Linkage between Parent-Child Frontal Resting Electroencephalogram (EEG) Asymmetry: The Moderating Role of Emotional Parenting

Frontal resting electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry is an important physiological indicator of emotion regulation, positive/negative emotion, and approach/withdrawal tendencies. The present study examined the relationship of parent-child frontal resting EEG asymmetry patterns and explored the potential moderating role of emotional parenting on such a relationship. We recorded the frontal resting EEG asymmetry of thirty-nine children (M age = 8.87 years) and their primary caregivers (M age = 39.41 years) and coded their emotional parenting behaviors (psychological control and psychological unavailability) based on behavioral observations. The results indicated that there was not a direct association between parent-child frontal resting EEG asymmetry but that the relationship was moderated by parental psychological control. Specifically, the resting frontal EEG asymmetry of the parents was negatively associated with the EEG asymmetry of their children only under higher levels of parental psychological control. However, psychological unavailability did not exhibit a moderating effect. Accordingly, our findings highlight the critical but differential role of emotional parenting behaviors with respect to the association between the frontal resting EEG asymmetry of parents and their children.