The effects of maternal empathy, dismissiveness and instruction on children's prosocial behavior and academic performance

This study investigated the associations between maternal empathy, dissmissiveness and direct instruction of emotion and children's peer social status, prosocial behavior, emotion regulation and academic performance. Fifty kindergarten and first grade children who met the extreme groups criteria were selected from a group of 780 children by peer nomination and were assigned to an aggressive/rejected group or to the nonaggressive/popular group in an extreme groups design. Mothers' parenting characteristics were assessed through coded interview data. Child academic performance in reading/prereading and math/premath was measured by the Teacher Report Form. Children's prosocial behavior was measured by Teacher Report as well as through direct observation in an analogue entry situation in the laboratory. In addition, emotion regulation was examined for its contribution to child outcomes. Emotion regulation was measured by parent questionnaire (Down Regulation) and teacher report (Kendall-Wilcox self-control rating scale). This study found that mothers of nonaggessive/popular children were more empathic in their parenting than mothers whose children were aggressive/rejected. These mothers also engaged in more direct instruction of emotion and made a conscious effort to instruct children about emotion and emotion related thoughts and behaviors. Further, mothers of nonaggressive/popular children were also less likely to be dismissive of their children's emotions or to engage in dismissive behaviors when their child was in an intense emotional state. The hypothesis that mothers who scored higher on empathy would have children who displayed more prosocial behaviors as assessed by teacher-report and observations of behavior was not confirmed. Emotion regulation was found to act as a mediator variable between mothers' empathy and prosocial behavior, but only when measured by the Kendall Wilcox self-control rating scale completed by teachers. This was true regardless of how prosocial behavior was measured. The prediction that mothers who provide more direct instruction to their children about emotion would have children with higher academic achievement was confirmed for reading but not for math. Emotion regulation was a significant predictor of both reading and math performance. Emotion regulation was found to mediate the relation between maternal direct instruction and academic achievement.