers of young children

regulate emotions related to the internalization of mothering ideals. Additionally,

research is needed that examines the relationship between these ideals and ER

strategies that mothers use to cope with negative feelings.

The implications of this research can be used in counseling practice when

working with mothers who are overwhelmed by social and personal demands related to

the desire to be a perfect mother. Thus, this dissertation focused on the relationship

between IM beliefs, emotional experiences of mothers of toddlers, and ER strategies

used by mothers. In this literature review, the researcher first provides a general

overview of the social context of contemporary motherhood with a focus on the

mothering paradigm (Hays, 1996), and its influence on the maternal emotional state.

Then, the author outlines the role of ER in human development. Next, the researcher

highlightes the studies on ER in parent-child dyads, and finally, she synthesizes the

research findings and discusses potential directions for future studies.

Social Context of Modern Motherhood

The media influences perceptions about motherhood (Chae, 2014). Specifically,

there are several “ideals” of motherhood in the minds of mothers: super mom, soccer

mom, alpha mom, and celebrity mom (Chae, 2014). All of these types have one similar

feature – the necessity of maximum dedication of a mother’s time and energy to her

children.

Chae (2014) explored the relationship between media exposure and

motherhood, using social comparison theory. She argued that social media channels,

such as the Internet, reinforce the ideology of IM and promote comparison and

competition. Internet has become the main source of information about parenting

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strategies. Therefore, there is a distinction between real women engaged in parenting,

and representations of motherhood by the media that reflect dominant cultural norms of

white, hetero-normative, middle-class mothers.

Intensive Mothering as a Hegemonic Paradigm

IM is based on the ideas of individual responsibility and risk management

(Romangoli & Wall, 2012). The ideology of IM is rooted in Post-World War II

developmental psychology and pertains to the extra effort mothers need to take to raise

their children physically, economically, and emotionally (Hays, 1996). Romangoli and

Wall (2012) stated that the development of brain science added new responsibilities to

mothers. Society now views mothers as a primary influence in the cognitive

development of their children (Bornstei & Tamis-Lemonda, 1989; Bernier, Carlson, &

Whipple, 2010). Thus, mothers are now in a challenging social situation and are being

perceived as responsible for nearly every developmental aspect of a child’s life.

The main ideas of IM are (a) the mother must be the primary caregiver of

children because men are not responsible for child-rearing; (b) child rearing requires

extensive time, energy, and material resources; and (c) “children are priceless and

incompatible with paid labor” (Newman & Henderson, 2014, p. 474). IM has unhealthy

implications for the wellbeing of mothers. Specifically, researchers have demonstrated

that IM beliefs are detrimental to the mental health of women, resulting in higher levels

of stress, extensive guilt, and lower life satisfaction (Hays, 1996; Elvin-Nowak, 1999;

Tummalla-Narra, 2009; Sutherland, 2010; Rizzo, Schiffrin, & Liss, 2012).

One of the biggest challenges for modern American mothers, according to IM

principles, is that they “cannot be good women without being mothers, and they cannot

be good mothers without accepting IM standards” (Newman & Henderson, 2014, p.

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474). However, risks for developing anxiety and decreased self-efficacy are greater in

women who fear social sanction and judgment (Henderson, Harmon, & Newman, 2016).

Therefore, counselors need knowledge and awareness of IM beliefs, the level of

cognitive involvement associated with it, and ways it influences a mother’s real self.

Chae (2014) explored whether exposure to celebrity mom discourse and online

education reinforced IM ideology and whether this reinforcement was related to a

mother’s work status (working or staying at home). She stated that young mothers and

mothers of young children were more prone to actively seek information about

parenthood. Therefore, they more frequently engaged in social comparison with other

mothers, as the process of social comparison helped them to develop their motherhood

identity.

Engagement in social comparison increases competition, and the influence of

social media may increase social comparison. Chae (2014) argued that the IM ideology

may repress employed mothers, as it is unrealistic for them to follow the IM ideals that

are represented in social media. However, stay-at-home mothers are also vulnerable to

the pressure of IM ideals that may negatively affect their mental health.

Intensive Mothering and Mental Health

IM establishes maternal ideals that may influence the emotional experience of

mothers who strive to be ideal parents. First-time mothers are especially vulnerable due

to social pressure and a lack of maternal experience. Sacrificing the needs and desires

of women, associated with IM, affects mental health (Elvin-Novak, 1999; Guendouzi,

2006; Liss, Schiffrin, & Rizzo, 2012; Rizzo, Schiffrin, & Liss, 2012; Chae, 2014;

Newman & Henderson, 2014; Elliott, Powell, & Brenton, 2015). Specifically, IM is

related to higher levels of anger, increased stress, and feelings of guilt and shame

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(Sutherland, 2010). IM is also associated with the “motherhood myth” (Douglas &

Michaels, 2004; Press, 2006), also called “new momism,” which is a set of ideals,

norms, and practices that appear to value motherhood, but instead create standards of

mothering that are not realistic. The motherhood myth implies that (a) a woman is not

complete until she has children; (b) women are the best caregivers of children; and (c)

“good” mothers must devote their entire physical, emotional, and psychological being to

their children all day.

Internalization of the motherhood myth becomes a source of guilt for mothers

(Rotkirch & Jahnunen, 2010). Additionally, guilt results from diverging interest and

negotiations between the mother and child and is associated with expectations of large

maternal investment (Rotkirch & Jahnunen, 2010). Guilt is also related to compensation

of harm (Baumeister, Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1995). Thus, when an individual feels

guilty, she plans actions that will compensate for the harm and bring the relationship to

equilibrium.

Rizzo, Schiffrin and Liss (2013) examined the relationship between intensive

parenting and maternal mental health among 181 mothers of children ages 5 and under

by having the mothers complete an online survey about IM beliefs, social support,

stress, depression, and life satisfaction. The researchers found that the belief that a

women was an essential parent was negatively associated with life satisfaction.

Additionally, mothers who believed that parenting was challenging had higher levels of

depression and stress. The researchers concluded that it was not the parenting itself,

but mothers’ attitudes toward parenting that had a negative influence on maternal

mental health. However, further research is needed related to the influence of IM beliefs

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on depression and stress level, as it is unknown whether the mothers were already

prone to depression with no relationship to their mothering attitudes.

Shame is related to self-blame, blame of others, and self-derogation (Lutwak,

Panish, & Ferrari, 2003). Moreover, shame may be associated with hostility and anxiety,

with a tendency for females to display aggression and hostility inward (Fedewa, Burns,

& Gomez, 2005). A proneness to shame is also linked to lower levels of empathy and

parenting techniques that approach the child as being “bad,” instead of focusing on the

child’s behavior (Tangney & Dearing, 2002).

Within self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987), guilt and shame result from

perceived discrepancies between one’s actual and ideal selves. Self-discrepancy theory

postulates that self-state representations are based on two cognitive domains: the self

and the standpoints on the self. Higgins described his theory as having several unique

features including differentiating (a) between types of self-guides in a variety of

situations that are represented by discrepancy from self-concept; (b) self-guides from

the involved self-standpoint; and (c) between the magnitude of a discrepancy within

internally represented self-states and the accessibility of a self-discrepancy. Self-

discrepancy theory is most often used to distinguish among incompatible self-beliefs

concerning negative emotions they induce.

Liss, Schiffrin and Rizzo (2013) examined self-discrepancy, guilt, and shame

among 181 mothers of children age 5 and under. The researchers conducted a

regression interaction analyses to determine what factors moderated the relationship

between self-discrepancy, guilt and shame. They found that the relationship between

mothers’ self-discrepancy and shame was moderated by the fear of having a negative

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evaluation. If a mother is striving to become an ideal parent, but does not believe that

she achieves this, then the discrepancy between her real and ideal self, in regards to

motherhood, becomes bigger and increases the intensity of guilt. Shame was more

closely linked to the fear of negative evaluation than guilt. The researchers explained

this by stating that people feel shame when they have a fear of social evaluation and

believe that they are not fulfilling internalized social standards. In turn, guilt is

associated with personal regret over specific actions and is not as much related to the

fear of social judgment. Intensive guilt is also associated with depressive symptoms

(Kim, Thibodeau, & Jorgensen, 2011) and perfectionism (Stoeber, Harris, & Moon,

2006). Furthermore, the connection between guilt, shame, and hostility directed towards

children seems pivotal for the ER effectiveness. Therefore, counselors may be

instrumental in helping mothers adjust to societal and individual expectations for the

standards of motherhood, which contribute to a mother’s mental health. Women who

have more realistic expectations regarding motherhood are less prone to experiencing

guilt and shame (Rizzo, Liss, & Schiffrin, 2012).

Researchers explored the experiences and expectations of motherhood among

13 mothers of toddlers and found a discrepancy between the ideal versus the real

image of motherhood (Prikhidko & Swank, in review). There was a gap between these

images, including perceived guilt related to maternal roles and practices. For example,

not spending enough time with a child or not attending child’s school events evoked

guilt among mothers.

The social context of IM also affects maternal self-perception, causing mothers to

develop low self-acceptance and strive to achieve an ideal image of a mother (Medina &

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Magnuson, 2009). Specifically, Medina and Magnuson (2009) analyzed research

pertaining to motherhood and IM ideals. According to their analysis IM ideology states

that a mother must strive for an ideal, which implies that she must have time, energy,

and resources to stay home in order to be a mother. Additionally, a mother must self-

sacrifice herself for the sake of her children and her family and cease her own needs,

becoming a source to fulfill the needs of her children. Medina and Magnuson (2009)

found that psychological researchers have supported IM beliefs through the

popularization of attachment parenting, putting pressure on mothers to stay at home

and work hard on developing a secure attachment and constantly emotionally attuning

to the infant’s needs. Thus, mothers are overextended to accomplish maternal

functions, and they feel guilty for not meeting the IM ideals.

Guilt interferes with the reality of mothers’ possibilities and abilities to fulfill these

responsibilities. For example, a working mother cannot spend as much time with her

children as a stay-at-home mother. However, Prikhidko and Swank (in review) found

that working mothers perceived stay-at-home mothers as ideal mothers, which is not

realistic for working mothers and may trigger guilt. As Elvin-Novak (1999) stated,

Guilt arises when a woman believes she is unable to live up to her responsibility

due to conflicts between her demands on herself, as one who acts in the best manner

for others (internal demands), and the external demands that she herself cannot control.

(p. 78)

Emotional experiences of mothers are of great importance for the well-being of

the whole family. ER strategies that mothers use to cope with feelings, influenced by IM

beliefs, may affect children’s ER development. When a mother experiences negative

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emotions, followed by aggressive behavior toward her children, she puts their mental

health development at risk (Dreman, 2003).

Intensive Mothering and Religion

Religiosity influences attitudes towards parenting among mothers (Mcquillan,

Greil, Shreffler, & Tichenor, 2008). Mcquillan et al. argue that motherhood is more

important to religious women. They found that higher levels of religiosity related to

importance of motherhood in Christianity, where the cult of the Virgin Mary created an

idealized image of a mother (Pfaff, 1977). Although the influence of religious beliefs on

mothering practices remains largely unknown (Cheruvallil-Contractor, & Rye, 2016),

researchers found that church teaching evoked an expectation for a women to become

a mother (Gatrell, 2008). As Gatrell noted, the culture of liturgy constructs a women as a

maternal body, which subsequently, marginalizes women from sharing their challenges

regarding the intersection of religion, motherhood, and the possibility of childlessness

(Llewellyn, 2016).

Religion can become a source of emotional support (Krause, Ellison, & Marcum,

2002), but it can also create problems for women who feel forced by church to stay at

home with their children. Women may be unable to afford a stay-at-home mother’s

lifestyle, especially if a mother does not have a partner and takes full responsibility for

family finances. Reynolds and Mary (2014) examined whether women of various

Christian denominations and non-religious women worked the number of hours they

preferred. The researchers focused on the relationship between religion and

motherhood and found that conservative Protestants were most likely to change their

work schedule and reduce their hours. However, non-religious women were the least

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likely to reduce their number of work hours. The authors concluded that religion shapes

the experience of paid work for mothers and, in turn, can affect their work performance.

Mothers work in a variety of professional roles, one of which is a priesthood.

Motherhood and priesthood are connected to specific demands of altruism and sacrifice

along with putting others’ needs before your own. Page (2016) found that Christian

motherhood and intensive mothering complemented each other, as all the mothers who

worked as priests in her study subscribed to intensive mothering beliefs. She described

how mother-priests were criticizing priesthood more than motherhood, showing their

support for the dominant constructions of motherhood. Based on previous research

findings, the current study focuses on exploring the differences in intensive parenting

attitudes and emotion regulation strategies among mothers, based on their religiosity

Negative Emotional Experiences of Mothers

Hostile emotions are represented by a triad of hostility: anger, disgust, and

contempt (Izard, 1991). Anger occurs when a person feels frustration or perceives

injustice. Additionally, contempt is associated with feelings of superiority and appraisals

of incompetence. Contempt sometimes diminishes interactions with individuals who

cannot contribute to the group in a significant way (Rogers, Halberstadt, Castro,

MacCormack, & Garrett-Peters, 2016). Disgust in interpersonal relationships, as a part

of a triad of hostility, is viewed as moral or social disgust and is related to reluctance in

communicating with people perceived as contaminated in both physical and moral ways

(Schnall, Haidt, Clore, & Jordan, 2008). For example, one may try to avoid getting in

contact with a homeless person as he is seen as physically dirty and morally “fallen

down”. Additionally, people may avoid individuals capable of malicious behavior,

regardless of whether the person repeats the benevolent actions (Hutcherson & Gross,

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2011). Limited research on hostile emotions is focused on parents of toddlers; however,

parents may feel hostile emotions (i.e., anger, disgust) even toward newborns (Graham,

Lobel, & DeLuca, 2002).

Hostile Emotions Towards Children

Parents may feel anger due to an inability to control their children’s behavior.

However, the possibility of non-harmful expression of anger is vague and uncertain.

Mothers may not be sure how to express anger or frustration without being physically or

verbally aggressive and not hurting their child. Therefore, parents may suppress these

emotions that are harmful to their own well-being and high-quality parent–child

relationships (Le & Impett, 2016).

Anger is a frequently encountered emotion that both parents and children

experience in life. Additionally, it represents one of the most challenging emotions to

express for mothers who subscribe to the ideology of IM because feeling angry makes

them feel ashamed (Hays, 1996). Crockenberg (1986) examined the relationship

between anger in maternal and toddler behavior and found that the rejection a mother

had as a child was connected to her anger toward her child when she had low social

support. Additionally, maternal anger and irritability were key factors in linking

depression and harsh discipline practices (Shay & Knutson, 2008). Aggressive

reactions usually cause a mother to feel guilt and anger with herself, and with the child

for making her feel the unpleasant emotions (Rotkirch & Janhunen, 2010). Therefore,

maternal anger is related to a depressive state that mothers may experience for a

variety of psychological, physiological, and social issues, which occur after children are

born. Thus, receiving professional help during the early stages of depression may help

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a mother to avoid engaging in harsh disciplinary actions that are often followed by guilt

and shame.

Most research on parental anger is focused on middle school children (Rohlf &

Krahé, 2015) and adolescents (Halberstadt, Beale, Meade, Craig, & Parker, 2015).

Rohlf and Krahé (2015) developed an instrument to measure anger regulation through

behavioral observation. The goal was to identify maladaptive anger regulation strategies

concerning social rejection and to provide a description of children’s anger regulation

strategies. A total of 677 children aged 6–10 years participated in their study. The

researchers used data from a subsample of 78 children (42 girls and 36 boys; age: M =

7.91, SD = 1.09) to develop a coding system for the behavioral observation. The

researchers found a lack of association between observed maladaptive anger regulation

with parent-rated maladaptive regulation and self-reported anger regulation.

Additionally, the analyses revealed that maladaptive anger regulation was significantly

associated with aggression and social rejection measured by parental self-report.

Halberstadt, Beale, Meade, Craig, and Parker (2015) examined anger in families

by addressing the derivation of anger, emotional anger contagion within families, and

the degree of sharing perceptions about anger among family members (74 family

triads), including seventh-grade children, their fathers and mothers. Participants

separately reported on the occurrence and strength of anger in six family relationships

(child to mother, mother to child, child to father, father to child, mother to father, and

father to mother). Social Relations Model (SRM) analyses revealed a belief that family

anger is a sum of individual anger of the family members, and in a minimal way, is

shaped by the family system. The researchers also found that family members were

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aware of the emotion contagion effects of anger in the family and seemed to share

perceptions of anger and its role in the family.

One of the reasons why the research on PA and other hostile emotions is scarce

is a lack of instruments that measure it. Masin (2013) argued that researchers rely

extensively on global anger scales, which do not provide information about particular

children’s actions that trigger parental anger. Therefore, Masin (2013) developed the

Parent Anger Triggers Inventory (PATI). Her research showed that parents typically feel

angry for behaviors such as physical aggression exhibited by the child, public incidents

that make them feel embarrassed, verbal aggression from children towards their

parents, and defiance. Another instrument, the Parent Anger Scale (PAS), was

developed by Gavita and David (2011).

Hostile Emotions Toward Oneself

Maternal hostile feelings are directed not only towards the children, but also at

the mother herself. One of the self-focused hostile emotions mothers experience is

maternal guilt. Guilt is part of the socio-moral emotions family (Baumeister, Stillwell, &

Heathertone, 1995). It occurs when the internalized social norms are disrupted. A

mother may blame herself for doing, or even thinking and feeling, something viewed as

inappropriate, according to the social and ethical standards she aligns with in raising her

children. Guilt is connected with auto-aggressive behavior through the process of

blaming oneself, along with rumination and overthinking regarding self-usefulness.

Guilt is produced when individuals evaluate their behavior as a mistake and

focus on specific features or actions of the self that led to making a mistake. This

emotion is associated with an action that a person can take to repair the mistake (Lewis,

2000). The level of guilt is connected to restoring the situation. If the restorative action,

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which might be directed towards oneself, a situation, or other people, is not taken, then

the guilt may result in shame. Feeling ashamed may cause a person to want to hide

because she views herself as behaving inappropriately.

Mothers may feel guilt when they evaluate their maternal behavior (e.g., specific

actions with a child) as a failure. For example, a mother may miss her child’s play at

school because she had an important meeting at her workplace. Then, when the mother

witnesses her child as being upset, she may feel guilty because she didn’t spend this

time with her child.

Studies on maternal guilt present various issues that may cause a mother to feel

guilty. Guilt arises from diverging interests and negotiations between a mother and a

child that are influenced by the motherhood myth (Rotkirch & Jahnunen, 2010). Guilt

has a crucial role in maternal investment regulation that is predicted by the social and

cultural context. Rotkirch and Jahnunen (2010) defined guilt as an emotion that may

serve to inhibit aggression and neglect.

In examining parental guilt among 37 parents of overweight or obese children

ages five to nine years old, Pescud and Petttigrew (2012) found that guilt occurred as

an emotion that parents repeatedly experienced when letting their children eat too much

food or foods high in fat, salt, and/or sugar. Parents ascribed guilt-provoking child-

feeding practices to time scarcity and cost as external locus of control factors. Fear of

children’s hunger, the need to keep children's affection through food, perceptions of

balancing diets across eating situations, and perceived laziness were factors related to

internal locus of control. The culture of motherhood, implemented through the

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motherhood myth, which is a “cultural tool for manipulating mothers into large

investment” was an external factor (Pescud & Petttigrew, 2012, p. 93).

Rotkirch and Jahnunen (2010) also examined maternal guilt through an analysis

of texts from Finnish mothers with 63 preschoolers. In these texts, mothers referred to

their difficult and/or forbidden emotions. The researchers found that guilt ascended from

parent-offspring conflicts along with the “motherhood myth” that prescribed high

maternal investment. They reported that guilt had a significant role in the regulation of

the mothers’ investment in child-rearing, finding five reasons for maternal guilt: (a)

aggression, (b) “exit” or thoughts of ending investment, (c) temporary absences, (d)

preferential treatment of siblings, and (e) high expectations of good mothering.

Taylor and Wallace (2011) discussed shame and guilt from a feminist lens. They

argued that when guilt was inspired by infant feeding, for example, that the mother felt

that she has “broken a rule-like prescription to breastfeed—the recommendations of her

doctor, public health officials, or even “science” or “nature” more generally conceived—

and that her failure to fulfill this prescription has harmed or will harm her child” (Taylor &

Wallace, 2011, p. 82). Therefore, the breastfeeding itself becomes a source of maternal

guilt. Maternal guilt and shame also relate to the fear of negative evaluation (Liss,

Schiffrin, & Rizzo, 2013). Specifically, women who did not achieve the expectations of

an ideal mother experienced higher levels of both guilt and shame. People who fear

social evaluation may be particularly prone to shame, which is associated with personal

regret (Liss et al., 2013).

Emotion Regulation

Emotion is a component of affect, a broader concept that includes stress, mood,

and impulses (Scherer, 2005). Additionally, emotion is a multifaceted, whole-body

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phenomenon that involves subjective experience, action tendency, cognitive appraisal,

and central and peripheral physiology (Scherer, 2005). Emotion also has an action

tendency that is associated with motivation that causes people to act. Impulses to act in

specific ways are connected to autonomic and neuroendocrine changes that anticipate

and follow the behavioral response (Gross & Tompson, 2007). Mothers who attend to

IM ideals often experience feelings (i.e., guilt, anger) that may occur in different contexts

and be directed toward oneself or others.

Emotion Regulation Theory and Practice

ER represents a set of processes that people use to cope with their emotions.

These processes are classified as intrinsic (regulating own feelings), or extrinsic

(regulating feelings of another person). Scholars also conceptualize ER as down-

regulation and up-regulation. Down-regulation reflects an aim to decrease the intensity

of the emotion. In contrast, up-regulation helps to maintain or increase the intensity of

an emotional response (Koole, Van Dillen, & Sheppes, 2009).

Two models dominate the field of ER research: clinical-empirical model of ER

(Westen & Blagov, 2007) and process model of ER (Gross & Thompson, 2007) that was

recently modified to become the Extended Process Model (EPM). The clinical-empirical

model defines ER as explicit and implicit procedures, which help individuals to maximize

or minimize feelings. Westen and Blagov (2007) conceptualized ER in the context of

evolution, highlighting the adaptive function of ER. However, Gross and Thompson

(2007) argued that it is crucial to explore the process of emotion as a sequence of

phases because depending on the stage of the emotion process, different ER strategies

are applicable.

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Within the clinical-empirical model, ER is defined as conscious and unconscious

actions people engage in to increase pleasant and decrease unpleasant feelings,

emotions, and moods. This model emerged from the clinical work and theories of

Bowlby and Freud. Westen and Blagov (2007) reported that “emotions are evolved

response tendencies that reinforce behavioral and mental processes that are

pleasurable and select against those that are aversive” (pp. 374). Thus, forms of

conscious ER include operant conditioning, psychological defense, and motivated

reasoning. Additionally, types of subconscious ER include coping and decision making.

Gross and Thompson’s process model (PM) “specifies a sequence of processes

involved in emotion generation, each of which is a potential target for regulation” (Gross

& Thompson, 2007, p.10). The process model encompasses the following sequence in

which emotion is generated: situation – attention – appraisal – response. The first PM

included five strategies of ER that were antecedent and response-focused ER

strategies. This is the reason why PM was chosen as a model for the research in this

dissertation, as mothers may want to regulate their feelings while they are with their

children, as well as change their emotional state when they are alone (i.e., feeling guilty

when they are at work because they are not spending all their time with their child). The

process model encompasses five ER strategies: (a) situation selection, (b) situation

modification, (c) attentional deployment, (d) cognitive change, and (e) response

modulation.

For the purpose of this study, the researcher focused on the PM, as it provides

an opportunity to examine the emotion of a mother as it unfolds and understand what

stage in the emotion escalation may be best for implementing a particular ER strategy.

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This researcher stressed the necessity of being aware of emotion suppression;

however, it is still unclear at what moment a mother needs to stop suppressing her

anger. The extended version of PM provides more insight about the topic as it connects

ER to valuation systems, which might be associated with IM beliefs.

Within the EPM, emotions operate at two levels of valuation systems. The

valuation system is represented by “states of the world (“W”), perceptions of those

states (“P”), negative or positive valuations of these perceptions in light of a relevant

goal or target state (“V”), and actions taken to realize the goal or target state (“A”)”

(Gross, 2015, p. 130). Gross (2015) stated that valuation systems activate action

impulses pertaining to the situational context. Thus, ER is seen as an interaction

between valuation systems, which Gross calls “first-level” valuation system (FLVS),

which generates emotion, and “second-level” valuation system (SLVS). SLVS evaluates

FLVS and activates impulses to change the activity of the FLVS. Therefore, ER is an

action that is cognitive, emotional, or behavioral and aimed at modifying emotional

response. The five process model ER strategies (presented above) represent ways

SLVS modifies FLVS.

The biggest difference between PM and EPM is that EPM describes the ER cycle

as having three stages: (a) identification, (b) selection, and (c) implementation, and five

ER strategies operate at these stages. The Figure 1 shows the families of ER and the

emotional cycle.

Situation selection is an individual’s ability to choose a situation (Gross &

Thompson, 2007). A person may also choose not to engage in a situation that is known

for evoking emotions a person wants to avoid. For example, a mother may not decide to

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take her toddler to the mall because it usually ends with tantrums. A mother may also

decide that her children will not attend karate because they experience anger toward

their coach and it appears that there is no way to change their emotional experiences.

Situation modification is a change in external features of a situation that will alter

an emotional response to the situation. This step is related to strategies used to cope

with the cause of a particular problem, safety signals, or behaviors (Sheppes & Gross,

2012). For example, a mother who gets frustrated easily may hang a painting with a

calming scene on the wall to look at to ease tension and frustration. Problem-focused

coping relates to strategies people may use proactively (e.g., When a child starts a new

preschool, a mother may arrive at the school with her child to make herself feel calm by

ensuring that the teacher is friendly toward her child).

Attentional deployment is associated with the internal ER process and a situation

that a person has already encountered. Attentional regulation strategies include

distraction, suppression of thought, nonverbal suppression, rumination, and

mindfulness. Rumination and thought suppression are most often perceived as

destructive (Gross & Thompson, 2007). A mother may think that the anger she

experiences toward her toddler is inappropriate and immoral, especially if she

subscribes to the IM ideals. She may feel a fear of social judgment and not being able

to disclose her anger even to her close friends. The anger becomes repressed,

meaning a mother doesn’t accept this feeling and tries to hide it from herself. Emotional

repression is detrimental to mental health (Le & Impett, 2016). Therefore, it is important

for counselors who work with mothers to educate them on the acceptance of emotional

45

experiences and healthy ways of regulating hostile emotions (i.e., using the cognitive

change strategy).

Cognitive change is a strategy that modifies the meaning of the situation and

influences emotions (e.g., cognitive reappraisal when a mother is feeling she is

becoming angry, but she reframes the situation she is in by telling herself that the

disobedience is a great way for her to bond with her child; English, Lee, John, & Gross,

2017).

Response modulation focuses on targeting one or more of the experiential,

behavioral, or physiological components of an activated emotion response to promote

change (Gross & Thompson, 2007). Response modulation may encompass a variety of

verbal and nonverbal ways of “getting emotions out,” (i.e., talking, drawing, dancing,

singing).

In examining emotion suppression among 168 participants, Roberts, Levenson

and Gross (2008) instructed half of the participants to suppress their emotions while

watching a movie, while the other half of participants were instructed to simply watch

the movie. The researchers found that suppression was ineffective in reducing the

internal experience of negative emotions and increased physiological reactivity through

increased autonomic responses, which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease

(Roberts, Levenson, & Gross, 2008). Moreover, suppression was associated with

poorer adaptation across multiple measures of adjustment (John & Gross, 2004). John

and Gross (2004) provided a comprehensive analysis of healthy and unhealthy ways to

regulate emotions. They described and compared reappraisal (changing thoughts about

emotion-evoking event), and suppression (changing behavior in response to the event).

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John and Gross reported that specific conditions make reappraisal healthier than

suppression in terms of social, cognitive, and affective consequences for the individual.

In contrast, cognitive reappraisal is a constructive ER strategy that correlates

with increased use of labeled praise (Kohlhoff et al., 2016), and moderates anxiety

levels among parents (Miklosi, Szabo, Martos, Galambosi, & Forintos, 2015).

Specifically, Kohlhoff et al. (2016) examined the cognitive-affective ER strategies of 84

parents of toddlers with conduct problems by observing parents and children while they

interacted with each other. Parents also completed questionnaires about positive and

negative parenting, and their use of cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression

strategies. The researchers found that ER strategies and parenting quality were

moderated by parental depression. Cognitive reappraisal correlated with increased use

of labeled praise among parents with low depression levels. Additionally, parents with

higher levels of depression did not often praise their children, regardless of how often

they used reappraisal. Recurrent use of cognitive reappraisal and expression

suppression among parents with high levels of depression correlated with positive

parenting practices.

Miklosi et al. (2013) examined cognitive ER among parents of children who had

surgery. Their focus was on the relationship between parenting self-efficacy and state

anxiety among 199 parent-child dyad. Cognitive ER strategies assessed included

adaptive strategies (e.g., acceptance, positive refocusing, refocus on planning, positive

reappraisal, putting into perspective), and nonadaptive strategies (e.g., self-blame,

catastrophizing, blaming others. The researchers found that greater use of nonadaptive

cognitive ER strategies correlated with more anxiety, when controlling for all other

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variables. Additionally, adaptive cognitive ER strategies did not predict anxiety that is

usually viewed as a negative emotion, along with guilt and anger.

Research on Emotion Regulation of Anger

Anger is an emotion, which arises when a self-relevant goal cannot be reached

and increased effort is required for goal achievement (Denny, 2015). The research on

ER of anger often starts with finding the triggers of an anger episode – specific

situations or actions. A thought or an emotion other than anger may also become a

trigger. There are a few studies that have focused on how people experience and

regulate anger daily. For example, Kashdan, Goodman, Mallard, and DeWall (2015)

examined situational determinants of anger. Participants completed daily diaries where

they reported intense anger and described their triggers. Researchers also measured

anger regulation and personality traits (i.e., anger, mindfulness, psychological need

satisfaction, the Big Five). Five anger trigger categories emerged: (a) environment, (b)

distress, (c) other people, (d) psychological, and (e) undifferentiated. Lack of anger

regulation was higher when other people were triggering anger. Researchers found that

personality traits had a minimal influence on anger compared to the trigger. This finding

is important because it demonstrates that any mother may be prone to specific anger

triggering behavior that children display, such as a tantrum.

Anger regulation starts to emerge in childhood when parents shape children’s

emotion socialization. One of the socialization mechanisms is conditional regard, which

can be positive and negative. Smiley, Buttitta and Chung (2016) examined anger

suppression socialization among 79 middle-school children and found that low positive

conditional regard (PCR) was related to increased strategy use among children who

displayed anger, and high PCR was associated with decreased strategy use. The low

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PCR was associated with avoidance motivation when problem solving was needed in

situations when children got angry. However, high PCR was associated with approach

motivation.

Suppression is one way to regulate anger. Germain and Kangas (2015)

compared emotion suppression with cognitive reappraisal and acceptance among 101

adults with high trait anger. Researchers found participants in reappraisal and emotion

suppression conditions declined in state anger and systolic blood pressure (SBP);

however, individuals who were using acceptance did not decline in their level of anger.

Therefore, the researchers concluded that reappraisal and suppression were more

effective in coping with anger than acceptance.

Parents may suppress their anger toward their children; however, suppression is

not a good strategy to use without processing the anger. Parents frequently experience

anger toward children when they do not follow instructions. The reason for children’s

misbehavior may have developmental roots as children simply do not understand what

their parents want them to do. In this case, parents would want to explain and negotiate.

When they engage in discussion, along with suppressing anger, they may experience

decreased effectiveness in conveying explanations to their children. Researchers

examined intrapersonal effects of anger suppression in negotiations and found that

anger suppression reduced the ability to focus and increased cognitive exhaustion

(Shao, Wang, Cheng, & Doucet, 2014). Moreover, Shao et al. (2014) found that when

negotiators suppress anger, their performance is hindered. Researchers recommended

adopting strategies that would help to maintain attention while anger is suppressed. The

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alternative to suppression is expression and one of the strategies of expressing anger is

social sharing.

Research on social sharing reveals that there may be benefits of sharing anger

with other people for regulatory purposes. However, it is questionable whether it is

always beneficial to share your anger with other people, and identifying the factors that

make it more or less beneficial may also be challenging. Frequency of anger and

reliance on social expression of anger may be factors that make social sharing of this

emotion more beneficial. Chue, Gunthert, Ahrens, and Skalina (2017) examined the

frequency of social sharing of anger and its consequences for emotional health among

82 female and 20 male undergraduate students. They found that a high reliance on

social expression of anger predicted a decrease in follow-up depression symptoms

when frequency of anger was low, but anger predicted an increase in depression

symptoms when frequency of anger was high. The function of social sharing was also

specifically salient to the experience of anger, such that expressing sadness and

anxiety to others did not influence depression symptoms four months later. These

results are consistent with other findings that the expression of anger has a greater

influence on emotional well-being than the expression of other negative emotions

(Lieberman & Goldstein, 2006). Moreover, the benefit of coping with anger through

social sharing was unique in that there were no relationships between other

anger coping strategies and future depression.

Although being angry is not socially desirable, as people associate anger with

aggressive behavior with an intent to harm, research shows that anger can have

positive functions and beneficial consequences (Denny, 2015). The benefits of anger

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heavily rely on individual differences. One example is the ability to regulate and use

anger. Denny (2015) examined the connection between executive functions (EF) and

ER within her study on anger regulation. She stated that a cognitive ER strategy was

effective in anger regulation. Several components of EF were used in the study

including inhibition and shifting. The results showed that vigilance to anger had the

potential to affect ER, and cognitive ER strategies influenced anger regulation.

Moreover, EF with happy emotional stimuli decreased anger.

Research on Emotion Regulation of Guilt

Guilt is an emotion connected with moral beliefs. Moral beliefs guide moral

conduct that is regulated by two systems (Janoff-Bulman, Scheikh, Hepp, 2009): (a)

proscriptive morality, which restrains immoral behavior; and (b) prescriptive morality,

which promotes moral behavior. Proscriptive morality is connected to the avoidance

system that motivates behavioral inhibition. Prescriptive morality is based on an

approach system that activates behavioral responses that align with moral values. For

mothers of toddlers, the proscriptive morality system is mentally represented by

negative internal referents such as “I should not yell at my child” or “I should not hit my

child”. However, prescriptive morality includes positive internal referents such as “I

should educate my child” or “I should spend every free second of my time with my

child”. The proscriptive regulatory system curbs temptation, which is seen as negative

and harming, so that the individual does not engage in the “wrong” behavior. The

prescriptive system activates a desire to engage in the behavior that is perceived as

appropriate for the child and for the role of a mother.

Janoff-Bulman et al. (2009) conducted seven studies with an overarching goal of

suggesting a profile of prescriptive and proscriptive morality through investigating the

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applicability of approach versus avoidance motivation, and then exploring the

asymmetric relationship between two moral systems. In the first study, the researchers

explored the differences in responsiveness to a threat-based avoidance prime and a

reward-based approach prime. In the second study, they assessed the linguistic

representations of proscriptive and prescriptive morality. Then, in the third and fourth

studies they investigated possible moral asymmetries through evaluating mandatoriness

versus personal preference. Finally, in the fifth, sixth, and seventh studies the

researchers focused on attributed credit and blame. They found that proscriptive

morality is inhibition-based, vulnerable to negative outcomes, and directed at avoidance

by focusing on what we should not do. However, prescriptive morality is activation-

based and connected to positive outcomes by focusing on what we should do. Thus, the

avoidance-based proscriptive morality regulation system correlates with proneness to

shame, and the action-based prescriptive morality system correlates with guilt (Janoff-

Bullman, Sheikh, & Hepp, 2009).

Proneness to guilt is also connected to self-esteem, which positively predicts guilt

responses (Sheikh, & Janoff-Bulman, 2010). Self-regulation extricates among two types

of motivation: approach/activation and avoidance/inhibition. Using this distinction,

Sheikh and Janoff-Bulman (2010) examined parental restrictiveness versus nurturance,

anxiety versus empathy, and proscriptive versus prescriptive morality as precursors to

moral emotions. They found that the higher the self-esteem of an individual, the more

intense the guilt was when there was a violation of moral beliefs. Furthermore, there

was a possibility for a more intense desire to repair the relationship when it was viewed

as being harmed by the immoral actions of the individual. Psychological origins and

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motivations of shame and guilt differ, with guilt being an indicator of a damaged

relationship activating approach behavior to optimize the relationship (Baumeister,

Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1995). In comparison, shame indicates harm to self-view and

activates approach behaviors to support positive self-view.

One of the reasons why people experience guilt and show it without extra effort

in regulating it is because they strive to present themselves as moral (Stearns & Parrott,

2012). Stearns and Parrot (2012) investigated how expressions of guilt and shame

affected one’s perception among 294 students from Georgetown University (159 women

and 135 men). Participants read autobiographical vignettes where the writer did

something wrong, including experiencing guilt, shame, or no emotion. People, who

experienced guilt or shame were viewed as more moral and socially attuned. Thus, the

researchers concluded that a verbal apology, along with an expression of guilt and

shame, increased an individual’s likeability.

Feeling accepted, even though she had done something inappropriate, may

mitigate a mother’s negative self-perception as a person who is acting as a “bad

mother”. Moreover, research shows that guilt can activate pleasure. Goldsmith, Cho and

Dhar (2012) examined the positive effect of guilt, while seeking to understand how guilt

activation related to consumption. They found that consumers had a cognitive

association between guilt and pleasure, and an experience of guilt may automatically

activate experiences of pleasure. Mothers would compensate and relieve the guilt they

experienced towards their children through buying them presents. This showed that

there may be a connection between experiencing guilt when a mother violates her

beliefs about appropriate behavior.

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Guilt is complicated and may evoke both pleasure and self-punishment. Nelissen

and Zeelenberg (2009) described the Dobby Effect as a public sign of reconciliation in

situations when the actual reconciliation is not possible. A person may be aiming at

restoring the self-image through the self-presentation of self-punishment. This behavior

was exhibited by the character from the novel about the young magician Harry Potter.

Dobby was a domestic elf who beat himself up when he thought he was doing

something wrong. For example, when he said something to disappoint a magician, he

would start hitting himself with a hard object or would hit the wall with his head. The

Dobby Effect may manifest in a mother of a toddler who experiences guilt. For example,

the harm caused to the child needs to be irreversible, such as forgetting about an

important event in the child’s life, which is also viewed as important by the mother.

Secondly, there must be no way to compensate for the loss suffered. For example, if a

mother and a father are going through a divorce and there is no possibility for the father

to return back home, then a mother may engage in behavior described in the Dobby

Effect thorough self-punishment, which may include physical punishment or relationship

self-deprivation.

Relationship self-deprivation may include not getting married again to

compensate for the harm caused to a child by a divorce. Another way to compensate for

the harm would be an apology. Although research on parental apology as a

compensation of harm is scarce, Ruckstaetter (2016) examined the relationship

between parental apologies, empathy, shame, guilt, and attachment among 327 parents

of children between 3 and 18 years old and found that apologies are beneficial for the

relationship between a child and a parent. Parents’ readiness to apologize was

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positively influenced by parental empathy and guilt. Moreover, apologies helped to

develop a secure attachment between a parent and a child. Furthermore, shame

accompanied with withdrawal had a negative influence on the relationship. Thus, the

apology becomes an ER strategy for the parent, who repairs the relationship, bonding

more with a child.

Verbal expression of guilt is a pathway to restoring the relationship. It also helps

a parent to feel better. Sharing of guilt through verbal expression can be done

individually, when talking to a friend, or apologizing to the child. It can also be done in

special groups for parents. Godwin (2004) studied support groups for parents of

teenagers and found that specific rhetoric used by parents helped them to manage guilt

for being “bad” parents. Parents in this group were able to maintain good-parent

identities through a personal responsibility rhetoric. Godwin aimed to apprehend the

process of constituting parental identities. He saw this process as connections between

talk, emotion work, and identity management. Godwin analyzed the data using

grounded theory within symbolic interactionism paradigm and found that parents

avoided guilt suppressing it. Godwin reported that “the personal responsibility rhetoric’s

expression was “don’t express guilt for your teenagers’ bad behavior” (p. 581).

Research on Emotion Regulation among Mothers

Parental ER influences the ER development of children, who emotionally

socialize through modeling the caregiver’s behavior and identifying with the parent

(Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998). Specifically, reappraisal and suppression

have distinct socialization paths. Furthermore, parental ER self-efficacy has an indirect

effect on a child's reappraisal (Gunzenhauser, Fäsche, Friedlmeier, & von Suchodoletz,

2014).

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Primary caregivers have a major role in emotion socialization. Deater-Deckard, Li

and Bell (2016) examined a multi-component emotion self-regulation construct in 151

women with young children that captured physiological (vagal tone), cognitive

(reappraisal) and temperament (effortful control) aspects of ER as a moderator of the

association between more stressors and greater negative/less positive affectivity (NA

and PA). Women with more stressors had more NA and less PA. Furthermore, for NA

only, having more stressors was substantially associated with NA, but only among

women with the lowest ER. Additionally, results were not attributable to individual

differences in executive function (Deater-Deckard, Li, & Bell, 2016). These findings

highlight the role of a mother’s ER skills in the aftermath of trauma, as it relates to

children’s ER skills. The degree of a mother’s regulatory skills, in the context of

posttraumatic stress symptoms, reflects an essential process through which the

intergenerational transmission of trauma may occur.

A child’s capacity for ER is highly related to the mother’s ability to control her

emotions. The mother’s ability to use adaptive ER strategies serves as a protective

factor for her child. A mother can choose to enter or change a situation (situation

modification) and choose to soothe her child, rather than to become upset when

experiencing trauma. However, in the context of exposure to traumatic events, the

parents’ ability to control a situation is limited. This reality creates additional challenges

for the process of self-regulation and co-regulation of emotions and behaviors.

The limited research on preschoolers has focused on emotional socialization of

children. Specifically, Shewark and Blandon (2014) investigated the relationship

between mothers’ and fathers’ reactions to children’s emotions and ER. Seventy

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families participated in this study, with each family unit encompassing a mother, father,

and two siblings ages 2 to 5 years old. The researchers found that unsupportive

reactions to children’s positive emotions correlated with off-springs’ negativity.

Parental meta-philosophy regarding emotional socialization of children was

addressed by Katz and Windecker-Nelson (2004). The researchers examined how

conduct-problem (CP) children’s mothers were different from mothers of non-CP

children. The parameters for comparison included awareness and coaching of emotion.

The researchers also investigated if there was an association between mothers’

awareness and emotion coaching with peer relations in CP children. There were 130

families who participated, with children ranging in age from four to six years. Emotional

meta-philosophy was evaluated through interviews with parents. Preschool children’s

peer relationships were evaluated through observation. The researchers discovered that

the mothers of the CP children engaged in less coaching of their children on developing

ER skills than mothers of non-CP children. Additionally, children's level of aggression

moderated the relationship between mothers’ meta-emotion and children's peer play.

For both samples more intensive maternal emotion coaching was associated with more

positive peer play, with these effects being stronger for non-CP mothers. The results of

this study suggest that children benefit from emotion coaching and higher levels of

maternal emotional awareness.

Emotion coaching was also examined by Wilson et al. (2014) in investigating

associations between maternal and paternal emotion coaching and the self-

regulation skills of elementary school children (N = 54). The researchers found that

emotion coaching engagement was higher for fathers of low aggressive/popular children

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than for fathers of aggressive/rejected children. Additionally, mothers’ emotion coaching

directed at children moderated the relation between children's social status and their

ER. Wilson et. al suggested that counseling interventions directed at parental emotion

coaching may aid in increasing self-regulation and compensate for attention deficit

among children with social and behavioral problems.

Morelen, Shaffer, and Suveg (2014) examined maternal ER and emotional

parenting practices among 64 mother–child dyads and found that observed maternal

ER was negatively associated with unsupportive emotional parenting. Additionally, self-

reported maternal emotion dysregulation was positively related to unsupportive

parenting and child emotion dysregulation, and negatively related to child adaptive ER.

Furthermore, partial support was provided for the mediating role of emotional parenting

behaviors and the relationship between maternal and child ER.

While there is a growing body of literature examining the influence of emotion

socialization on children’s emotional and social development, there is less research on

what predicts emotion socialization behaviors among parents. Are and Shaffer (2015)

investigated maternal ER difficulties as a predictor of emotion socialization practices.

Specifically, they examined the family emotion expressiveness as a possible mediator

of the relationship between maternal and child ER in a community sample of 110

mother–child dyads with preschool-aged children. They found that positive family

expressiveness mediated the relationship between maternal emotion dysregulation and

the child’s ER. Positive behavioral synchrony was positively associated with child self-

regulation (Are & Shaffer, 2015).

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One of the most well researched emotional states of a mother, in regards to its

connection with a child’s ER, is maternal depression. Although maternal postpartum

depression (PPD) exerts long-term adverse effects on infants, the mechanisms by

which PPD disrupts emotional development are not clear. Using an extreme case

design, Granat, Gadassi, Gilboa-Schechtman, and Feldman (2016) examined the

effects of postpartum depression on infant ER among 971 women who reported

symptoms of depression and anxiety following childbirth and their babies and among

215 women who had high and low scores on depressive symptomatology reported

again at six months and their babies. The researchers found that infants of depressed

mothers displayed less social gaze and more gaze aversion. Gaze and touch synchrony

were lowest for depressed mothers, highest for anxious mothers, and midlevel among

controls. Additionally, infants of control and anxious mothers expressed less negative

affect with the mother compared with a stranger. However, maternal presence failed to

buffer the negative affect in the depressed group. Maternal depression chronicity also

predicted increased self-regulatory behavior during joy episodes, and touch synchrony

moderated the effects of PPD on infant self-regulation. Thus, the findings highlighted

the subtle processes by which maternal depression across the postpartum year affects

the development of infant ER and suggest that diminished social synchrony, low

differentiation of attachment contexts, and increased self-regulation during positive

moments may create generational transfer of emotion dysregulation from mothers to

their infants (Granat et al., 2016).

Premo and Kiel (2016) examined how toddlers’ ER strategies moderated the

relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and emotion socialization

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responses, including the degree to which mothers accept their children’s demands to

decrease their own and their children’s distress. Mothers (N = 91) reported depressive

symptoms and the use of maladaptive emotion socialization strategies concurrently and

at a 1-year follow-up. Additionally, the findings revealed that toddler emotional

characteristics influenced how depressive symptoms may put mothers at risk for

maladaptive parenting.

Therefore, Premo and Kiel (2016) concluded that one of the tasks for family

psychologists is to understand the role of both parent and toddler characteristics within

challenging emotional interactions. Although research on ER among mothers, focused

on the strategies this population uses to cope with feelings such as anger and guilt is

scarce, there are studies that examine gender differences in ER.

Gender and Emotion Regulation

Scholars should consider gender differences in ER when the study focuses on a

male or a female parent. The current study focused on female mothers; and therefore,

there was a need to explore particular female ER phenomenology. Yan Wu and Tianzi

Jiang (2015) found an existence of sex-specific neural circuits of ER in the brain,

specifically in a region called centromedian amygdala. Their study was conducted

through using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data and ER scores. They

found that ER was associated with different brain regions for males and females. Males

used the regions involved with cognition to regulate their emotions, while females used

regions associated with emotions. These findings support the stereotype of male and

female ER differences, with males using more problem-solving, and females using more

rumination and emotional expression.

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Women and men also differ in their tendency to respond to stress, with females

being more sad and anxious than males. Thus, women have a greater risk for anxiety

and depression than men, while men are at a higher risk for alcohol use (Chaplin, Hong,

Bergquist, & Sinha, 2008). Additionally, ER strategies are unequally distributed

regarding gender, with women reporting that they use more ER strategies then men

(Nolen-Hoeksema, 2012). Moreover, ER is equally related to psychopathology in both

sexes. However, women also use more rumination because they more often experience

anxiety and depression compared to men. The tendency for females to focus more on

emotional expression rather than problem-solving occurs early in childhood. However,

more research is needed on how men use ER.

Women are more prone to depression and rumination than men, and they also

have a greater tendency to vent and express emotions verbally when stressed. For

mothers of young children, who sometimes suffer from postpartum depression,

development of ER skills is crucial. However, being under the pressure of IM ideology, a

woman may struggle with appropriate care for herself and her emotional state because

she may believe that she has to spend all of her free time with her child.

Summary of the Chapter

In summary, IM ideology influences maternal mental health, evoking depression,

guilt, and anger. Additionally, emotional synchrony exists between a mother and a child.

However, becoming synchronous with depression and anger is not conducive to a

child’s emotional development, which is shaped through interactions with primary

caregivers. Thus, research focused on the relationship between IM beliefs and ER of

hostile emotions may help in the development of counseling programs for mothers who

are feeling extensive pressure from a society that endorses IM ideology.

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

Within this chapter, the author presents the methodology for this study. The

researcher first discusses the research design and outlines the purpose of the study

and the research hypotheses. Then, she describes the targeted population and

sampling. Next, the author discusses the instrumentation and the procedures. Finally,

the author concludes the chapter with presenting the data analysis procedures.

Research Design

This study involved a correlational research design. In a correlational design the

researcher examines the relationship between variables. A correlation has a direction

(positive or negative). A positive correlation results when participants score high on both

or low on both instruments. A negative correlation results when individuals who score

high on one measure tend to score low on another measure (Busk, 2015).

Research Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between intensive

parenting attitudes (IPA), ER and emotional experiences of anger and guilt among

mothers of toddlers. There were six research hypotheses.

Research Hypotheses

8. IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with ER strategies (as measured by ERQ) chosen by mothers.

9. IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with PA (as measured by PAS).

10. IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with GP (as measured by GP-5).

11. PA (as measured by PAS) correlates with GP (as measured by GP-5).

12. Mothers differ in their IPA (as measured by IPAQ) and PA (as measured by PAS) based on their religiosity.

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13. Mothers differ in their IPA (as measured by IPAQ) and PA (as measured by PAS) based on their work status.

14. Mothers differ in their PA based on the number of children they have.

Participants

The targeted population was mothers of toddlers, with toddlerhood age defined

as ranging from 18 to 48 months. Participants included both stay-at-home and working

mothers. Some mothers had toddlers who attended daycare. The researcher contacted

35 daycares in one city in the southeastern part of the United States. Of these

institutions, none declined to participate, four (11.4%) replied and agreed to distribute

emails with the invitation to mothers, and 31 (88.6%) did not respond. Additionally, a

fifth facility permitted only paper data collection, and therefore, participants were not

included from this facility due to the IRB approval of only online data collection, and

insufficient time to get approval for paper data collection. There were a total of 171

surveys that were started; however, 49 (29%) of the surveys were excluded due to

completion of only the informed consent, and three surveys were excluded due to

participants identifying as being fathers. Therefore, the researcher examined data from

a total of 122 participants who completed the surveys online in Qualtrics, an online

survey portal.

Procedures

Following approval from the institutional review board (IRB) at the researcher’s

university, the researcher recruited and selected potential participants using a purposive

convenience sampling method. Specifically, she recruited participants through posting

recruitment announcements on (a) listservs of preschools, (b) a university group for

mothers in graduate school, and (c) contacting mothers of toddlers who were active in

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social media (Facebook). Additionally, the researcher sent invitations for participation to

directors of preschools on a monthly basis for a two-month period (September-October),

or until they responded that they did not want to participate. The researcher also used a

snowball approach by asking participants to forward information about the study to other

mothers of toddlers. The author collected data using the online survey portal Qualtrics.

Completion of the online survey constituted consent.

Instrumentation

Demographic Questionnaire

The researcher asked participants to complete a demographic questionnaire.

The demographic questionnaire contained questions related to gender, age, number of

children, race/ethnicity, work status, and marital status.

Intensive Parenting Attitudes Questionnaire

The researcher measured IM attitudes using the Intensive Parenting Attitudes

Questionnaire (IPAQ; Liss, Schiffrin, Mackintosh, Miles-McLean, & Erchull, 2013). The

IPAQ is a 25-item measure with a 6-point Likert scale response option ranging from ‘1’

(strongly disagree) to ‘6’ (strongly agree). Additionally, the IPAQ has five factors: (a)

women are inherently better at parenting than men (essentialism), (b) parenting should

be fulfilling (fulfillment), (c) children should be cognitively stimulated by parents

(stimulation), (d) mothering is difficult (challenging), and (e) parents should prioritize the

needs of the child (child-centered).

The norming group for this measure included 595 mothers that ranged in age

from 20 to 73 with a mean age of 34.78 years (SD = 8.07). The sample was

predominantly residing in the US (86.7 %). The self-reported socioeconomic

composition of the mothers was largely middle class (53.3 %) and upper middle class

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(23.9 %). The majority of the mothers (91.4 %) reported their ethnicity as Caucasian.

The internal consistency reliability for the subscales was 0.85 for essentialism, 0.77 for

fulfillment, 0.64 for stimulation, 0.76 for challenging, and 0.68 for child-centered. The

scales have adequate reliability and construct validity when compared to the Parental

Investment in the Child Questionnaire, the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, and

Beliefs about Maternal Employment. In this study, the internal consistency for the IPAQ

subscales was essentialism .838, fulfillment .728, stimulation .476, challenging .708,

and child-centered .649. This was consistent with the internal consistency for the normal

group, except for challenging.

Revised Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-9

The researcher measured ER using the ER Questionnaire (ERQ) developed by

Gross and John (2003). Gross and John initially created the ERQ to explore the use of

reappraisal and suppression ER strategies. It is presently the most conventionally

recognized and frequently used measure of ER. Spaapen, Waters, Brummer, Stopa,

and Bucks (2014) validated the scale with a community sample of adults ages 17-95

from Australia (N = 550) and the United Kingdom (N = 483) using confirmatory factor

analysis. The researchers found that the original ERQ factor structure was not

supported by either the Australian or United Kingdom samples. However, they obtained

a strong model of fit with the removal of 1 item. The Revised ERQ-9 was comparable

across the demographics (age, gender, and education). Both questionnaires have two

scales, suppression and reappraisal, that include 9 total items that participants rate on a

7-point Likert scale ranging from ‘1’ (strongly disagree) to ‘7’ (strongly agree). The

reappraisal scale includes items such as, “When I want to feel more positive (such as

joy or amusement), I change what I’m thinking about” and the suppression scale

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included items such as, “I control my emotions by not expressing them.” The authors

reported that the revised nine-item ERQ measure was a strong model for both samples

and that the coefficients for reappraisal after removing item 3 was 0.76 for the

Australian sample and 0.80 for the UK sample, and suppression 0.78 and 0.74

accordingly. The internal consistency for the ERQ subscales for this study was

supression .724, and reappraisal .869; which is consistent with previous research.

Parent Anger Scale

The researcher measured parental anger using the Parent Anger Scale (PAS;

Gavita & David, 2011). The PAS has 30 items that assess arousal, cognitions, motives,

and behaviors. Participants rate the items on a 6-point Likert scale with the response

options varying depending on the item (e.g., some items assess the extent of anger

from “not at all angry” to “extremely angry” and some items assess frequency “a few

minutes” to “several days”). High score reflects a high level of parent anger. The

researchers reported the internal consistency for the PAS total score as 0.95.

The norming group for this measure included 331 parents of children aged four to

17 years, who were recruited from ten kindergartens and two schools in the county of

Cluj, Romania. The mean age for participants was 35.01 years (SD = 4.94). 88.2% of

the parents were mothers and 11.8% were fathers. The majority of the parents had

some level of college education, 85.5% of the parents were employed. In this study, the

internal consistency for the PAS subscales was experience .867, and expression .735.

Guilt Proneness

The researcher measured the tendency to experience guilt using the Guilt

Proneness (GP) subscale from the Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale (GASP; Cohen,

Wolf, Panter, & Insko, 2011; Cohen, Panter, Turan, Morse, & Kim, 2013). The GASP

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assesses individual differences in the tendency to feel guilt and shame in personal

interactions. The Guilt subscale was tested in the sample of 155 job applicants, it

consists of five-items (GP-5; Cohen, Kim & Panter, 2014) with seven response options.

GP is calculated by averaging participants' responses to the five items. The alpha

coefficient for GP subscale was higher in the general GASP research (cf. α = .80 in

Cohen, Panter, et al., 2014) and it was lower in this sample (α = .54). Authors explain it

by saying that possibly that there was less variance and the range was restricted to the

positive end of the response scale. However, they state that model fit statistics from a

confirmatory factor analysis were very good and factor loadings were acceptably high

(χ2 (df = 5) = 3.25; items factors loadings with standard errors: (1) Too much change =

0.56 (0.09); (2) Secret felony = 0.65 (0.10); (3) Cover wine spill = 0.85 (0.06); (4) Tell

lies = 0.86 (0.07); (5) Break the copier = 0.58 (0.10)). The internal consistency for GP in

this study was .725.

Data Analysis

The researcher examined research hypotheses one, two, three, four using a

Spearman correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis. The predictor

variables were scales of the IPAQ: essentialism, fulfillment, stimulation, challenging,

and child-centered. The outcome variables were ER strategies and parent anger. The

researcher also used a One-Way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney test to compare groups of

mothers based on their religiosity and working status.

The researcher reported demographic information using descriptive statistics.

Additionally, the researcher used G*Power to conduct an a priori power analysis for all

statistical procedures implemented in this study. In using G*Power to conduct an a priori

power analysis for the correlational analysis, the researcher found that with an alpha

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level of .05, minimum power established at .80, and a large effect size of .3 (Cohen,

1992), 82 participants were needed to find a statistically significant difference.

Therefore, the number of cases in the present study (N = 106) was large enough to

justify proceeding with the Spearman correlational analysis. The researcher conducted

an a priori power analysis for the Mann-Whitney test, with an alpha level of .05,

minimum power established at .80 and an effect size of .05, 106 participants were

needed to find a statistically significant difference. The power analysis for the One-Way

ANOVA test showed that with an alpha level of .05, minimum power established at .80

and an effect size of .05, 128 participants were needed to find a statistically significant

difference. For multiple regression with five predictors with an alpha level of 0.05, a

power of 0.80, and a medium effect size (f2 = 0.15) (Faul et al., 2013), the researcher

needed a sample size of 92.

Ethical Considerations

The researcher presented the protocol for this study to the IRB for review to

ensure that the study met ethical standards. Following IRB review, the researcher sent

a copy of the study protocol to preschools, and all participants received the informed

consent form online. The researcher did not expect participation in the study to cause

any negative effects concerning physical harm or the triggering of any emotional

responses. However, the researcher had contact information available for the

Counseling and Wellness Center on the university campus, and the County Crisis

Center should the participants experience an emotional reaction to participating that

required counseling. Participants also have the opportunity to opt out of participating at

any point during the study without consequence. A webinar on ER of anger was

provided as an incentive to participants who completed the survey.

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Chapter Summary

Chapter 3 focused on the methodology for this study. The researcher discussed

the design, purpose, hypotheses, participants, procedures, and instruments.

Additionally, the researcher reported that she would use Spearman correlations,

multiple regression, Mann-Whitney and a One-Way ANOVA analyses to examine the

research hypotheses. In Chapter 4, the researcher presents the results of the study.

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CHAPTER 4 RESULTS

This study focused on examining the IPA, ER, and emotional experiences of

anger and guilt among mothers of toddlers. Within this chapter, the researcher first

presents the descriptive statistics to explore the sample demographics. Then, the

researcher reports the results of the statistical analyses that were used to examine the

six research hypotheses.

Exploratory Data Analysis

Prior to testing the research hypotheses, the researcher conducted an

exploratory data analysis to examine the demographic characteristics of the participants

and the normality of the data.

There were 122 mothers who participated in the study. Regarding age, there

were 22 women (18.6%) in the 20 to 30 year old age range, 84 (71.2%) in the 31-40

group, and 12 (10.2%) in the 41-50 group. There were 59 (50.4%) participants who

reported being religious, 52 (44.4%) reported being non-religious, and six (5.1%)

participants chose the option indicating “other”. Specifically, 58 (50.4%) women aligned

with Christianity, 29 (25.2%) were non-religious, five (4.3%) Agnostic, two (1.7%)

Buddhist, one (.9 %) Muslim, five (4.3%) Jewish, and 8 (13.2%) chose the option other

and did not specify the religion type or reported being spiritual. Regarding marital status,

104 (88.1%) mothers were married, 9 (7.6%) had a partner but were not married, two

(1.8%) was divorced, and three (2.5%) were never married. Additionally, 81 (68.6%)

mothers were White, 8 (6.8%) Asian, 9 (7.6%) Black, two (1.7%) Native American, 7

(5.9%) Hispanic/Latino, two (1.7%) European, and nine (7.6%) chose the option other

and did not specify their race. Regarding the number of children, 42 (35.6%) mothers

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had one child, 60 (50.8%) had two children, 10 (8.5%) had three children, three (2.5%)

had four children, and three (2.5%) had five kids. In relation to work status, 28 mothers

(24.1%) stayed at home, 28 (24.1%) worked remotely while staying at home with their

children, and 60 (51.7%) worked out of home. The average age of the toddlers was 32

months (2 years, 8 months). Table 4-1 includes the participant demographic

information.

The researcher also tested the assumption of normality for all of the variables.

Only four variables were normally distributed: fulfillment, essentialism, stimulation and

suppression. The GP variable was significantly skewed. Therefore, the researcher

proceeded with non-parametric statistics, using Spearman’s correlations to test the

main research hypotheses (1-4) and the Mann-Whitney test to compare groups of

mothers based on the demographic data, as these statistics are robust for the violations

of normality. The researcher used multiple regression with the normally distributed

independent variables. Additionally, the researcher used a One-Way ANOVA to

compare groups of mothers based on their working status.

The researcher conducted an a priori power analysis for all the statistical

procedures implemented in this study. The researcher used G*Power to conduct an a

priori power analysis for a correlational analysis. With an alpha level of .05, minimum

power established at .80, and a large effect size of .3 (Cohen, 1992), 82 participants

were needed to find a statistically significant difference. Therefore, the number of cases

in the present study (N = 122) was large enough to justify proceeding with the

Spearman correlational analysis. The researcher conducted an a priori power analysis

for the Mann-Whitney test, with an alpha level of .05, minimum power established at

71

.80, and an effect size of .05, 106 participants were needed to find a statistically

significant difference. The power analysis for the One-Way ANOVA showed that with an

alpha level of .05, minimum power established at .80, and an effect size of .05, 128

participants were needed to find a statistically significant difference. For multiple

regression with five predictors, with an alpha level of 0.05, a power of 0.80, and a

medium effect size (f2 = 0.15) (Faul et al., 2013), a sufficient sample size was 92.

Research Hypothesis One

Hypothesis one was: IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with ER strategies

(as measured by ERQ) chosen by mothers. The researcher conducted a series of

Spearman rank-order correlations to determine if there was a positive correlation

between IP attitudes and emotion suppression. A two-tailed test of significance

indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between emotion suppression

and IP attitudes in two areas: child-centered rs = .258, Rs2 = .06, p < .01, and fulfillment

rs = .246, Rs2 = .06, p < .01. Thus, the more mothers indicated being child-centered and

finding child-rearing fulfilling, the more they reported preferring emotion suppression as

an ER strategy.

There was also a significant negative relationship between IP attitudes and

cognitive reappraisal. Essentialism significantly correlated with reappraisal rs = -.21, Rs2

= .04, p < .05. Thus, the analysis revealed that the higher mothers scored in cognitive

reappraisal, the less intense their parenting attitudes were related to essentialism. The

researcher found no other significant relationships between reappraisal and intensive

parenting attitudes.

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Research Hypothesis Two

Hypothesis two was: IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with parent anger

(as measured by PAS). Spearman correlational analysis revealed that expression of

anger correlated with essentialism rs = .33, Rs2 = .10, p < .001 and challenging rs = .23,

Rs2 = .05, p < .05 and experience of anger correlated with challenging rs = .38, Rs

2 =

.14, p < .001, and essentialism rs = .29, Rs2 = .08, p < .01.

The researcher conducted a multiple linear regression analysis to determine if

experience and expression of anger (as measured by the PAS) could be predicted by

essentialism and challenging (as measured by IPAQ) attitudes toward parenting.

G*Power was used to conduct an a priori power analysis. With an alpha level of .05,

minimum power established at .95, and a large effect size of .35 (Cohen, 1992), and 44

participants were needed to find a statistically significant difference. Therefore, the

number of cases in the present study (N = 122) was large enough to justify proceeding

with the multiple regression analysis.

The null hypothesis was that the regression coefficients were equal to zero. The

researcher tested the multiple linear regression assumptions, including the standardized

residuals normality distribution, and testing for homoscedasticity and multicollinearity.

Review of the scatterplot demonstrated appropriate homeoscedasticity. The normality

distribution plot for the standardized residuals demonstrated linearity between variables.

The assumption of independence was met for all variables. In testing for collinearity, the

variance inflation factor was less than 10 for challenging scores (1.15), and essentialism

scores (1.159). Lastly, all of the condition indices were smaller than 15 (10, 90, 6, 60).

Thus, there was no concern regarding the assumption of multicollinearity.

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The overall model that included the predictor variables of challenging and

essentialism was a good predictor of experience of anger, F (1, 120) = 23.22, p < .001.

The regression equation for predicting experience of anger among mothers of toddlers

is: Experience of anger = 6.505 + .746 (challenging) + .315 (essentialism). Eighteen

percent (R2 = .180) of the variance in experience anger was predicted by the regression

model.

Research Hypothesis Three

Hypothesis three was: IPA (as measured by IPAQ) correlates with guilt

proneness (as measured by GP-5). For research hypothesis three the researcher

predicted that there would be a positive correlation between GP and IPA. The

Spearman correlational analysis showed that guilt proneness significantly correlated

with challenging IP scale rs = .22, Rs2 = .04, p < .05. Additionally, the researcher

compared the working mothers to those who stayed at home, and the correlation for the

GP and challenging scale increased significantly. The researcher found no other

significant correlations between guilt proneness and parenting attitudes.

Research Hypothesis Four

Hypothesis four was: PA (as measured by PAS) correlates with GP (as

measured by GP-5). The Spearman correlational analysis showed no significant

correlations between guilt proneness and two scales of PAS: experience anger and

expression anger. However, expression anger rs = -.31, Rs2 = .09, p < .01 and

experience anger rs = -.24, Rs2 = .05, p < .01 negatively correlated with the ER scale of

reappraisal. These results show that the increase of anger is accompanied with the

decrease in using cognitive reappraisal for mothers of toddlers.

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Research Hypothesis Five

Hypothesis five was that there were differences between mothers of toddlers IPA

and PA based on their religiosity. The results partially supported this hypothesis. IPAQ

attitudes were compared using non-parametric Mann-Whitney test that revealed a

significant difference in ranks of attitudes based on mothers being either religious or

non-religious. A Mann-Whitney test indicated that mothers who answered “yes” to the

question “Are you religious?” were more child-centered (Mnd = 9) U = 11.1, z = -2.289, r

= -.24, p < .05, perceived parenting as more challenging (Mnd = 26) U = 11,5, z = -

2.225, r = -.21 p < .05, fulfiiling (Mnd = 16) U = 96.0, z = -3.418, r = -.32 p < .01, and

experienced and believed that mothers need to invest in their child’s development (Mnd

= 19) U = 11.5, z = -2.577, r = -.24, p < .05 more than mothers who answered “no” to

the question about their religiosity.

Research Hypothesis Six

Hypothesis five was that there were differences between mothers of toddlers IPA

and PA based on their work status. The results partially supported this hypothesis.

A One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to examine the question of

whether mothers of toddlers PA differs with respect to their work status. The

independent variable represented work status, with two groups being represented: 1)

stay-at-home; 2) work. The Levene’s F test revealed that the homogeneity of variance

assumption was met (p > .05). The one-way ANOVA of mothers’ average score on the

measure of PA revealed a statistically significant main effect, F(1, 114) = 5.58, p < .05,

indicating that stay-at-home mothers were more prone to anger expression than

working mothers.

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Research Hypothesis Seven

Research hypothesis six was that mothers differed in IPA based on the number

of children they had. This hypothesis was supported by the results of the study. The

researcher conducted non-parametric Mann-Whitney test that revealed a significant

difference in ranks of parent anger factors based on the amount of children a mother

had. A Mann-Whitney test indicated that mothers who had one child (Mnd = 29) were

less prone to experience anger than mothers who had two children U = 86.00, z = -

2.722, r = -.32, p < .01. Additionally, mothers who had two children (Mnd = 18) were

more prone to expressing anger than mothers who had one child U = 78.00, z = -3.224,

r = -.27, p < .01. Accordingly, mothers who had one child (Mnd = 16) perceived

parenting as less fulfilling than mothers who had two children U = 95.00, z =-.2076, r = -

.20, p < .05.

Chapter Summary

Within this chapter, the researcher presented the results related to examining the

four research hypotheses. The results indicated a relationship between intensive

parenting attitudes (as measured by the IPAQ) and emotion regulation (as measured by

ERQ). Furthermore, the results of the study demonstrated a difference in ER, IPA, and

experiences of anger based on the work status of the mother. Thus, the results provide

implications for future research and practice discussed in chapter 5.

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Table 4-1. Sample demographics. Variable

Response type

N

Percent

Age

20-30 31-40 41-50

22 84 12

18.6 71.2 10.2

Religion

Yes No Other

59 52 6

50.4 44.4 5.1

Religion type Work status Number of kids Number of toddlers Age of toddlers Race/ethnicity

Christian Non-religious Agnostic Jewish Muslim Buddhist Other/non-specified Stay at home Work remotely Work out of home One Two Three Four Five One Two Three 12 24 36 48 White Black Asian Native American Hispanic/Latino European Other

59 39 5 5 1 2 13 28 30 61 42 60 10 3 3 99 18 2 6 26 80 17 81 9 8 2 7 2 9

49.6 32.8 4.2 4.2 .8 10,1 11,3 23.5 25.2 51.3 35.6 50.8 8.5 2.5 2.5 83.2 15.1 1.7 4.7 20.2 62.0 13.2 68.6 7.6 6.8 1.7 5.9 1.7 7.6

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Table 4-2. Correlational data of intensive parenting attitudes, emotion regulation, and parent anger.

Essentialism

Challenging Child-centered

Fulfillment Suppression Reappraisal Experience of anger

Expression of anger

Essentialism Spearman correlation

1 .34**

.26**

.23** .008

.05

.55 .21* .018

.29**

.33**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .001 000

Challenging Spearman correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

.34**

.000

1 .18*

.044

31**

.000

.02

.763

.-16

.067

.38**

.000

.22

.013

Child-centered

Spearman correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

.26**

.000

.18*

.044

1

.25**

.004

.25**

.003

.09

.32

.09

.306

-.05

.553

Fullfillment Spearman correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

.23**

.008

.31

.000

.25**

.004

1 .24**

.005

.01

.899

.02

.784

-.01

.732

Reappraisal Spearman correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

-.24**

.006

-.16

.067

.09

.326

.01

.890

.02

.793

1 -.24**

.008

-.31**

.001

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CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION

This chapter begins with a summary of the study and research methodology.

Next, the researcher reviews the results associated with each research hypothesis

presented in Chapter 4, and compares the results to previous research focused on

intensive parenting attitudes, emotion regulation, parent anger and guilt proneness.

Finally, the researcher explores limitations of the study, outlines recommendations for

future research, and discusses implications for practice.

Summary of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to examine the constructs of intensive

parenting attitudes, emotion regulation, and the emotional experiences of anger and

guilt among mothers of toddlers. Specifically, the researcher sought to understand the

relationships among the constructs, and how emotion regulation strategies are related

to cognitive predispositions (IPA) and emotional experiences (parent anger and guilt

proneness). The researcher explored these constructs within the mothers of toddlers

population derived from preschools and Facebook, a social media site. The researcher

examined four hypotheses in this study. The author used a Spearman correlational

analysis to examine the relationship between intensive parenting attitudes, emotion

regulation strategies, parent anger and guilt proneness. Additionally, the research

employed a one-way ANOVA to examine whether there were differences in intensive

parenting attitudes, emotion regulation, parent anger, and guilt proneness based on

religiosity and working status of mothers.

The present study expands upon the existing literature regarding mothers of

toddlers intensive parenting attitudes, emotion regulation and experiences of anger and

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guilt. In previous research, scholars have focused on IPA concerning parental

investment in a child, beliefs about maternal employment, and parents’ sense of

competence (Liss, Schiffrin, Mackintosh, Miles-McLean, & Erchull, 2013). ER was

studied in regards to lax discipline (Lorber, 2012) and parent anger was explored for

mothers of children up to 18 years old (Del Vecchio, Jablonka, DiGiuseppe, Notti, &

David, 2017), without a specific focus on the mothers of toddlers population.

Additionally, maternal guilt was studied qualitatively (Rotkirch, & Janhunen, 2010) or

quantitatively regarding self-discrepancy (Liss, Schiffrin, & Rizzo, 2012). Thus, the

current study expands on the existing research through the inclusion of a sample of

mothers of toddlers and investigating the relationship between cognitive and emotional

constructs.

Participants

The researcher analyzed responses from 122 participants. Regarding age, there

were 22 women (18.6%) in the 20 to 30 year old age range, 84 (71.2%) in the 31-40

group, and 12 (10.2%) in the 41-50 group. There were 59 (50.4%) participants that

reported being religious, 52 (44.4%) non-religious, and six (5.1%) that indicated “other”,

describing themselves as spiritual and not sure whether they were religious or not.

Additionally, 81 (68.6%) mothers were White, 8 (6.8%) Asian, 9 (7.6%) Black, two

(1.7%) Native American, 7 (5.9%) Hispanic/Latino, two (1.7%) European, and nine

(7.6%) chose “other” and did not specify their specific race.

Research Hypothesis One

In examining the relationship between intensive parenting attitudes (as measured

by IPAQ) with emotion regulation strategies (as measured by ERQ) the researcher

found a significant positive relationship between emotion suppression and IPA: child-

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centered and fulfillment attitudes. These results support the research hypothesis one.

Thus, the more mothers indicated being child-centered and finding child-rearing

fulfilling, the more they reported preferring emotion suppression as an emotion

regulation strategy.

Child-centeredness and Emotion Suppression

The child-rearing scale of the IPAQ is focused on prioritizing the needs of a child.

Child-centered mothers make sacrifices to ensure that their children are involved in

stimulating activities (Wall, 2010). Emotion suppression, in turn, is related to reducing

emotional behavioral responses by not showing what one feels when experiencing an

emotion that the person needs to regulate. People who suppress their feelings typically

experience decreased positive functioning, a negative affect, and adverse interpersonal

functioning (Gross & John, 2003; Wiltink et al., 2011). Scholars consider this strategy

response-focused (Gross, 2001), as it is employed after the emotion-evoking situation

occurred. The correlation between child-centeredness and emotion suppression

indicates that the sacrifice mothers of toddlers make for their children is related to

controlling negative emotions when communicating with their children. They believe that

children’s needs should come first and that children do not deserve to receive negative

emotional responses from their parents. However, sacrificing one’s needs may have a

negative effect on maternal well-being (Rizzo, Schiffrin, & Liss, 2012) leading to mental

health problems for mothers, such as depression and anxiety. Rizzo, Schiffrin and Liss,

found that believing that parents’ lives should be focused on children correlated with

lower levels of satisfaction with life. Additionally, child-centeredness relates to beliefs

about how a mother should think, leading to self-discrepancy between what is realistic

versus ideal behavior for mothers. Self-discrepancy between thoughts about being an

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ideal mother compared to actual maternal performance may lead a mother to over-

control her emotional expression because she feels anxious that she is not performing

her maternal role well enough if she shows a negative affect to her children.

Fulfillment and Emotion Suppression

The fulfillment scale focuses on beliefs about parenting being the most rewarding

thing a person can do, providing deep levels of satisfaction, and being central to how a

parent should define oneself. The fulfillment scale indicates the degree that women

experience delight in children, accept the parenting role, are sensitive about their

children’s needs, and have separation anxiety. The results for the relationship between

fulfillment and emotion suppression are not consistent with Rizzo, Schiffrin and Liss’

(2012) study where fulfillment was related to other intensive parenting attitudes (such as

challenging and essentialistic attitudes), associated with negative mental health

outcomes (such as low life satisfaction and higher levels of stress) but was not directly

related to those outcomes. The relationship between fulfillment and emotion

suppression may indicate that mothers suppress their emotional expression that is

coming from separation anxiety. This explanation refers to fulfillment scale of IPAQ

being correlated with separation anxiety. Thus, if a mother aligns with fulfillment

attitudes and in parallel suppresses her emotional expression, we may assume that she

doesn’t want her child to see that she is anxious to be apart. Separation anxiety is the

only known emotional experience that is tied to the fulfillment scale. It may be possible,

that other emotional experiences of mothers of toddlers may be also suppressed when

they hold fulfillment attitides. The relationship between mothers and toddlers

encompasses emotional contagion (Halberstadt, Beale, Meade, Craig, & Parker, 2015);

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therefore, mothers may try to suppress their anxiety so that their children’s separation

anxiety won’t increase.

Essentialism and Cognitive Reappraisal

In examining the relationship between intensive parenting attitudes (as measured

by IPAQ) with emotion regulation strategies (as measured by ERQ) the researcher also

found a significant negative relationship between essentialism and cognitive

reappraisal. These results support the research hypothesis one. Specifically, the results

revealed that the higher mothers scored in cognitive reappraisal, the less intense their

parenting attitudes were related to essentialism. Essentialism is a scale that describes

the perception of parenting as primarily the mothers’ responsibility, as people view them

as possessing inherent parenting skills. However, people view fathers as incompetent in

providing the appropriate level of childcare (Hays, 1996). Researchers have found a

connection between endorsing IPA and unequal distribution of household labor, with the

majority of women thinking that it is unfair to have unequal distribution of involvement

from mothers and fathers in the household and child-rearing activities (Claffey &

Manning 2010). Mothers who believe that women are more efficient in child-rearing

compared to men do not fully accept their parenting role, have frustration with parenting,

and wish their children were more independent (Rizzo, Schiffrin, & Liss, 2012).

Moreover, mothers who score high in essentialism tend to have low parenting

satisfaction (Rizzo, Schiffrin, & Liss, 2012).

The reappraisal strategy refers to modulating emotional experiences through

thinking differently about the situation (John & Gross, 2003). Reappraisal is an

antecedent-focused strategy, as people use it to alter the effect of an emotion-eliciting

event prior to full activation of an emotion (Gross, 2001). The negative relationship

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between essentialism and reappraisal indicates that mothers who endorse the idea of

being primary caregivers to their children are not prone to changing their thoughts in

situations that require emotion regulation. These mothers follow their essentialist

attitudes and do not consider a possibility for challenging their thoughts about parenting

in a stressful situation. For example, a mother may feel overwhelmed because she is

doing all the child-rearing work, but no matter how challenged she would be, she would

not think that her attitudes may be a part of the problem and she would not try to

change those attitudes. Reappraisal is associated with positive emotions like happiness,

life satisfaction, and a decrease in depression and anxiety (Lorber, 2012); however,

essentialism is related to higher levels of stress and lower levels of life satisfaction

(Rizzo, Schiffrin, Liss, 2012). Mothers with essentialist beliefs may reject social support

and be on their own in fulfilling parenting responsibilities, which may result in increased

levels of stress (Tummala-Narra 2009). Therefore, the negative relationship between

cognitive reappraisal that accounts for more positive functioning resonates with the fact

that mothers who endorse essentialism do not tend to use cognitive reappraisal much,

as essentialism beliefs are associated with a decrease in positive functioning. Future

research may focus on exploring ways that mothers with intense essentialist beliefs can

embed cognitive reappraisal ER strategy in their daily lives to decrease their stress

levels.

Research Hypothesis Two

Hypothesis two focused on an expected positive correlation between intensive

parenting attitudes (as measured by IPAQ) and parent anger (as measured by PAS).

The results supported hypothesis two, with expression of anger and experience of

anger both correlating with essentialism and challenging. Multiple regression analysis

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revealed that essentialism and challenging predicted experience, but not expression of

anger. The challenging scale of the IPAQ encompasses questions that describe

mothering as the most demanding and exhausting job in the world, with mothers not

getting any mental break from children. This implies that an effective other never has

time for herself. The challenging scale is related to frustration with mothering, as well as

delight and anxiety about children when a mother and a child are apart.

The current study is the first known study that focused on measuring the

relationship between IPA and parent anger. The finding that essentialism and

challenging predict parent anger experience shows that mothers who view parenting as

a challenging activity and also believe that only a mother can be an effective caregiver

experience frustration while taking care of their children. Scholars can explain this

frustration through the essence of challenging and essentialist beliefs of mothers. When

a mother is challenged by parenting, it means that it is not easy for her to fulfill her

responsibilities and she may be experiencing obstacles in taking care of her children.

These obstacles may be related to children’s misbehavior, not having enough time for

oneself, or being overwhelmed with household tasks. Additionally, researchers found

that “alignment with essentialist beliefs” was a predictor of higher levels of stress, and

that combined with “motherhood being a difficult task” may increase anger experiences.

However, expression of anger was not predicted by challenging and essentialism, but

only correlated with these scales.

Research Hypothesis Three

Hypothesis three was that intensive parenting attitudes (as measured by IPAQ)

correlates with guilt proneness (as measured by GP-5). The results revealed that guilt

proneness significantly correlated with the challenging IPAQ scale. These results

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partially support the research hypothesis three. Additionally, the researcher compared

the working mothers to those who stayed at home, and the correlation for the GP and

challenging scale increased significantly. These results are consistent with Hays (1996)

findings that working mothers felt pressured for not spending enough time with their

children and experienced guilt for not doing enough for their children. This result also

aligns with Livingston and Judge’s (2008) results with employed mothers where guilt

was associated with family-interfering-with-work.

In accordance with IPA, maternal employment takes time away from mothering

responsibilities and places the needs of mothers first, not considering the needs of

children. Working mothers may feel guilty for taking time away from their children and

not being the ideal caregivers (Walls, Helms, & Grzywacz, 2014). Guilt is concerning

because it is related to maternal depressive symptoms and decreased quality of life for

working mothers (Walls, Helms, & Grzywacz, 2014).

Research Hypothesis Four

Hypothesis four was that there is a relationship between parent anger (as

measured by PAS) and guilt proneness (as measured by GP-5). The results did not

reveal significant correlations between these constructs, thus the hypothesis was not

supported. The assumption about the relationship between parent anger and guilt was

based on Prikhidko and Swank’s (in review) findings that mothers reported feeling guilty

after they express anger toward their children and the need for emotion regulation

strategies. The researcher proposes three possible explanations for why this hypothesis

was not supported in this study. First, the guilt proneness results were negatively

skewed, which may be associated with social desirability. Additionally, the GP scale

was not specifically related to children and maternal anger. Therefore, a scale designed

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specifically for this population may yield different results. Finally, mothers may have

wanted to justify their anger; and therefore the results on the anger scale may have also

been prone to social desirability.

The researcher also found that guilt proneness was correlated with cognitive

reappraisal; however, this correlation was positive. These results reveal that the higher

the GP of mothers of toddlers, the higher the tendency to use cognitive reappraisal. In

contrast, Mauss, Cook, Cheng, and Gross (2007) found that individuals who scored

high on reappraisal experienced less anger and negative emotions. Thus, the

researcher hypothesizes that the positive correlation in this study may indicate that

mothers used cognitive reappraisal to regulate their guilt through changing their thought

processes about mothering.

Research Hypothesis Five

In examining the relationship between intensive parenting attitudes (as measured

by IPAQ) and religiosity of the mother, the researcher also found that mothers differ in

their IPA based on their religiosity. These results partially support research hypothesis

five.

In examining IPA related to whether someone identified as being religious,

religious mothers were more child-centered, perceived parenting as more challenging

and fulfilling, and believed more that they should invest in their child development.

These results are consistent with Duncan’s (2016) findings that religious individuals use

religion as a mediator in their thinking processes. Religious mothers choose to exercise

divine inspiration. These mothers have a deep spiritual connection to the idea of

mothering, believe that children were sent to them by God, and view maternity as being

sacred. Additionally, religious practices, such as colloquial and meditative prayer, lead

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to higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness, and prefrontal cortical region activity

is connected to cognitive reappraisal (Urry, Roeser, Lazar, & Poey, 2011). We may

assume, that religious mothers may find emotional support in prayer when they are

challenged with their maternal responsibilities. Additionally, interactions with other

religious individuals may serve as an additional source of social support for these

women.

Research Hypothesis Six

In examining the relationship between intensive parenting attitudes (as measured

by IPAQ) and the work status of the mother, the researcher also found that mothers

differ in their IPA based on their work status. These results partially support research

hypothesis six.

The researcher analyzed the effect of work status (working full-time compared to

stay-at-home) on parent anger. The researcher found that work status had an effect on

anger expression. Specifically, the results suggested that when mothers stay-at-home

they tend to express more anger toward their children. The researcher hypothesizes

that mothers who stay-at-home may feeling more freedom in experiencing their negative

emotions toward their children because they do not have the guilt experienced by

working mothers. Therefore, they may feel that their anger is justified and doesn’t need

to be suppressed. Additionally, stay-at-home mothers may feel that they have less time

for themselves. Bean, Softas-Nall, Eberle, and Paul (2015) found that stay-at-home

mothers reported struggling with engaging in self-care, and instead put their needs last.

These mothers endorsed essientialistic attitudes, that are known for leading to

depression, and frustration, as mothers who believe that they are the only people who

can take appropriate care of their children do not get enough rest because they sacrifice

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own needs in order to fulfill the ideal behavior that aligns with the intensive parenting

attitudes.

Research Hypothesis Seven

In examining the relationship between parent anger (as measured by PAS),

based on the number of children, the researcher found a difference between mothers

with one and two children. These results support research hypothesis seven.

The researcher found a significant difference in parent anger based on the

mother’s number of children. Mothers who had only one child were less prone to

experience anger than mothers who had two children. Additionally, mothers who had

two children were more prone to expressing anger than mothers who had one child. The

researcher proposes that the increase in anger may be explained by the increase in

mothering responsibilities when a mother has more than one child. Taking care of two

children multiplies parenting responsibilities and diminishes self-care, leading to anger

expression. It is also possible that a mother of two children has to spend more time

engaging in conflict resolutions when children have an argument, leading to expression

of anger among mothers of toddlers.

Limitations

In regard to sampling, there was a lack of diversity in the sample with a majority

of mothers being White females and aligning with Christianity. Additionally,

approximately 40% of the participants were recruited from one preschool. The statistical

analyses were also limited due to violating the assumption of normality; and therefore,

the reader should interpret the findings with caution. Furthermore, the researcher

obtained all of the data through self-report; and therefore, the responses are related to

the participants perceptions about the constructs. Social desirability may have also

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influences the participants’ responses. Finally, in regard to instrumentation the GP scale

was not specifically related to children and maternal anger. Additionally, the results for

anger scales could also be prone to social desirability as mothers may not have wanted

to tell the truth about their anger experiences and expression to preserve an image of a

mother who follows IPA.

Implications for Research

The present study was the first known study to assess the relationships between

emotion regulation, intensive parenting attitudes, guilt proneness, and parent anger.

Therefore, this study provides a solid base for future research focused on intensive

parenting attitudes with emotion regulation, and experiences of a variety of emotions

that mothers experience when interacting with children and engaging them in emotional

socialization. Children learn how to regulate their emotions through identification with

their primary caregiver; therefore, it is pivotal for mothers to model well-balanced

emotion regulation. However, it may be challenging when a mother aligns with intensive

parenting attitudes. Therefore, future research studies may focus on exploring the

effectiveness of counseling interventions that link maternal emotion regulation,

children’s emotional socialization, and wellbeing and positive affect. This research may

involve examining the long-term effects through longitudinal studies.

Researchers may also seek to replicate the current study, while addressing some

of the sampling limitations, such as having a more diverse sample of participants.

Additionally, future research may focus on examining whether some of the demographic

variables (i.e., education level, age of children) are associated with endorsing IPA, and

the experiences of anger and guilt. Furthermore, researchers may want to examine

these variable among male participants. Che, Luo, Tong, Fitzgibbon, and Yang (2015)

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found that females tend to use emotional suppression less frequently than males. The

IPAQ was developed for both mothers and fathers; therefore, researchers may also

compare mothers and fathers based on how they relate to intensive parenting attitudes

and what emotion regulation strategies they employ to regulate emotions of anger,

anxiety, guilt, and sadness.

Researcher may also focus on further investigating mothers’ intensive parenting

attitudes and emotion regulation based on their work status. Researchers have revealed

that working mothers tend to experience more guilt than mothers who stay at home

(Korabik. 2015) However, less is known about the guilt experiences of stay-at-home

mothers. Additionally, future research may focus on comparing intensive parenting

attitudes among mothers of toddlers based on the number of children they have in

regards to the relationships between other negative emotions such as sadness, shame,

disgust, contempt, jealousy and envy that mothers experience toward their children and

a broader spectrum of emotion regulation strategies. In the current study, the

researcher examined only two ER strategies, and both were not specifically related to

parents. Thus, researchers may seek to develop and validate an instrument focused on

ER of a variety of emotions that parents experience.

Future research may also focus on identifying the factors that are associated with

a mother’s proneness to experiencing and expressing anger and the mental health

consequences for a mother who has a high level of experiencing and expressing anger

compared to individuals who are less prone to anger. Additionally, future research is

needed to explore if there is a significant linear relationship between anger expression

and intensive parenting attitudes.

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Instrument development is another area of research, specifically focused on measuring

GP among mothers. Finally, future research may focus on maternal burnout, which is a

serious problem in modern society, especially for mothers who endorse IPA.

Implications for Practice

This study showed that the majority of modern mothers who work full-time, as

well as those that stay-at-home, endorse intensive parenting attitudes. Additionally,

researchers have showed that IPA attitudes may be detrimental for the mental health of

a mother, leading to stress, depression, and anxiety (Rizzo, Schiffrin, & Liss, 2012).

One of the goals of the current study was to examine the relationship between intensive

parenting attitudes, emotion regulation, and experiences of anger and guilt, in order to

develop specific counseling interventions that may help mothers of toddlers explore IPA

related to negative mental health outcomes. Additionally, these interventions may help

mothers to better regulate their feelings, which in turn, may support appropriate

emotional socialization of their children who learn to regulate their emotions through

observation and identification with their caregiver.

The results of this study reveal the need for focusing on mothers’ intensive

parenting attitudes, in order to recognize how these attitudes may negatively affect their

wellbeing. The researcher found that emotional suppression, which is known to be

associated with negative emotionality and effect interpersonal communication, was

related to child-centeredness and fulfillment. Mothers scoring high in these areas agree

with statements that describe mothers as individuals who sacrifice time and energy in

order to provide their undivided attention to their children. It is concerning when the

scores are very high on these scales because when a mother is not investing in self-

care she may develop stress and emotional exhaustion (Claire, Parker, Zacher &

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Jimmieson, 2017). Bean, Softas-Nall, Eberle, and Paul (2015) recommended that

counselors help mothers to explore barriers to self-care and help them to develop

strategies to overcome these barriers. This may include the development of a self-care

plan for a mother by identifying the following factors: (a) intensive parenting attitudes,

(b) barriers to engage in self-care, (c) activities and practices that support wellbeing and

help to sustain long-term self-care. Counselor may use assessments in their work with

mothers, including administering the IPAQ, self-care assessments, and an assessment

measuring maternal burnout.

Shapiro, Brown and Biegel (2007) found that Mindfullness-Based Stress

Reduction (MBSR) was an effective way to teach caregivers to enhance self-care.

Specifically, the researchers found that MBSR was instrumental in increasing mindful

attention and awareness, which were related to decreasing perceived stress, anxiety,

and rumination, and increasing self-compassion. Although their research was focused

on mental health professionals, counselors can apply MBSR to mothers who are

devoting the majority of their time to taking care of their children. ER may include

mindfulness practices, that are tied to attentional deployment strategy in the Process

Model of ER (Gross, 2015),. Using MBSR in counseling mothers may also improve their

ER.

The current study also revealed that the higher mothers scored in cognitive

reappraisal, the less intense their parenting attitudes were related to essentialism.

Essentialism describes the perception of parenting as primarily the mothers’

responsibility, supporting the idea that only mothers possess inherent parenting skills.

However, cognitive reappraisal is proven to be an ER strategy that leads to positive

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mental health outcomes (Kivity, Tamir, Huppert, 2016). Therefore, counselors may

explore the essentialist beliefs of mothers of toddlers along with provide

psychoeducation on ER strategies that they could use to obtain a more balanced

perception of other family members’ capabilities to provide child care. Specifically,

counselors may explore with mothers the division of responsibilities in the household

and the development of internal family social support in balancing child-care among

family members.

Counselors can explore the presence of IPA with mothers using Cognitive-

Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approaches such as Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy

(REBT; Gavita, Digiuseppe, & David, 2013) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

(ACT). Within REBT, the mother can learn to view the ideals of IM as irrational beliefs

(IB) and address them using cognitive restructuring, while recognizing the factors that

activate IB. Additionally, exploration may lead to self-acceptance, which is known to

facilitate constructive ER. Kivity, Tamir and Huppert (2016) found that self-

acceptance may enhance well-being when integrated into CBT.

It is pivotal for mothers who hold strong essentialist beliefs and concurrently

experience challenges in child-rearing to develop self-acceptance as essentialist ideas

describe mothers as individuals who can do all the work (child-rearing and household)

by themselves. However, in reality, mothers may not be able to follow essentialist

ideals. Moreover, essentialism is associated with higher levels of stress and lower levels

of life satisfaction (Rizzo, Schiffrin, Liss, 2012), making mother reject social support

(Tummala-Narra 2009). Increasing self-acceptance can help mothers share child-

rearing responsibilities with other family members, opening possibilities for self-care that

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can reduce stress. Counselors can also use REBT as a family approach (Ellis, 1993) by

exploring the belief systems of family members and understanding the IPA of partners,

thus, supporting them in finding a balance among their IPA to enhance the division of

household labor and child-rearing responsibilities. Moreover, Bowenian Theory of

Differentiation (Brown, 1999) could be used by marriage and family counselors to

explore the anxiety in the family system related to intensive parenting attitudes. Thus,

counselors can help partners to increase their level of differentiation in situations when

one partner is more anxious to be a better parent, when subscribing to intensive

parenting attitudes, than the other parent. Additionally, in couples counseling

practitioners could rely on Gottman’s approach (Shapiro, Gottman, & Fink, 2015) to

develop better communication strategies in situations when partners disagree on the

division of child-rearing responsibilities, so that mothers could change their essentiatistic

beliefs in order to receive emotional and social support from their partners. Theraplay

(Booth, & Winstead, 2015) could be an asset in counseling practice to strengthen the

bond between mothers and children, when mothers feel extensive guilt for not providing

enough time and energy for their children.

The results of the present study showed that guilt proneness was associated with

challenging intensive parenting scale, specifically for working mothers who believed that

they were not doing enough for their children. Counselors could help working mothers to

cope with guilt by exploring what a mother believes she should do, so that mothers can

develop awareness of the beliefs that influence their self-concept. This may occur in

counseling through the integration of cognitive restructuring, with the primary goal

focused on self-acceptance. Parental self-acceptance also influences acceptance of

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children (Gavita, Joyce, & David, 2011), providing a healthy environment for children’s

emotional socialization. In turn, self-acceptance reduces guilt and may lessen anger

directed toward children. Gavita et al. (2013) recommend using specific interventions to

increase self-acceptance: (a) cognitive techniques (i.e., rational-emotive imagery,

repetition of rational self-statements, metaphors, humor); and (b) behavioral techniques

(i.e., cognitive-behavioral rehearsal, homework).

Working mothers, who experience guilt for not devoting enough time to their

children and struggling with following the intensive parenting ideals, may benefit from

exploring them. In particular, they can decipher values from goals and decide on what

they aim for in raising their children. ACT may be instrumental in increasing mothers’

psychological flexibility by showing how particular behaviors may be workable and lead

to vitality, while others can be detrimental and lead to suffering (Harris, 2009). Using

ACT, a counselor may ask the mother to think about the situation from her values

standpoint, considering the following (a) what does it mean for her to see her child

happy, (b) what personal strengths does she want to cultivate in her child, and (c) what

does the child’s happiness reveal about herself as a mother. After exploring these

questions, the counselor and mother discuss actions to address the situation and

reduce guilt (Prikhidko & Swank, under review). Additionally, the main focus of ACT is

the need for defusion in order to obtain life satisfaction. Mothers can defuse through

detaching from intensive parenting attitudes in exploring their beliefs that evoke guilt.

The results of the current study revealed that expression and experience of

anger both correlated with the essentialism and challenging IPAQ scales. According to

the study, stay-at-home mothers expressed more anger toward their children than

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mothers who worked full-time. ER of anger is necessary for mothers, as expressing

anger without control may be detrimental for children’s wellbeing. Dialectical-behavioral

therapy (DBT) provides an array of ER strategies to control anger (Chapman & Gratz,

2015). In particular, mothers of toddlers may benefit from (a) identifying and

understanding their anger, along with feelings and thoughts that lead to it through

recognizing signs of anger, and learning about the phenomenology of one’s own anger;

(b) reducing the vulnerability to anger through improving self-care and employing

activities that would support maternal self-acceptance and self-confidence. The

counselor may use these interventions, described above, through individual and family

counseling, as well as in psychoeducational programs for mothers of toddlers, provided

through a face-to-face or online format. Counselor educators could include information

on emotion regulation as a part of the curriculum when teaching both mental health and

marriage and family counselors to explore the constructive potential of cognitive

reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy with parents who struggle with intensive

parenting attitudes that contradict their behavior.

Conclusion

The present study was the first known quantitative study that examined the

relationship between IPA, ER, and experiences of anger. Additionally, the researcher

addressed a gap in researcher related to examining the association between parent

anger and IPA. The examination of the research hypotheses yielded useful results that

serve as a basis for implications for research and practice. The findings parallel the

work of Rizzo, Schiffrin and Liss (2012) who showed that aligning with IPA leads to

lower levels of satisfaction with life and overall decrease in well-being. Additionally, the

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findings correspond with research on ER, bridging suppression and IPA, and revealing

that cognitive reappraisal may be a coping mechanism for addressing guilt.

Based on the findings from the present study, mothers of toddlers endorse IPA,

prioritize their children’s needs, and believe that parenting is demanding, especially

when a mother aligns with essentialist beliefs and is focused on her children, sacrificing

her own life to provide good care. Additionally, mothers’ experiences of anger were

predicted by essentialism and challenging beliefs about parenting, adding to the body of

literature that highlights the detrimental effects of IPA on maternal wellbeing.

Richardson, Rice, and Devine (2014) showed that emotion suppression is related to

perfectionism, neuroticism, and a more acute chronic stress pattern, when an individual

believes that one does not live up to social expectations In the present study,

suppression correlated with prescribed child-centered attitudes. However, agreement on

idealistic and realist actions may not be similar, leading to self-discrepancy between an

ideal and real maternal performance, concluding in suppressing one’s feeling about not

being a good enough mother.

Suppression is perceived as being related to anger, and most often employed in

downregulating negative emotions. However, the use of suppression in anger regulation

may lead to negative consequences for communication (Martini & Busseri, 2012). In

contrast, cognitive reappraisal is perceived as an ER strategy that leads to positive

affect and increased wellbeing. In this study, cognitive reappraisal negatively correlated

with experience and expression of anger, along with essentialism. Mothers who

experience and express parent anger do not engage in cognitive reappraisal and

believe that they are the only parent who can take appropriate care of their children.

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Thus, psychoeducational programs on ER for mothers of toddlers may potentially aid in

changing anger regulation, making it more effective including cognitive reappraisal in

the ER process.

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APPENDIX A INTENSIVE PARENTING ATTITUDES QUESTIONNAIRE (IPAQ)

1. Both fathers and mothers are equally able to care for children 2. Although fathers may mean well, they generally are not as good at parenting

as mothers 3. Parents should begin providing intellectual stimulation for their children

prenatally, such as reading to them or playing classical music 4. Although fathers are important, ultimately children need mothers more 5. Parents never get a mental break from their children, even when they are

physically apart 6. Ultimately, it is the mother who is responsible for how her child turns out 7. Being a parent brings a person the greatest joy he or she can possibly

experience 8. Parenting is exhausting 9. It is important for children to be involved in classes, lessons, and activities

that engage and stimulate them 10. Parenting is not the most rewarding thing a person can do 11. The child’s schedule should take priority over the needs of the parent’s 12. Men do not recognize that raising children is difficult and requires skills and

training 13. Child rearing is the most demanding job in the world 14. Holding his or her baby should provide a parent with the deepest level of

satisfaction 15. Being a parent means never having time for oneself 16. Women are not necessarily better parents than men 17. Men do not naturally know what to do with children 18. A parent should feel complete when he or she looks in the eyes of his or her

infant 19. Children should be the center of attention 20. Men are unable to care for children unless they are given specific instructions about what to do 21. Finding the best educational opportunities for children is important as early as preschool 22. It is harder to be a good parent than to be a corporate executive 23. To be an effective parent, a person must possess wide ranging skills 24. Children’s needs should come before their parents 25. It is important to interact regularly with children on their level (e.g. getting down on the floor and playing with them) Scale Coding Items are presented on a scale from 1 = (strongly disagree) to 6 = (strongly agree). Essentialism: 1(r), 2, 4, 6, 12, 16(r), 17, 20 Fulfillment: 7, 10(r), 14, 18 Stimulation: 3, 9, 21, 25 Challenging: 5, 8, 13, 15, 22, 23 Child-Centered: 11, 19, 24

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APPENDIX B PARENT ANGER SCALE

Instructions: At one time or another, most parents feel angry. For each of the following items, circle the response that best describes you, using scale from 0 to 6: 0 – never or not at all; 1 – less than once a month; 2 – about once a month; 3 – about once a week; 4 – several days a week; 5 – every day; 6 – several times a day

1. Even though I hold it in and do not show it I get angry with my child

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

2. I get angry and break or throw away some of my child things

3. I get angry and can’t stop thinking about the way my child behaved

4. I get angry and have a problem controlling my behavior toward my child

5. I get angry with my child

6. I get angry with my child and I spank, slap or hit my child

7. I get angry with my child and throw things, slam doors or bang the table

8. I get so angry with my child that I cannot control my behavior

9. I get so angry with my child that I do not do things that I know my child wants me to do

10. I get so angry with my child that I feel my blood boil

11. I get so angry with my child that I feel my muscles get tight

12. I get so angry with my child that I grab or push my child

13. I get so angry with my child that I just want to make the tension go away

14. I get so angry with my child that I say mean things, use bad language, curse or insult my child

15. I get so angry with my child that I scream or yell at my child

16. I lose control of my anger with my child

17. I resent the time and energy I put into parenting

18. I think my anger with my child is justified because of the way my child behaves

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19. I think that I have a harder job being a parent than other people

20. I think that my child deserves to be punished for misbehaving

21. I use my anger to get my child to behave

22. When I feel angry with my child, I boil inside, don’t show it, and keep things inside of me

23. When I get angry with my child, I tell relatives and friends so they will know how bad my child has behaved

24. I lose my temper with my child about: 1 almost nothing 2 only one thing 3 two or three things 4 several things 5 many things 6 almost everything 25. When I get angry with my child, I stay angry for: 1 only a few minutes 2 less than 1 h 3 about 1–2 h 4 several hours 5 about 1–2 days 6 several days 26. On average, how angry do you get at your child? 1 not at all angry 2 somewhat angry 3 mildly angry 4 moderately angry 5 very angry 6 extremely angry

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APPENDIX C GUILT PRONENESS SCALE

Five-Item Guilt Proneness Scale (GP-5) Instructions: In this questionnaire, you will read about five situations that people could encounter in day-to-day life, followed by reactions to those situations. As you read each scenario, try to imagine yourself in that situation. Then indicate the likelihood that you would react in the way described.

1 2 3 4 5

Extremely Unlikely

Unlikely About 50% Likely

Likely Extremely Likely

(1) After realizing you have received too much change at a store, you decide to

keep it because the salesclerk doesn't notice. What is the likelihood that you would feel uncomfortable about keeping the money?

(2) You secretly commit a felony. What is the likelihood that you would feel remorse about breaking the law?

(3) At a coworker’s housewarming party, you spill red wine on their new cream-colored carpet. You cover the stain with a chair so that nobody notices your mess. What is the likelihood that you would feel that the way you acted was pathetic?

(4) You lie to people but they never find out about it. What is the likelihood that you would feel terrible about the lies you told?

(5) Out of frustration, you break the photocopier at work. Nobody is around and you leave without telling anyone. What is the likelihood you would feel bad about the way you acted?

SCORING: The scale is scored by summing or averaging the items *The first four items in the GP-5 scale were originally published in: Cohen, T. R., Wolf, S. T., Panter, A. T., & Insko, C. A. (2011). Introducing the GASP scale: A new measure of guilt and shame proneness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(5), 947-966. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0022641

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APPENDIX D REVISED NINE-ITEM EMOTION REGULATION QUESTIONNAIRE

Instructions and Items. We would like to ask you some questions about your emotional life, in particular, how you control (that is, regulate and manage) your emotions. The questions below involve two distinct aspects of your emotional life. One is your emotional experience, or what you feel like inside. The other is your emotional expression, or how you show your emotions in the way you talk, gesture, or behave. Although some of the following questions may seem similar to one another, they differ in important ways. For each item, please answer using the following scale:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Strongly disagree

Disagree Disagree somewhat

Undecided Agree somewhat

Agree Strongly agree

(1) When I want to feel more positive (such as joy or amusement), I change what I’m

thinking about.

(2) I keep my emotions to myself. (3) When I am feeling positive emotions, I am careful not to express them. (4) When I’m faced with a stressful situation, I make myself think about it in a way

that helps me calm down.

(5) I control my emotions by not expressing them. (6) When I want to feel more positive emotion, I change the way I’m thinking about

the situation. (7) I control my emotions by changing the way I think about the situation I’m in. (8) When I am feeling negative emotions, I make sure not to express them. (9) When I want to feel less negative emotion, I change the way I’m thinking about

the situation. Scoring (no reversals)

Reappraisal Items: 1, 4, 6, 7, 9; Suppression Items: 2, 5, 8.

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APPENDIX E DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE

Instructions: Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study related to

experiences of mothers of toddlers. The purpose of this questionnaire is to gather

information about you to help the researcher better understand and conceptualize your

responses. Please fill these questions out to the best of your ability.

For the following questions, please choose one answer:

1. Please, tell what is your age? _______

2. Please, tell, do you identify as working or stay-at-home mother?

- working

- stay-at-home

2. Please, tell, what is your race/ethnicity? __________________________

3. Please, tell, what gender do you identify with? _____________________

4. Please tell, are you religious?

- Yes

- No

5. Please, tell, what religion do you identify with?_____________________

4. How many children do you have?

- 1

- 2

- 3

- 4 and more

5. What relationship are you currently in with the child’s father or mother?

_______________________________________

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APPENDIX F IRB PROTOCOL

Behavioral/NonMedical Institutional Review

Board

FWA00005790

PO Box 112250

Gainesville FL 32611-2250

Telephone: (352) 392−0433

Facsimile: (352) 392−9234

Email: irb2@ufl.edu

DATE: 10/9/2017 TO: Alena Prikhidko

PO BOX 117049

GAINESVILLE , Florida 326117049

FROM: Ira Fischler, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus

Chair IRB-02

IRB#: IRB201702505 TITLE: Emotion Regulation Among Mothers of Toddlers in the Context of Intensive

Mothering

Approved as Exempt

You have received IRB approval to conduct the above-listed research project. Approval of this project was granted on 10/9/2017 by IRB-02. This study is approved as exempt

because it poses minimal risk and is approved under the following exempt category/categories:

2. Research involving the use of educational tests (cognitive,

diagnostic, aptitude, achievement), survey or interview

procedures, or the observation of public behavior, so long as

confidentiality is maintained. If both of the following are true,

exempt status can not be granted: (a) Information obtained is recorded in such a manner that the subject can be identified,

directly or through identifiers linked to the subject, and (b)

Subject’s responses, if known outside the research, could

reasonably place the subject at risk of criminal or civil liability or

be damaging to the subject’s financial standing or employability

or reputation.

Special notes to Investigator (if applicable):

In the myIRB system, Exempt approved studies will not have an approval stamp on the consents, flyers, emails, etc. However, the documents reviewed are the

ones that should be used. So, under ATTACHMENTS you should find the document that has been reviewed and approved. If you need to modify the

document(s) in any manner, then you'd need to submit to our office for review and approval prior to implementation.

Principal Investigator Responsibilities:

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The PI is responsible for the conduct of the study. Important

responsibilities described at the above link include:

• Using currently approved consent form to enroll subjects (if

applicable)

• Renewing your study before expiration• Obtaining approval for revisions before implementation

• Reporting Adverse Events

• Retention of Research Records

• Obtaining approval to conduct research at the VA

• Notifying other parties about this project’s approval status

Should the nature of the study change or you need to revise the protocol in any manner

please contact this office prior to implementation.

Study Team:

Jacqueline Swank Co-Investigator

The Foundation for The Gator NationAn Equal Opportunity Institution

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s),

and may contain legally privileged or confidential information. Any other distribution, copying, or disclosure is strictly

prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and destroy this message immediately.

Unauthorized access to confidential information is subject to federal and state laws and could result in personal liability,

fines, and imprisonment. Thank you.

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APPENDIX G INFORMED CONSENT

IRB # 201702505

Informed Consent

Protocol Title: Emotion Regulation Among Mothers of Toddlers in the Context of

Intensive Mothering

Please read this consent document carefully before you decide to

participate in this study.

Purpose of the research study:

The purpose of the study is to explore your thoughts and feeling about

motherhood, including traditional and contemporary roles of mothers and ways mothers

should take care of their emotions.

What you will be asked to do in the study:

You will be asked to participate in an survey that will take approximately 30-40

minutes. You will also be asked to fill a demographic questionnaire.

Time required:

30-40 minutes.

Risks and Benefits:

There are no known risks of participating in this study. You may benefit from the

study by raising your awareness about motherhood and your own actions. Counselors

may benefit from this study by enhancing their knowledge of mothers’ emotions and

thoughts toward motherhood. This understanding may lead to improvements in

developing new strategies in counseling this population.

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Compensation:

You will receive free webinar on emotion regulation for mothers of toddlers as an

incentive for participating in this study. You will find the link to the webinar at the end of

the survey.

Confidentiality: Your identity will be kept confidential to the extent provided by

law. The responses will be recorded anonymously. The information on the demographic

questionnaire will be compiled with the other participants’ information and will not be

associated with you.

Voluntary participation:

Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. There is no penalty for not

participating.

Right to withdraw from the study:

You have the right to withdraw from the study at anytime without consequence.

Whom to contact if you have questions about the study:

Alena Prikhidko, Doctoral Student University of Florida, School of Human

Development and Organizational Studies in Education, 1215 Norman Hall, PO Box

117046, Gainesville, FL 32611; phone: (352) 575-6129; email: a1978@ufl.edu

Supervising faculty member: Dr. Jacqueline Swank, Assistant Professor,

University of Florida, School of Human Development and Organizational Studies in

Education, 1215 Norman Hall, PO Box 117046, Gainesville, FL 32611: phone (352)

273-4326; e-mail: jswank@coe.ufl.edu

Whom to contact about your rights as a research participant in the study:

109

IRB02 Office, Box 112250, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-2250;

phone 392-0433.

Agreement:

I have read the procedure described above. I voluntarily agree to participate in

the procedure.

I agree to participate______

I disagree to participate____

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APPENDIX H LETTER TO PRINCIPALS

A Letter to the Preschool Principal

Dear Mrs./Mr._________________

I am a doctoral student at the University of Florida. And I am a mother of a child,

who had recently been a toddler. I am sure you know better than me how difficult it is

sometimes for mothers to juggle all their responsibilities and how easy it is to get tired

and upset with your toddler, when he or she throws a tantrum or misbehaves in any

fashion. I am a specialist in emotion regulation and currently I am doing a research on

emotion regulation among mothers of toddlers! I am giving all my study participants free

webinar on emotion regulation, which mothers love and say it helped them a lot! So I

was wondering if you could help me to help mothers asking them to participate in my

study! It will take approximately 15 minutes, but as an incentive they will receive

invaluable knowledge on emotion regulation, which will not only help them, but in the

long run will help their children! As mothers show an example of emotional self-control

and children socialize emotionally through observing their mothers behavior!

I will be waiting for your response.

Let’s help mother together!

Have a Wonderful Day,

Alena Prikhidko

Doctoral Candidate,

Teaching Assistant, College of Education

University of Florida

111

APPENDIX I LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS

Dear____________!

I am a mother of a child, who had recently been a toddler. I am sure you know

better than me how difficult it is sometimes for mothers – us - to juggle all the

responsibilities and how easy it is to get tired and upset with your toddler, when he or

she throws a tantrum or misbehaves in any fashion. I am a specialist in emotion

regulation and currently I am doing a research on emotion regulation among mothers of

toddlers! I am giving all my study participants free webinar on emotion regulation, which

mothers love and say it helped them a lot. So I was wondering if you could help me to

help all of us and participate in my study. It will take approximately 15 minutes, but as

an incentive you will receive invaluable knowledge on emotion regulation, which will not

only help you, but in the long run will help your children. As mothers show an example

of emotional self-control and children socialize emotionally through observing our

behavior.

I will be waiting for your response!

Have a Wonderful Day,

Alena Prikhidko

Doctoral Candidate,

Teaching Assistant, College of Education

University of Florida

112

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Alena Prikhidko is from Moscow, Russia. She graduated with a doctoral degree

in the College of Education at the University of Florida, and specializes in Marriage and

Family Counseling. Her research interests include emotion regulation, emotion

socialization, ethics in counseling, and counselor development. Alena is involved in

leadership within the Florida Counseling Association and actively promotes ethical

counseling practice in her home country of Russia. With the support of her Russian

colleagues, she has launched a social movement against violence towards children and

women.