Linking Maternal Emotion Socialization to Boys’ and Girls’ Emotion Regulation in Korea

Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts, 2016, 6(2) 47 Emotion regulation is the motivation and ability to control one’s subjective experience of emotion and to strategically manage one’s expression of emotion in communicative contexts (Saarni, 1999). Emotion regulation fosters one’s emotional well-being, positive social relationships (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Eggum, 2010), and academic competence (Gumora & Arsenio, 2002). In terms of its intensity and flexibility, Shields and Cicchetti (1997) conceptualized emotion regulation competence as consisting of two closely related yet distinguishable components: how strongly emotions are aroused (i.e., negativity) and how emotions are managed appropriately to a given situation (i.e., regulation). Emotion socialization can be defined as cultural processes by which socializing agents transfer social skills and knowledge for managing emotional arousal and enacting socially appropriate behaviors or displaying emotions (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998). Parents are powerful socializing agents, who teach their children culturally desirable ways of expressing needs and regulating emotions in accordance to cultural values (Cole & Tan, 2015). The present study explored how South Korean mothers’ emotion socialization beliefs are associated with children’s emotion regulation and whether these associations differ across child gender. Parental emotion socialization goals and practices for their sons and daughters stem from the beliefs that parents hold about emotional Linking Maternal Emotion Socialization to Boys’ and Girls’ Emotion Regulation in Korea