Mothers' and Fathers' Reports of their Supportive Responses to their Children's Negative Emotions over Time.

OBJECTIVE: Parents' emotion socialization practices are thought to be moderately stable over time; however, a partner's socialization practices could initiate change.

DESIGN: We examined mothers' and fathers' reports of their supportive responses to their children's negative emotions when the target child was 7 years old and again at age 10. We tested a dyadic, longitudinal path model with 111 mother-father pairs.

RESULTS: Significant actor and partner effects emerged. Parents' age 7 responses predicted their own age 10 responses and their partners' later responses.

CONCLUSIONS: Parents' reported responses to children's negative emotions during middle childhood are predicted by their own earlier responses and by their partners' responses.