1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The goal of the present study was to examine how a history of polyvictimization in childhood would influence parental ER [emotion regulation] and ES [emotion socialization] and to ascertain whether parental ER and ES would mediate the relationship between parental polyvictimization and children’s emotional inhibition.» (p. 3)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«It is hypothesized that a parental history of polyvictimization will be associated with lower levels of ER skills and higher levels of unsupportive contingencies, but that these effects will be more pronounced for anger and anxiety. Moreover, parental ER difficulties and parents’ use of unsupportive contingencies are expected to mediate the relationship between a parental history of polyvictimization and children’s emotional inhibition across the three discrete emotions [anger, sadness and anxiety]» (p. 3)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The «sample included 175 participants (156 mothers, 19 fathers) between 26 and 55 years old (M = 38.51, SD = 5.00). […] 50.9% of participants identified their child as a boy, 48.0% identified their child as a girl, and two parents specified their child’s gender as “other”. Lastly, the average age of the children was 9.53 years old (SD = 1.28).» (p. 3)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«Findings of the present study suggest that a parental history of polyvictimization and difficulties with ER may increase the likelihood of parents using unsupportive contingencies, and in turn, increase children’s reliance on emotional inhibition.» (p. 6) Moreover, «higher levels of polyvictimization were associated with lower levels of parental ER skills for anger, sadness, and anxiety in bivariate correlations. […] The correlations also showed positive associations between parental polyvictimization and parents’ use of unsupportive contingencies for anger, sadness, and anxiety such that parents who endorsed more types of maltreatment in childhood reported using more unsupportive contingencies in response to these emotions.» (p. 7) Thus, this study «provide[s] support for the hypothesis that parental ER difficulties and parents’ use of unsupportive contingencies would mediate the relationship between a parental history of polyvictimization and children’s emotional inhibition.» (p. 7-8) Finally, «the present study showed that parents’ use of unsupportive contingencies predicted higher levels of emotional inhibition in children. Taken together, results suggest that a history of childhood polyvictimization may contribute to deficits in parental ER skills and parents’ use of unsupportive contingencies, thereby increasing the risk of children developing an inhibited regulatory style.» (p. 8)