Parental Socialization Of Emotion and Anxiety Among Latinx Youth: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation and Familismo

Background: The present investigation examined direct and indirect effects of parental socialization of emotion, through emotion dysregulation, on anxiety symptoms in a sample of Latinx youth. Culturally-relevant moderators (i.e., familismo) of indirect pathways were also examined. Method: A sample of youth aged 7-17 years (N = 94; M = 11.36 years, SD = 3.20; 36.2% female) and their primary caregiver (M = 37.03 years, SD = 7.80; 75.5% mothers, 23.4% fathers, 1.1% stepmother) completed a battery of questionnaries assessing parental emotion socialization, child emotion dysregulation, child anxiety symptoms, and familismo. Results: Greater parental supportive emotion socialization was associated with lower child anxiety symptoms based on child (but not parent) self-report. Greater parental unsupportive emotion socialization was related to higher child anxiety symptoms and higher child emotion dysregulation according to both child- and parent-reports. In line with prediction, child emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between unsupportive emotion socialization and child anxiety symptoms. Finally, familismo moderated the relationship between parental override strategies and child anxiety symptoms, such that at higher levels of familismo, greater parental use of override strategies predicted more severe child anxiety. Discussion: Findings underscore the the need for greater consideration of Latinx parents’ emotion socialization skills in terms of their children’s experience of anxiety. Specifically, parental unsupportive emotion socialization should especially be considered as potential treatment targets in psychosocial work with Latinx youth, given the impact of these parental behaviors on children’s emotion regulation and anxiety symptoms. Future studies should continue to elucidate specific parenting and cultural factors impacting Latinx youth’s anxiety with the goal of informing culturally sensitive treatments.