Examination of Parenting Styles of Processing Emotions and Differentiation of Self

Abstract

Gottman and associates theorized emotion coaching, parents’ processing of negative emotions with children, as important for children’s later development. Bowen viewed differentiation, the balance between emotional and cognitive reactions to one’s family of origin, as an important developmental process. However, research has not specified parenting methods that foster healthy differentiation. The authors hypothesized adults with emotion-coaching parents have healthier differentiation than those parented with other styles. A total of 254 (129 female, 124 male) participants completed surveys measuring perception of parenting styles and differentiation of self. For male participants, perceiving their parents as having a disapproving style was associated with a poor sense of self. For female participants, high levels of fusion and low levels of emotional cutoff were associated with low emotion-coaching parents and disapproving mothers. Implications and limitations are discussed.