ArticlePDF Available

Gender Differences in Parent–Child Emotion Narratives

Springer Nature
Sex Roles
Authors:
Robyn Fivush at Emory University
Robyn Fivush
Melissa A. Brotman
Melissa A. Brotman
Melissa A. Brotman
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Janine P. Buckner
Janine P. Buckner
Janine P. Buckner
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Sherryl Hope Goodman at Emory University
Sherryl Hope Goodman
Download full-text PDF
Read full-text
Download citation

Abstract

Early parent–child conversations about past emotional experiences provide a rich environment for the socialization of emotions. This study explored the role of parent and child gender in this process. Participants were 21 White, middle-class, 40- to 45-month-old children and their mothers and fathers. At separate home visits, each parent discussed with their child four specific past events during which the child experienced happiness, anger, sadness, and fear, respectively. Mothers conversed more overall, talked more about emotional aspects of the experience, and used more emotion words than did fathers. Similarly, girls talked more about emotional aspects of their experiences than did boys. Further, girls used more emotion words when discussing scary events than did boys. Most intriguingly, both mothers and fathers used more emotional utterances when discussing sad events with daughters than with sons. Parent–daughter dyads also placed emotional experiences in a more interpersonal context than did parent–son dyads. Implications for the development of gender, emotional understanding, and clinical repercussions are discussed.
Content uploaded by Sherryl Hope Goodman
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Sherryl Hope Goodman on Jul 10, 2014
Content may be subject to copyright.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Gender differences in parent-child emotion narratives
Robyn Fivush; Melissa A Brotman; Janine P Buckner; Sherry H Goodman
Sex Roles; Feb 2000; 41, 3/4; Research Library
pg. 233
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
... Nevertheless, there is robust evidence that parents differentially socialize boys and girls in the domain of emotion. For example, parents use more frequent and varied emotional language with daughters compared with sons (Adams et al., 1995;Fivush et al., 2000), which suggests that girls may have more opportunities to develop emotion word knowledge across early childhood. While this is likely a product of socialized gender as opposed to biological sex differences (Brody & Hall, 2010;Cervantes & Callanan, 1998;Dunn et al., 1987;Fivush et al., 2000), we use parent reports of children's sex assigned at birth to assess potential differences in children's emotion word knowledge because parent reports of children's gender identity were not collected. ...
... For example, parents use more frequent and varied emotional language with daughters compared with sons (Adams et al., 1995;Fivush et al., 2000), which suggests that girls may have more opportunities to develop emotion word knowledge across early childhood. While this is likely a product of socialized gender as opposed to biological sex differences (Brody & Hall, 2010;Cervantes & Callanan, 1998;Dunn et al., 1987;Fivush et al., 2000), we use parent reports of children's sex assigned at birth to assess potential differences in children's emotion word knowledge because parent reports of children's gender identity were not collected. ...
... observed associations by child sex. This finding corresponds with literature indicating that parents engage in more and more elaborated emotion-focused conversations with daughters compared with sons (Aznar & Tenenbaum, 2020;Fivush et al., 2000Fivush et al., , 2003Kuebli et al., 1995). ...
Children’s Emotion Word Knowledge Is Associated With Adaptive Emotion Regulation: Links to Family-Level and Child-Level Factors
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2025
Emotion understanding and emotion regulation play important roles in children’s development, but we have only a limited understanding of how these constructs are socialized. Constructionist theories suggest that as children engage in interactions with caregivers, they learn to associate words naming emotion categories with conceptual representations of specific emotions, leading to greater emotion understanding. In this preregistered study, we posit emotion word knowledge as a key feature of emotion understanding. Using path analysis with a cross-sectional sample of 252 mainly low socioeconomic status children (aged 4–8 years) and their caregivers collected between 2018 and 2024, we examined indirect effects of implicit parental emotion socialization (difficulties with emotion regulation and emotional expressivity) on children’s emotion regulation through children’s emotion word knowledge. While parental difficulties with emotion regulation and expressivity were unrelated to children’s emotion word knowledge, child emotion word knowledge predicted parent reports of children’s adaptive emotion regulation. In addition, we observed an indirect effect of children’s verbal intelligence on adaptive emotion regulation through children’s emotion word knowledge. In contrast, we observed a direct effect of parental difficulties with emotion regulation on children’s dysregulation. These findings align with constructionist theories underscoring the importance of emotion word knowledge for the development of emotion regulation skills and begin to shine light on how family contexts might support children’s development of emotion word knowledge.
View
... The major reasons (not mutually exclusive) cited for not being able to save the baby were because the baby died inside the womb (34.1%) and that the health provider could not assess the risk (21.2%) as shown in Fig. 1. Majority of the 241 fathers with stillborn thought that it may have been possible to save their baby if they had gone to a higher-level health facility for delivery or medical treatment (68, 63.0%), followed by if the facility was better equipped to handle complications (29,26.9%), and if the health provider had not neglected during delivery (11,10.2%) as shown in Additional Fig. 2. ...
... We believe that crying was reported by a higher proportion of fathers in our study because crying was read out by the interviewer as one of the possible response options under the coping mechanisms. In the background of gendered outlook to crying [29,30], this explicitness could have resulted in normalisation of crying for them and encouraged them to respond more openly about it. This is an important finding highlighting that we need to re-think our culturally conditioned approach to men crying [31], and normalise it as a healthy emotional response to challenging situations including loss of a baby while considering perinatal bereavement strategies for fathers. ...
Coping and experience post an adverse birth outcome for fathers: a population-based perspective from India
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2025
  • BMC PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduction We report on the experience and coping mechanism of the fathers post adverse birth outcome from a population-based representative sample in the Indian state of Bihar. Methods A state-representative sample of fathers of stillborn babies and babies who died within neonatal period (newborn deaths) born between July 2020 and June 2021 were interviewed. They reported on socio-demography, supportive experience and coping mechanism post birth/death of their baby, and their opinion on if their baby could have been saved. The prevalence of supportive experience, and type and prevalence of coping mechanisms by select socio-demographic characteristics is reported for them, and the prevalence of seeing, holding, and naming of the baby for the fathers of stillborn. Results A total of 241 (71.5% participation) and 347 (71.2% participation) fathers of stillborn and of newborn deaths participated, respectively. Being able to talk to someone about their baby was reported by 174 (72.5%; 95% CI: 66.5–77.8) and 264 (77.0%; 95% CI: 72.2–81.1); and having received support to cope with loss by 194 (80.8%; 95% CI: 75.3–85.3) and 264 (77.0%; 95% CI: 72.2–81.1) fathers with stillborn and newborn death, respectively. Majority reported crying as a coping mechanism (70.8%; 95% CI: 64.7–76.3 for stillborn and 75.5%; 95% CI: 70.6–79.8 for newborn deaths), and aggression was the most common negative coping mechanism (29.6%; 95% CI: 24.1–35.7 for stillborn and 28.3%; 95% CI: 23.7–33.3 for newborn death). Majority were of the opinion their baby could have been saved had they gone to a higher-level health facility for delivery or medical attention (63.0% for stillborn and 67.7% for newborn death). Naming, seeing and holding of the stillborn was reported by 5.8%, 83.4% and 55% fathers who were present at the time of delivery, respectively. Conclusion This study highlights the need for perinatal bereavement strategies to be inclusive of the fathers along with the mothers and offer insights on formulation of those strategic programs. Trial registration Not applicable.
View
... The Emotion Discussion task [based on the work of Fivush et al. (45) and Suveg et al. (46)] is a 15-minute mother-adolescent interaction activity that asks the mother and adolescent to discuss occasions when the adolescent felt anxious, sad, and angry (5 minutes for each emotion). This task was performed at home with the mother-daughter dyad in the same physical room, and was recorded via Zoom (the one Zoom window captured both participants on video). ...
Association between maternal emotion socialization and emotion regulation in early adolescents with elevated internalizing symptoms: insights from multi-informant discrepancies
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2025
Introduction Although the relationship between parental emotion socialization and emotional competence, including emotion regulation, in children and adolescents has been extensively explored, there is a lack of research investigating this association in adolescents at high risk for mental health problems. The present study examined the association between maternal emotion socialization and emotion regulation in adolescents with high levels of internalizing symptoms, using multi-informant measurements (mother-reported, adolescent-reported, observer-reported). The study also explored whether discrepancies in the report of parental emotion socialization by different informants were related to adolescent emotion regulation, in addition to factors that may contribute to informant discrepancies. Methods Participants were 70 female adolescents (mean age = 11.46 years, SD = 0.77) with high levels of internalizing symptoms and their mothers. Maternal emotion socialization (i.e., emotion dismissing and emotion coaching) was assessed using mother- and adolescent-reported questionnaires, and via observation during an emotion discussion task. Adolescent emotion regulation was reported by mothers and adolescents, while maternal emotion regulation was self-reported. Results Adolescent-reported maternal emotion coaching and dismissing were significantly related to adolescent-reported adolescent emotion regulation. Informant discrepancies were not related to adolescent emotion regulation. Mothers higher in emotion regulation difficulties reported that their emotion coaching was more congruent with adolescent- and observer-reported emotion coaching, although this effect did not reach statistical significance. Discussion Our findings highlight the value of adolescent-reported variables in parenting and adolescent emotion research. Additionally, mothers’ emotion regulation may influence their assessments of their emotion socialization behaviors.
View
... From the perspective of emotional arousal and perception, when the PML is satisfied as a basic psychological need, individuals tend to perceive stronger positive emotions (50), leading to greater satisfaction with their current lives. As children progress through adolescence, their emotional intensity increases, and their perception of emotions becomes more sensitive (79). From the perspective of gender socialization, girls are encouraged from a young age to fully experience their emotions, whereas boys are taught to be strong and strive to control and suppress them (80). ...
“Meaninglessness makes me unhappy”: examining the role of a sense of alienation and life satisfaction in the relationship between the presence of meaning and depression among Chinese high school seniors
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2025
Introduction Given the high incidence of depression among adolescents and its serious consequences, investigating its influencing factors and mechanisms is of great theoretical and practical significance. This study aims to explore the mediating effects of a sense of alienation and life satisfaction on the relationship between the presence of meaning in life and depression among Chinese high school seniors. Methods Six hundred and twenty-one senior high school students (17.09 ± 0.45 years, 266 boys) were recruited from Shandong, China, to participate in the study. Participants completed the Adolescent Students’ Sense of Alienation (ASAS), Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Results Our findings revealed that (1) the sense of alienation and life satisfaction play a chain mediating role between the presence of meaning in life and depression among Chinese high school seniors; (2) the sense of alienation plays a mediating role between the presence of meaning in life and depression; (3) there are gender differences in the chain mediation model of the influence of the presence of meaning in life on depression. Conclusion This study reveals potential pathways through which the presence of meaning in life affects depression among Chinese high school seniors, offering support and a basis for future mental health interventions for this population.
View
... Previous studies also indicate that adolescent girls, compared to boys, experience more intense emotions and greater emotional instability (54,55). The difference in responses has biological roots due to neuroanatomical and functional differences in the amygdala, significant for emotional control (56). Additionally, girls are more inclined to admit experiencing unpleasant emotions and are even encouraged to do so, as per the cultural stereotypes and socialization process. ...
Selected determinants of anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents aged 11–15 in relation to the pandemic COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2025
Introduction The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, and the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022 (a country bordering Poland on the east) have significantly impacted the mental health of young people in Poland, leading to increased rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. The rising number of individuals struggling to cope with daily stressors, as well as non-normative stressors, may indicate a decrease in the individual’s potential, specifically in skills, attitudes, and competencies required to overcome difficulties that they encounter. It can be assumed that for young people, maintaining mental health under the influence of social stressors, such as the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, depends on the ability to adapt positively, which is the ability of young individuals to adjust to situational demands in a way that allows them to effectively manage those situations. The aim of the conducted study was to determine whether social stressors, namely the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and intrapsychic factors such as beliefs about oneself, others, life, and the world, influence the occurrence of anxiety and depression symptoms in Polish youth. An attempt was made to assess the significance of external stressors and internal potential resources for maintaining psychological balance among young people. Methods The study was conducted using the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), the Questionnaire of Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and World Attitudes (QIIWA), as well as a survey created by the researchers containing questions about well-being in relation to the pandemic, remote learning, and the ongoing war in Poland’s neighboring country. Ethical approval for the planned research was obtained from the Bioethics Committee. The study included 945 adolescents aged 11–15 years (M = 13.10; SD = 1.11), representing a sample of youth from 14 regions of Poland. Results The results and analyses are presented from three perspectives: (A) the occurrence of anxiety and depression symptoms in relation to the gender and age of the respondents, (B) the significance of situational experiences, such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Q1), remote learning (Q2), and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine (Q3) for the occurrence of anxiety and depression symptoms in Polish youth, and (C) other determinants of anxiety and depression symptoms in Polish youth, such as intrapsychic variables including self-esteem, satisfaction with relationships with others, and views on the world and life. Discussion It can be concluded that in the case of young people, maintaining mental health under the influence of social stressors such as the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine depends mainly on intrapsychic variables, including the beliefs and attitudes of young people towards themselves, toward other people, the world and life.
View
The role of contextual factors in associations between parents' emotion socialization and children's mental health
Article
  • Jun 2025
  • FAM RELAT
Objective We aimed to investigate whether parent and child gender and child age moderated parents' emotion socialization and subsequent child mental health outcomes. Background Children's emotion competence is shaped by parents' emotion socialization processes, including parents' beliefs about children's emotions and emotion‐related parenting practices. Evidence suggests that contextual, that is, parent, and child factors, shape parents' emotion socialization. Method Participants were drawn from the Child and Parent Emotion Study. The sample consisted of N = 1,794 parents (67% mothers) of children aged 1–9 years. Parents completed self‐report surveys in 2019 and 2020. Using Stata, several univariate and multivariate regression models with interactions were tested. Results Fathers reported lower levels of emotion coaching practices and beliefs, and higher levels of emotion dismissing practices and beliefs. Parents of toddlers were less likely to endorse the beliefs that children can control their emotions, autonomously. No other evidence was found for moderating effects of child age or parent and child gender. Emotion dismissing parenting was associated with children's depression symptoms and behavioral problems, and emotion coaching parenting was associated with lower levels of children's behavioral problems, although these associations attenuated in adjusted models. Conclusion Our findings suggest that certain beliefs about emotions change across different periods of child development, and that fathers are at greater risk for maladaptive emotion socialization. Implications Fathers play an important role in children's emotion development. Our findings provide further evidence that offering fathers tailored support may help improve familial outcomes. Our findings also highlight that offering parents education and support after toddlerhood is important; children experience unique milestones and challenges to their emotion regulation after toddlerhood.
View
Minds, Mood, and Chatting Behaviors: A Critical Study on Male and Female University Students of Bangladesh
Preprint
Full-text available
  • May 2025
In the digital age, social interactions have transcended physical spaces, with chatting platforms becoming central to youth communication and emotional expression. This study critically investigates the relationship between psychological states—particularly mood and emotional fluctuations—and chatting behaviors among male and female university students in Bangladesh. Drawing from a mixed methods approach that combines quantitative surveys (n=600) with qualitative in-depth interviews (n=40), this research aims to understand how gender, mental states, and social media ecosystems shape digital interactional patterns.
View
View
View
View
Learning to Talk About Emotions: A Functionalist Perspective
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 1986
Although the recent focus on functionalist theories of emotions has led to an upsurge of interest in many aspects of emotional development, not enough attention has been paid to young children's developing ability to talk about emotions. In this paper we attempt to place what is presently known about this topic into a framework that emphasizes the intrapsychic and interpersonal functions of emotion. We also consider suggestive evidence concerning the importance of the ability to talk about emotions in the conduct of interpersonal interaction. The paper concludes with some ideas on future directions for research, placing particular emphasis on a functionalist approach to the analysis of emotion-denoting terms.
View
Gender, sadness, and depression: The development of emotional focus through gendered discourse
Chapter
  • Mar 2000
When do people call someone emotional? Why is it generally accepted that women are emotional and men are not? What are the actual differences between men and women with regard to specific emotions? Under what circumstances are these differences most pronounced? How can we explain these alleged differences? In this book a distinguished international group of scholars seek to address these and other questions in an attempt to disentangle the complex and fascinating relationship between gender and emotion. Presenting a systematic overview of the most recent social psychological research in this field, the contributors combine empirical evidence and theoretical explanations to examine a wide range of emotions and emotional expressions and how they vary according to gender and context.
View
View
View
Narrative practices: Their role in socialization and self-construction
Article
  • Oct 1994
This book brings a surprisingly wide range of intellectual disciplines to bear on the self-narrative and the self. The same ecological/cognitive approach that successfully organized Ulric Neisser's earlier volume on The Perceived Self now relates ideas from the experimental, developmental, and clinical study of memory to insights from post-modernism and literature. Although autobiographical remembering is an essential way of giving meaning to our lives, the memories we construct are never fully consistent and often simply wrong. In the first chapter, Neisser considers the so-called 'false memory syndrome' in this context; other contributors discuss the effects of amnesia, the development of remembering in childhood, the social construction of memory and its alleged self-servingness, and the contrast between literary and psychological models of the self. Jerome Bruner, Peggy Miller, Alan Baddeley, Kenneth Gergen and Daniel Albright are among the contributors to this unusual synthesis.
View
Of boys and girls: A meta-analysis
Article
  • Jan 1991
A meta-analysis of 172 studies attempted to resolve the conflict between previous narrative reviews on whether parents make systematic differences in their rearing of boys and girls. Most effect sizes were found to be nonsignificant and small. In North American studies, the only socialization area of 19 to display a significant effect for both parents is encouragement of sex-typed activities. In other Western countries, physical punishment is applied significantly more to boys. Fathers tend to differentiate more than mothers between boys and girls. Over all socialization areas, effect size is not related to sample size or year of publication. Effect size decreases with child's age and increases with higher qualify No grouping by any of these variables changes a nonsignificant effect to a significant effect. Because little differential socialization for social behavior or abilities can be found, other factors that, may explain the genesis of documented sex differences arc discussed.
View
The Development of Emotion Expression During the First Two Years of Life
Article
  • Feb 1989
This study examines the course of emotion expression development over the first 2 years of life in a sample of full-term and preterm children. 58 mother/infant pairs were videotaped at infant ages of 2½, 5, 7½, and 22 months, recording face-to-face interaction involving play and separation/reunion sessions. The tapes were coded on a second-to-second basis using Izard's facial affect coding system. Data analysis focused on (1) differences in expressive behavior at 22 months as a function of risk status, gender, attachment status, and patterns of earlier maternal contingency behavior; (2) stability of specific emotional expressive patterns across assessment periods; and (3) the relation of expressive behavior and security of attachment at 2 years to qualities of earlier affective interchange. Mother's contingency behavior (both general level and specific contingency patterns) appeared to have a material effect on the course of emotional development, as did birth status and gender. Prematurity was associated with differential socioemotional development well into the second year, much in contrast to the "catch-up effect" observed in linguistic and cognitive functioning. Discrete emotions analysis of attachment groups yielded differentiation along a broad negative/positive dimension, but it also showed that insecurely attached children can be characterized as showing inhibited anger expression. The results of this study are discussed within the framework of organizational models of infant affective development; attachment theory and discrete emotions approaches were found to yield different yet equally informative data on the course of socioemotional development.
View
Emotional Expression in Husbands and Wives
Article
  • May 1982
This study investigated the emotional expression and physiological reactivity of husbands and wives as they discussed a salient interpersonal issue. Emotional behavior of speaker and listener was coded from videotapes with the Couples Interaction Scoring System (CISS). The results indicated that wives' speech was characterized by less neutral and more negative behavior compared to husbands' speech. Wives also reciprocated their husbands' positive and negative speech, while husbands did not reciprocate their wives' speech. Finally, husbands had a greater tendency to display skin potential responses to their wives' negative speech than did wives in response to their husbands' negative speech. The pattern of results was discussed in relation to sex-role stereotypes for expressive behavior and to discharge models of emotion.
View
Sex Differences in Emotionality: A Multidimensional Approach
Article
  • Aug 1976
An Emotionality Survey was developed to assess sex differences in three dimensions of emotion: covert responding, interpersonal expression, and attitudes toward responses and expressions. Situational determinants of responses were also investigated. Within each of these areas, four types of emotion were distinguished: anger, fear, joy, and sadness. In general, females exceeded males in reported emotionality, but sex differences varied as a function of dimension and type of emotion. Differences were greatest for interpersonal expression, and for fear and sadness. Females also reported more of an interpersonal basis for their emotional responses. The findings suggest a sex difference in the functional significance of emotion, and support a multidimensional approach to the investigation of sex differences in emotionality.
View
Sex Differences: A Study of the Eye of die Beholder
Article
  • Sep 1976
In an attempt to assess the effects of labeling on socially mediated sex differences in infancy, 204 male and female subjects rated the same infant's emotional responses to 4 different arousing stimuli: half of the subjects were told they were observing a "boy" and the other half, a "girl." The same infant in a particular situation was seen as displaying different emotions and significantly different levels of emotional arousal depending on the sex attributed to the infant, the sex of the rater, and the rater's experience with young children. The results suggest a healthy caution be exercised in interpreting studies of sex differences obtained by observers who know the sex of the child being rated.
View