Jessica P. Lougheed

Socioemotional flexibility in mother-daughter dyads: Riding the emotional rollercoaster across positive and negative contexts.

Socioemotional flexibility is a dyad-level indicator of adaptive interpersonal emotion regulation, and involves the temporal dynamics of shifting in and out of emotion states over time and the range of emotional states expressed during interpersonal interactions. Higher flexibility is associated with better psychosocial adjustment. In line with the Flex3 model, flexibility during interactions between 96 mothers and their adolescent daughters (Mage = 13.99 years) at 2 different time scales were examined in the current study: (a) within positive and negative emotional contexts (dynamic flexibility); and (b) between positive and negative emotional contexts (reactive flexibility). Mothers and daughters completed the emotional rollercoaster task—a series of 5 3-min discussions on times they felt the following strong emotions toward each other: (a) happy/excited, (b) worried/sad, (c) proud, (d) frustrated/annoyed, and (e) grateful. In general, higher dynamic (within-discussion) flexibility and moderate levels of flexibility across discussions were associated with lower internalizing symptoms and higher relationship quality. Results support the Flex3 model and also suggest that in addition to emotional valence (positive vs. negative), specific emotion contexts (e.g., sad vs. frustrated) differentially influence socioemotional flexibility in mother–daughter dyads.

Sharing the burden: The interpersonal regulation of emotional arousal in mother-daughter dyads

According to social baseline theory (Beckes & Coan, 2011), load sharing is a feature of close relationships whereby the burden of emotional distress is distributed across relationship partners. Load sharing varies by physical closeness and relationship quality. We investigated the effect of load sharing on emotional arousal via galvanic skin response, an indicator of sympathetic nervous system arousal, during a social stressor. Social stress was elicited in 66 adolescent girls (Mage = 15 years) using a spontaneous public-speaking task. Mother-daughter dyads reported their relationship quality, and physical closeness was manipulated by having mothers either touch or not touch their daughters hand during the performance. We found evidence of load sharing among dyads who held hands, independent of relationship quality. However, without physical contact, load sharing was only evident among dyads with higher relationship quality. Thus, high relationship quality buffers against threat in a similar way to the physical comfort of a loved one.

Emotional development in the context of mother–child relationships

Emotions are generated and regulated in the context of close relationships, such as mother-child relationships. Childrens emotional development is primarily directed by mother-child emotional processes. In the current review, we examine the advances in understanding how mother-child relationships impact emotion development. In particular, we explore novel and advanced techniques in measurement and design, autonomic psychophysiology, the structure of emotion socialization, and modeling of parent-child dynamics. As these innovations continue to progress, we expect that theoretical models of emotional development will be further refined.