TITLE:
Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy: A Review of the Past Decade of Research
AUTHORS:
Erin K. Merchant
KEYWORDS:
Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy, Emotion Socialization, Child Emotional Competence
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.15 No.3,
March
20,
2024
ABSTRACT:
Objectives: Parental meta-emotion
philosophy (PMEP) is the concept that parents have
thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about their own emotions and their children’s
emotions. Since the introduction of this concept in 1996, many research
studies have linked PMEP with children’s psychosocial development. In 2012, a literature review was conducted of PMEP
research published from 1996-2012 and
a theoretical framework based on the findings from the review was proposed. The purpose of this article is to continue the review of PMEP literature by providing an
explanation of the theoretical foundations
of PMEP and examine the past decade of research and the impact of that
research on our understanding of PMEP and child socialization. Methods: The researcher applied a narrative literature review
methodology to examine PMEP literature published from 2012-2023. Utilizing the Columbia College online library database, Google Scholar, and Academia,
the researcher found a total of 9 empirical articles about PMEP that
were published in the last decade. Results: The results of this recent review further validated the theoretical framework presented in 2012,
which claims that child emotional competence acts as a mediator between PMEP
and child outcomes (child psychosocial adjustment and child peer
relationships). Recent studies found that PMEP can act as a moderating variable
(or protective factor) between challenging
family circumstances (such as family stress or increased maternal symptomatology) and child internalizing
behaviors (which are connected to child emotional competence).
Additionally, researchers found that there may be a difference between the impacts of PMEP on child sadness versus child anger in families exposed to
violence. Finally, researchers discovered that ethnicity could be a
moderator between PMEP and child outcomes. The emergence of a new PMEP-focused program geared toward aiding parents in developing
an emotion coaching approach with anxious children called tuning in to kids (TIKs) has been piloted with
promising results. Conclusion: An expansion of the theoretical framework to
include PMEP as a moderating variable may be considered if future research can
further validate these findings. Additionally, continued research examining
PMEP regarding child sadness versus child anger and the impact of ethnicity on
PMEP and child socialization is needed. The important role of PMEP in
children’s development of emotional
competence would indicate that the development of parenting programs
promoting healthy PMEP (like TIK) is needed, particularly for families facing adversity. Further research on the TIK
program with families from various
contexts and cultural backgrounds must be conducted to test its effectiveness.