Adolescent Externalizing Symptoms and Parent Emotion Socialization: An Examination of Longitudinal Effects and Differences by Adolescent Sex

Adolescence is an important developmental context with several changes in social and emotional functioning. Though adolescents are gaining independence from their caregivers, they still engage in dynamic interactions with their caregivers who remain key figures in their lives. When adolescents express emotions, caregivers engage in various behaviors in response to these expressions, a process known as emotion socialization. This process has mostly been examined as a parent-driven construct in which parent emotion socialization impacts child-level outcomes, namely internalizing symptoms, with limited research on externalizing symptoms. However, available literature demonstrates that child-level characteristics (e.g., externalizing symptoms) are linked to differences in parent emotion socialization. Extending on Eisenberg and colleagues’ (1998) heuristic model of emotion socialization, the present study aims to examine externalizing behaviors as a child-level characteristic that may have impacts on parent emotion socialization strategies over time in a sample of adolescents. Participants were 87 adolescents (13-15 years old; 50 females) and their caregivers who completed self-report and other report measures across three time points. Change in adolescent externalizing symptoms did not predict change in parent emotion socialization over time. Supplementary analyses indicated that time 1 conduct problems did not predict change in parent emotion socialization. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.