Warm and Harsh Parenting as Mediators of the Relation Between Maternal and Adolescent Emotion Regulation - Literature review Example

Psychology Article Critique Psychology Article Critique Introduction The research article under critical analysis bears the title “Warm and harsh parenting as mediators of the relation between maternal and adolescent emotion regulation.” Authored by Dilek Sarıtas, Joan Grusec and Tülin Gençöz, the article’s principal focus is to determine the role played by parenting extremities in mediating the emotional state of teenagers. This critique of Sarıtas et al.’s paper seeks to examine the study’s principal strengths and weaknesses, as well as, contribution to present literature in its field of study. Sarıtas, Grusec and Gençöz’s article provides background information on aspects that prompted this psychological research. The introductory part of the literature review indicates that, extensive research has been carried out in attempts to comprehend the role that parenting plays, in influencing kids’ and adolescents’ capabilities to easily regulate their emotional responses to situations. The authors are, however, keen to note that majority of investigative studies in this psychology field principally focus on parents’ proclivity to coach or dismiss certain behaviours, and to regulate children’s emotions through the reactions they depict when children behave in a certain manner. The other key point noted is that most of these studies focus on parental role in children’s emotional regulation (ER), with only a few focusing on adolescents. By pointing out these elements, the scholars successfully identify the gaps in knowledge that exist in this field of study. These gaps include lack of focus on the crucial impact of parental warmth or rejection on youngsters’ emotion regulation capacity, as well as, diminished focus on adolescents, despite the significance of this developmental stage in determining a person’s emotional stability. The other principal knowledge gap noted in the article is the reduced focus on parents’ capacity to deal with their individual emotional issues and how this affects children’s ER powers. Identifying these knowledge voids effectively shows the reader why the present study is necessary. Additionally, these study specifications define the study’s primary goals, and also form a solid foundation for better comprehension of the information presented therein. The main literature review section commences with analysis of parent, child and adolescent emotional regulation. A principal point made is that, consistent exposure of children to parents’ emotive displays prompts them to mirror their parents’ emotion management methods. These assertions are in line with prior research conducted by Finkenauer, Engels, and Baumeister (2005), and yet another by Gunlicks-Stoessel and Powers (2008), both of which show that parental emotional behavior mediates adolescents’ portrayal of emotions. The methodical assessment of literature, from the basic aspects of the study like ER outlooks, to the more intricate ones like effect of gender and warm or hostile parenting on adolescent ER, allows building of information from ground up. However, the literary analysis fails to clearly define aspects that constitute warm and hostile parenting. The article could have taken into account different parenting styles and previous studies on the same, in order to form a comprehensive framework upon which to measure parental warmth or hostility. For example, the study could have explored Baumrind’s (1991) parenting style designations, which have also been used in multiple subsequent studies like Terry’s (2004) and Hoeve et al.’s (2009). All of these studies define parental warmth, as responsiveness and supportiveness, while harsh parenting is characterized by a controlling and demanding attitude. It is also noteworthy to mention that, irrespective of the research being about parental emotional regulation; it lacks a proper literary definition of ER. ER is defined as a combination of concerted efforts to adjust emotional provocation in a manner that supports adaptive functioning (Garber & Dodge, 1991; Calkins, 1997; Keenan & Shaw, 2003). By failing to keenly review literature on these basic concepts, the study denies readers, literary informed understanding about what constitutes emotional regulation, harsh parenting and warm parenting. The other primary weakness noted in the article is its failure to properly delineate research questions at the beginning. Further, the research hypotheses are not adequately defined, thus limiting readers’ comprehension of what the research is meant to prove or disprove. A search of the Web of Knowledge/Science database further shows the article has only been cited in one scholarly article, putting its credibility to question. Methods The study adopted survey research as the principal study method. This is evident from the decision to administer questionnaires to participants, as a way of collecting the relevant information. The chosen method is suited to the study’s focus, since it requires examination of a relatively large number of participants (Kate et al., 2003). The article, however, does not clearly define the research design applied in administering the questionnaires. The study entailed random selection of participants from eight Turkish secondary schools in the country’s capital of Ankara. The random selection and administration of questionnaires enables the researchers to examine an inclusive sample, which adequately represented the population being studied, and also avoids prejudice (Acharya et al., 2013). The data collection tools, used in the research are the Turkish version of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) questionnaires initially developed by Gratz, K., & Roemer, L. (2004). However, even though the questionnaires adequately address the research questions, the researchers fail to account for potential bias among research subjects. Self reporting, as suggested by Podsakoff et al. (2003) is likely to alter results, since people would not want to depict themselves in a negative light. The ethical guidelines are followed, as shown by acquisition of permission from relevant authorities, before involving minors in the study. Overall, the procedure is adequately described making it easy to replicate. However, there are outstanding weaknesses like lack of control groups, making it difficult to draw comparisons. There are also no provisions for validity and reliability, meaning that researchers cannot guarantee that the responses acquired in the survey are true and credible (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Results/Findings The research article clearly presents the inter-correlations, standard deviations and means, among other measures in a table. The article further indicates that all correlations examined during the study are significant, with some exceptions being the link between reported maternal warmth and teenage emotional regulation in the case of both male and female adolescents. The other correlation found insignificant is reported maternal warmth and hostility for male adolescents, as well as, the link between mothers’ ER and adolescent ER for the boys. This summary of findings shows that the article provides a clear description of the sample under scrutiny, as well as, the context within which the participants are being examined. The results showing the significant and insignificant correlations further indicate that, the researchers examined all the research questions stipulated initially. The results also act as indicators that the principal hypothesis and other tentative suggestions are examined in detail. For example, the finding that, the correlation between reported maternal warmth and teenage emotional regulation in the case of both male and female adolescents, is not significant reinforces the principal hypothesis. Further, the results account for all the variables under examination including maternal warmth, maternal rejection or hostility, and adolescent gender, all in the context of teenage emotional regulation. The article applies a p-value approach to statistical hypothesis testing, with the level of significance at p > .05. This makes it possible for readers to deduce the statistical significance by themselves. In addition, this statistical approach makes sense because it examines the degree of marginal significance of the different variables, in relation to adolescent ability to modulate their emotional response to situations (Carley & Lecky, 2003). The article’s summation of the findings in a model, with intermediate indicators of the variables’ respective statistical significance values, paints a clear picture of the research outcome. Discussion Sarıtas, Grusec and Gençöz’s article summarizes the research results in a clear manner. The researchers begin by restating the study’s focus or the purpose for which it was carried out, that is, to examine socialization of negative emotional regulation. The article also emphasizes the fact that adolescence is a crucial developmental stage during which, parents’ ability to regulate their emotions may have elevated significance in enhancing teenagers’ self-reliance in emotive matters. Re-emphasis of these assertions paves way for better understanding of the results and their significance to moderation of parental emotional behaviour, as well as, to future research in the field. The scholars cite previous research in the field, thus showing effectively how their study has added to known information, about the correlation between maternal hostility or rejection and adolescence emotional regulation. In summarizing study results, authors of the article show how research enabled them discover that, maternal parenting actions involving rejection and hostility, mediate the connection between mothers’ ability to regulate their emotions and their offspring’s ER. The researchers deduced this connection from reports on parenting behaviour, obtained from both the adolescent participants and respondent mothers. The article also points out that, the investigators’ measure of hostility and rejection constituted a family setting in which the teenagers experienced maternal rage or resentment, whose cause they did not comprehend, criticism in presence of other people and excessive punishment. The researchers also report that the participating adolescents could also discern maternal rejection from a feeling of diminished favor, compared to other siblings, and constantly being used as a scapegoat for anything wrong in the household. The article adequately shows how the researchers arrived at their results, by describing these hostility and rejection measures. This provides the context within which the results were obtained, thus increasing their credibility and readers’ understanding ability. In addition to answering all the research questions, the article draws several inferences from the results and presents several recommendations from the authors. For example, the researchers infer that, mothers with poor ER have a high likelihood of engaging in hostile behaviours, consequently influencing adolescents’ ER negatively. The article also shows that unlike the initial prediction that hostility would differentially mediate girls’ and boys’ ER, the mediation patter remained the same for both genders. For example, the research article cites a study by Bussey and Bandura, (1999), which sought to examine the link between preschool/school children’s behaviour and maternal behaviour. The said study found out that maternal depression posed a higher risk for development of ER linked problems in daughters, than in sons. This is clearly in line with Sarıtas, Grusec and Gençöz’s (2013) findings about elevated correlation between maternal and teenage ER for female adolescents. Authors of this research article also take note of the different research limitations. For example, the study primarily focused on a non-English populace, restricted to the capital city of Turkey. This means that, although sample selection was randomized, there is a possibility that many more variables have not been accounted for. Further, the research adopted a cross-sectional orientation. As a result, inferences about causes of different findings cannot be attained with absolute certainty. Therefore, longitudinal data should be collected in future, if causality connections are to be made. In conclusion, the researchers briefly emphasize the scholarly value of the article, indicating that it not only adds to extant information on maternal and adolescent ER, but forms a basis for further study. For instance, the scholars point out that, specific measures of paternal and maternal practices could be used in future studies, instead of relying solely on standardized measures of parental warmth and rejection, for enhanced accuracy. References Acharya, A., Prakash, Anupam, P., Saxena, P., & Nigam, A. (2013). Sampling: Why and How of it? Indian Journal of Medical Specialties. Baumrind, D. (1991). The Influence of Parenting Style on Adolescent Competence and Substance Abuse. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56-95. Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106, 676–713. Calkins, S. (1997). Cardiac Vagal Tone Indices of Temperamental Reactivity and Behavioral Regulation in Young Children. Developmental Psychobiology, 21(2), 125–135. Carley, S. & Lecky, F. (2003). Statistical consideration for research. Emergency Medicine Journal, 20:258-262 Finkenauer, C., Engels, R., & Baumeister, R. (2005). Parenting behaviour and adolescent behavioural and emotional problems: The role of self-control.  International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29(1), 58-69. Garber, J, & Dodge, K. (1991). The Development of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation. Cambridge University Press; New York: 1991. Gratz, K., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: development, factor structure, and initial validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26, 41-54. Gunlicks-Stoessel, M. & Powers, S. (2008). Adolescents’ Emotional Experiences of Mother–Adolescent Conflict Predict Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18(4), 621–642. Hoeve, M., Dubas, J., Eichelsheim, V., van der Laan, P., Smeenk, W., & Gerris, J. (2009). The Relationship between Parenting and Delinquency: A Meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37(6), 749–775. Keenan, K, & Shaw, D. (2003). Exploring the Etiology of Antisocial Behavior in the First Years of Life. In: Lahey, B., Moffitt, T., Caspi, A. Causes of Conduct Disorder and Juvenile Delinquency. The Guilford Press; New York: 2003. Podsakoff, P., MacKenzie, S., & Jeong-Yeon, L. (2003). Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879-903. Sarıtas, D., Grusec, J., & Gençöz, T. (2013). Warm and harsh parenting as mediators of the relation between maternal and adolescent emotion regulation. Journal of Adolescence, 36(6), 1093-1011. Terry, D. (2004). Investigating the Relationship between Parenting Styles and Delinquent Behavior. McNair Scholars Journal, 8(1), 87-96. Read More