The Relationship Between Maternal Parenting Stress and Emotion Regulation of Young Children: The Mediating Effect of Maternal Coping with Children's Negative Emotions

The purpose of this study is to analyze the mediating effect of maternal coping with children's negative emotions on the relationship between maternal parenting stress and emotion regulation of young children. The survey was conducted on 244 mothers of young children aged 3 to 5 in daycare centers. Participants answered questionnaires that measured parenting stress, coping with children's negative emotions, and emotion regulation of their children. The collected data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and correlation analysis using SPSS 26.0. Furthermore, the mediating effect was analyzed by employing the PROCESS macro for SPSS version 3.5 (Model 4), and then the statistical significance of the meditating effect was examined by bootstrapping. The results are as follows. Problem·emotion-focused responses, expressive encouragement, and punishment-minimization responses had partial mediating effects. Conversely, distress reactions had no mediating effect. This research contributes significantly to a better understanding of the mechanism linking maternal parenting stress to emotion regulation of young children and especially emphasizes the importance of maternal coping with children's negative emotions for emotion regulation. The study has practical implications for the development of targeted counseling strategies for both young children and their parents.