Emotion Regulation as a Moderator in the Relation Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Psychopathology of Young Maltreated Children

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Proffit, Virginia Kate McDaniel
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	PROFFIT, VIRGINIA KATE MCDANIEL. Emotion Regulation as a Moderator in the Relation Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Psychopathology of Young Maltreated Children. (Under the direction of Dr. Mary Haskett.) Children who have been physically abused are at increased risk of developing internalizing and externalizing problems; however, there is variability in their adjustment. The bulk of current literature examines the differences between maltreated and nonmaltreated children, and less is known about factors that support resilient functioning within the maltreated population. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the relation of two variables (i.e., maternal depressive symptoms and children’s emotion regulation abilities) to the adjustment of physically abused children. Specifically, the moderating role of emotion regulation on the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and child adjustment was examined. Participants were 80 mother-child dyads who had participated in a larger longitudinal study examining physically abused children’s transition from preschool to first grade. Estimations of maternal depression were gathered via a selfreport questionnaire. Children’s emotion regulation abilities were measured by rating scales completed by parents and teachers, and internalizing and externalizing problems were measured by teacher reports. Contrary to hypotheses, maternal depression was not significantly related to children’s adjustment. Children’s emotion regulation abilities, as reported by their mothers and teachers, was significantly related to their frequency of externalizing problems whereas, only teacher report of emotion regulation was related to children’s internalizing problems. One of four proposed interaction models was significant. Specifically, mothers’ reports of children’s emotion regulation significantly moderated the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s frequency of internalizing problems. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of emotion regulation in the adjustment of young physically abused children. Emotion Regulation as a Moderator in the Relation Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Psychopathology of Young Maltreated Children by Virginia Kate McDaniel Proffit A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.16/7624/etd.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article