Parent self-compassion: direct effects on parent emotion socialization and indirect effects on adolescent emotion dysregulation

Self-compassion is an individual’s ability to exercise mindfulness and self-kindness toward their own suffering, and it has been well-established as a protective factor for psychological well-being. Parents’ self-compassion may be especially important for emotion-related parenting practices, as parents’ own emotions may impact how they respond to their children’s emotions. Parent emotion socialization has implications for youth emotion regulation and psychosocial adjustment. The present study examined the effects of parent self-compassion on parent emotion socialization and its indirect effect on adolescent emotion dysregulation, using the PROCESS macro. Adolescents (n = 141; M = 14.56 years; 65% cisgender male) and their parents completed questionnaires via the Qualtrics platform in the United States. Parent self-compassion directly related to less unsupportive emotion socialization responses and adolescent emotion dysregulation, but it was unrelated to supportive emotion socialization. Parent self-compassion indirectly related to lower adolescent emotion dysregulation through unsupportive parent emotion socialization, but not supportive parent emotion socialization. Parents’ self-compassion mitigated unsupportive emotion socialization behaviors in a manner that corresponded to less adolescent emotion dysregulation. These findings represent an important addition to existing theoretical models of parent characteristics relevant for parent emotion socialization. Bolstering parent self-compassion is a possible avenue to support adaptive emotion-related parenting practices and adolescent psychosocial adjustment.