Affiliations: College of Nursing, The Ohio State University, USA
| Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence Sylvie Mrug, PhD, Campbell Hall 415, 1300 University Blvd., University of Alabama at
Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-1170, USA. E-mail: smrug@uab.edu.
Abstract: This study examined coping strategies as mediators of the relationship between parental emotion socialization and internalizing problems in late adolescence and emerging adulthood, and whether these relationships varied by gender or ethnicity. Participants were 1,087 individuals (Mage = 19.35 years; 50% male; 61% African American, 36% European American). Results from structural equation modeling indicated that parental supportive responses to sadness and fear were associated with less emotional distress, and this relationship was partly mediated by greater use of task-oriented coping and lower use of emotion-oriented coping. Parental unsupportive responses were related to greater emotional distress, and this relationship was fully mediated by greater use of emotion-oriented coping. Gender and ethnic differences emerged in the links between parental responses and several coping strategies. The findings suggest that parental emotion socialization may contribute to emotional functioning by fostering specific coping strategies, with some differences across gender and ethnicity.
Keywords: Emotion socialization, coping, internalizing problems, late adolescence, emerging adulthood
