Received: April 30, 2012; Revised: May 8, 2012 Accepted: June 18, 2012.
ABSTRACT
This study examined the effects of mothers’ reactions toward children’s negative emotion as well as mothers’ emotional expressivity on children’s social withdrawal. 206 children (103 boys, 103 girls; aged 4-5 years old) and their mothers participated in the study. Mothers reported their reactions to their child’s negative emotion along with their expressivity. The teachers completed a rating scale to measure children’s social withdrawal. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s productive correlation coefficient, and hierarchical multiple regressions. The results showed a relation between mothers’ distress reactions and punitive responses and children’s social withdrawal. A mother’s positive expressivity was negatively related to a child’s social withdrawal. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the effects of mothers’ punitive responses and minimization responses on children’s withdrawal were moderated by a mother’s positive expressivity. Mothers’ punitive responses and minimization responses were positively associated with children’s social withdrawal, especially for children who had the lowest level of mother’s positive expressivity.
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