어머니의 정서표현성과 부정적 정서표현에 대한 반응이 아동의 정서지능에 미치는 영향

Abstract

This study examines child emotional intelligence in relation to mother’s emotional expressiveness and reaction to child negative emotions. A sample of 352 children and mothers from 4 elementary schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi participated in the study. Child emotional intelligence and mother’s reaction to child negative emotions were evaluated by child-report, and mother’s emotional expressiveness was assessed by mother-report. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, two-way analysis of variances, Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analyses. The findings were as follows. First, mothers of boys showed more oversensitive-reaction to child negative emotions than mothers of girls. Mothers of 6th-graders showed more emotion-minimizing-reaction to child negative emotions than mothers of 5th-graders. Second, girls showed a higher level of overall emotional intelligence than boys. Girls showed a higher level of emotion expression and emotion regulation than boys. The 5th-graders showed higher level of emotion expression than 6th-graders; however, 6th graders showed a higher level of emotion perception than 5th-graders. Third, more emotion-coaching-reaction and less oversensitive-reaction by mothers predicted a better emotional intelligence of children. A mother’s appropriate emotional socialization behaviors associated with child emotional intelligence were discussed.