Parental Emotion Regulation and Mentalization in Families of Children With ADHD

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (14) ◽  
pp. 2084-2099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Gershy ◽  
Sarah A. O. Gray

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the role of parental emotion regulation (ER) and parental mentalization as possible contributors to hostile and coercive parenting in families of children with ADHD. Method: Seventy-four Israeli families (64 mothers and 48 fathers) seeking parent training for child ADHD completed measures during the intake session. Measures included parental ER; parental mentalization; hostile, coercive, and submissive parenting; and child symptoms. Results: Findings suggested a relationship between parental ER and coercive parenting independent of child age, symptom level, and parental mentalization. Parental mentalization appeared to buffer against hostility specifically among parents with low ER capacities. Patterns were parallel for mothers and fathers. Conclusion: Study findings highlight the importance of evaluating and addressing parental ER in interventions attempting to reduce coercive parenting. The findings also highlight the potential role of parental mentalization as a protective mechanism against hostile parenting in families of children with ADHD.

Author(s):  
Andrea Chronis-Tuscano ◽  
Kelly O’Brien ◽  
Christina M. Danko

In Module 9, parents are introduced to their important role in helping their children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) learn to regulate strong emotions. Parents are the child’s first teachers for how to regulate emotions and serve the role of “external regulator” for their children. Children with ADHD are more sensitive to their environments and look to their parents for signs of how to react to a situation or stressor. The goal is for parents to stay calm and collected, modeling effective emotion regulation for their child during periods of stress. When parents learn to be “emotion coaches,” they are more likely to consider the child’s emotions without judgment and decrease critical or invalidating responses. By serving as the child’s “emotion coach” (noticing, tolerating and labeling the child’s emotion), the child learns “emotion language” so that acting out in response to emotions is not necessary to express how they are feeling.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 969-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emine Ahmetoglu ◽  
Gökçen Ilhan Ildiz ◽  
Ibrahim H. Acar ◽  
Amy Encinger

We examined the associations among parental emotion socialization, and children's emotion regulation and attachment to parents. In particular, we examined the moderating role of parental emotion socialization in the relationship between children's emotion regulation and attachment to parents. Participants were 78 Turkish children (49 boys) aged from 60 to 77 months and their parents. Parents reported on the socialization strategies they used for their children's emotions and on their children's emotion regulation, and we assessed children's attachment to parents via the Doll Story Completion Task. Results revealed that parents' minimization reaction to children's emotions moderated the association between children's emotion regulation and attachment to parents. When parents' response was punitive, children with poor emotion regulation displayed stronger attachment to parents than children with robust emotion regulation did. In addition, girls had a more secure attachment to parents than boys did. Our results highlight the importance of children's emotion regulation and parental emotion socialization for children's secure early attachment to parents.


Author(s):  
Alexandra Sándor ◽  
Antal Bugán ◽  
Attila Nagy ◽  
Lilla Stella Bogdán ◽  
Judit Molnár

AbstractMaladaptive daydreaming is an excessive form of daydreaming which causes significant distress and functional impairment to the affected individuals. Research on maladaptive daydreaming has intensified in recent years, but its pathogenesis has not yet been clearly elucidated. The aim of the study was to examine the attachment characteristics and the difficulties in emotion regulation among maladaptive and normal daydreamers. 717 individuals were recruited online, 106 of whom were screened as maladaptive daydreamers. The results of the Attachment Style Questionnaire revealed a specific attachment style among maladaptive daydreamers, who were characterized by ‘Ambivalent-fearful’ attachment characteristics, while normal daydreamers showed ‘Secure-independent’ attachment style. Regarding emotion regulation difficulties, maladaptive daydreamers showed a significantly higher level of deficit on each subscale of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale compared to normal daydreamers. The findings highlighted the potential role of early attachment experiences in the etiology and pathogenesis of maladaptive daydreaming, as well as the presence of severe emotion regulation deficits among problematic daydreamers. The results revealed by the present study might give contributions to the development of psychotherapeutical treatment of maladaptive daydreaming.


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