Toddlers' Social‐emotional Competence in the Contexts of Maternal Emotion Socialization and Contingent Responsiveness in a Low‐income Sample |
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Authors: | Holly E. Brophy‐Herb Rachel F. Schiffman Erika London Bocknek Sara B. Dupuis Hiram E. Fitzgerald Mildred Horodynski Esther Onaga Laurie A. Van Egeren Barbara Hillaker |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Family and Child Ecology, Michigan State University;2. College of Nursing, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee;3. Health Sciences Center, Louisiana State University;4. University Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University;5. College of Nursing, Michigan State University |
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Abstract: | Early social‐emotional development occurs in the context of parenting, particularly via processes such as maternal emotion socialization and parent–child interactions. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that maternal contingent responsiveness partially mediated the relationship between maternal emotion socialization of toddlers (N = 119, ages 12–36 months) and toddlers' social‐emotional competence. Effect size was strongest for the direct path between maternal emotion socialization and toddler social–emotional competence. Toddler age and maternal demographic risk status (covariates) predicted toddler competence. Study results extend the previous literature on early competencies by focusing on toddlers rather than preschool‐aged children and by employing a contextual model in which both low‐income mothers' emotion socialization and their contingent responsiveness predicted toddlers' competencies. |
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Keywords: | toddlers emotion socialization social‐emotional competence parenting |
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