Emotion socialization and internalizing behavior problems in diverse youth: A bidirectional relationship across childhood.
Mom and dad teach feelings differently, and culture decides which parent’s style predicts child anxiety in kids with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Rodas et al. (2017) tracked families of children with and without intellectual disability over time. They asked how moms and dads teach kids about feelings, and how that links to later anxiety or sadness.
The team used cross-lagged models to test if parent emotion coaching shapes child internalizing problems, or if child mood shapes parent coaching. They also checked whether parent gender and culture change the path.
What they found
Parent gender and ethnicity switched the arrows. For some families, better parent emotion talk predicted fewer later internalizing problems. For others, child mood predicted parent talk, not the other way around.
The study says: assess mothers and fathers separately, and note their cultural background, when you treat worry or withdrawal in kids with ID.
How this fits with other research
Totsika et al. (2014) saw that a warm parent-child bond forecast fewer later behavior problems in preschoolers with ID. Rodas et al. (2017) add that the bond keeps mattering, but the effect runs both ways and differs by parent gender.
HilMedeiros et al. (2015) found poor relationship quality linked to externalizing problems in mild-borderline ID. Rodas et al. (2017) shift the lens to internalizing problems and show the path can travel from child to parent as well.
Yang et al. (2025) meta-analysis shows teaching parents mindfulness lowers their stress. Rodas et al. (2017) imply you may need to tailor that coaching by parent gender and culture to also benefit child mood.
Why it matters
When you write a behavior plan for a child with ID who shows anxiety or withdrawal, run separate interviews with mom and dad. Ask how each parent talks about feelings, and ask about their cultural norms. Do not assume the same parent coaching format works for both. If dad’s emotion language is low, target dad first if the family is Anglo; the pattern may flip in Latino families. Re-assess child mood after four weeks, then adjust.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Split your parent interview: ask mom and dad individually how they label feelings with their child, note any cultural phrases, then pick the parent whose style best predicts the child’s mood for the first coaching target.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Mothers' and fathers' emotion socialization (ES) practices have been widely associated with child socioemotional outcomes. To extend this research, we examined the bidirectional relationship between parent ES practices (supportive and non-supportive parenting) and internalizing behavior problems in children of Anglo and Latino parents. Participants were 182 mothers and 162 fathers and their children with or without intellectual disability (ID). We compared the stability of mother and father ES practices across child ages 4-8. We utilized cross-lagged panel modeling to examine the bidirectional relationship between parents' ES and child internalizing behavior problems. Emotion socialization practices differed across time by parent gender, with mothers displaying higher levels of supportive parenting and lower levels of non-supportive parenting than fathers. Cross-lagged panel models revealed differential relationships between child internalizing behaviors and emotion socialization practices by parent gender and by ethnicity. Implications for intervening with culturally diverse families of children with ID are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.01.010