Links between Parent-Child Emotion Talk and Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Behaviors in Chinese-Heritage Families

Research Findings: Emotion talk (ET) is an emotion socialization practice theorized to promote children’s socioemotional competence. The present study examined parent and child ET in two subgroups of Chinese-heritage families in low-income communities: Chinese immigrant families in U.S. (CA) and Taiwanese families in Taiwan (TW). In a sample of 75 children (age = 3.2 to 7.4 years, 55% girls, 37 TW and 38 CA) and their parents (99% mothers), parents’ and children’s ET (emotion words, emotion questions and explanations, and global quality or elaborateness of ET) were coded from a shared book reading task. Children’s socioemotional behaviors (prosocial behaviors and behavioral problems) were reported by parents, and emotion expressions were coded from an emotion-eliciting task. Significant associations were found between parent and child ET and children’s socioemotional behaviors. Controlling for child age, family SES, and total utterances, parents’ use of positive emotion words was negatively associated with children’s externalizing problems. Children’s use of emotion reasoning was positively associated with their expressed sadness. A few cultural group differences were also found: TW children used more negative emotion words and engaged in more elaborative ET than CA children, and TW parents used more emotion reasoning than CA parents. Moreover, TW children had fewer peer problems than CA children. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest emotion talk during shared book reading may be a beneficial family activity that promotes children’s socioemotional development in Chinese-heritage families. Parents in low-income Chinese immigrant families likely face socio-cultural barriers to engage in elaborative emotion talk with their children.