Emotion Regulation in Emerging Adults: Do Parenting And Parents’ Own Emotion Regulation Matter?

Effective emotion regulation (ER) strategies are linked with healthy psychosocial functioning, and parenting behaviours and parents’ own ER have been linked to the development of their children’s own ER. The present study examined relations between emerging adults’ perceived parenting dimensions (warmth, psychological control, and behavioural control), their caregivers’ self-reported parenting dimensions, and emerging adults’ ER. We also examined how caregivers’ ER relates to their emerging adult children’s ER. Two dimensions of ER (cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression) were examined. Participants included 466 emerging adults, and a subsample of 102 emerging adult-primary caregiver dyads, and 51 emerging adult-secondary caregiver dyads. Findings from analyses on emerging adults suggest that only perceived main and secondary caregivers’ warmth influenced their use of cognitive reappraisal (CR). In contrast, caregivers’ reported parenting did not influence emerging adults’ emotion suppression (ES) use. In addition, caregivers’ reported use of CR influenced emerging adults’ own use of CR, but caregivers’ use of ES did not. These findings suggest that it is the perception of parenting rather than what caregivers report doing that influences emerging adults’ ER. Limitations and directions for future research are considered.