Predictors of Positive Emotion Regulation in Girls Aged 9–11: Mothers’ Early Maladaptive Schemas and Parenting Styles
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Objective: Emotion regulation is a core developmental skill that enables children to manage emotional experiences and respond adaptively to environmental demands. Parental factors, particularly mothers’ early maladaptive schemas and parenting styles, are associated with children’s emotion regulation capacities.
Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional correlational study was conducted on 181 elementary school girls aged 9–11 years selected through multistage cluster sampling from schools in Kerman, Iran. Data were collected using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), Young’s Early Maladaptive Schema Questionnaire (YEMS), and Baumrind’s Parenting Style Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis in SPSS version 26.
Findings: The regression model was statistically significant (R = 0.87, R² = 0.77, adjusted R² = 0.74), indicating that mothers’ early maladaptive schemas and parenting styles explained 74% of the variance in positive emotion regulation. Emotional deprivation, abandonment, mistrust, social isolation, failure, enmeshment/undeveloped self, and emotional inhibition were negatively associated with positive emotion regulation. Authoritative parenting was positively associated with positive emotion regulation (β = 0.15, p = 0.001), whereas permissive parenting was significantly negatively associated (β = −0.18, p = 0.001).
Conclusion: The findings indicate that specific maternal early maladaptive schemas and parenting styles are significantly associated with children’s positive emotion regulation. These results underscore the importance of maternal cognitive–emotional patterns and parenting practices for children’s emotional development.
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