Dyadic Examination of Children’s Emotion Regulation in Family Context: Contributions of Coparenting and Parents’ Self-Compassion

Abstract The purpose of the current study was to examine the dyadic association between parents’ self-compassion and children’s emotion regulation in early childhood, with a specific focus on the mediating role of the coparenting relationship (cooperation, conflict, and triangulation). The sample of this study consisted of 333 parental dyads (333 mothers and 333 fathers) who had at least one child between 36 and 96 months ( M = 68.89 , SD = 15.03). Both mothers and fathers reported their level of self-compassion, the coparenting quality, and their child’s emotion regulation. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) and Actor- Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) were used to investigate the effects of the actor and partner on the study variables. The results from the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) revealed a significant and positive association between parents' self-compassion and their respective reports of child emotion regulation. Notably, fathers' self-compassion was significantly associated with mothers' reports of child emotion regulation, but mothers' self-compassion did not show a significant association with fathers' reports of child emotion regulation. Results also demonstrated that fathers' coparenting cooperation mediated the relationship between mothers' self-compassion and fathers' reports of child emotion regulation, as well as the relationship between fathers' self-compassion and their own reports of child emotion regulation. However, conflict and triangulation within the coparenting relationship did not mediate the association between parents' self-compassion and children's emotion regulation.