Socializing Positive Emotion: A Qualitative Study of African American Single Mothers and Their Adolescent Youth

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This study addressed limitations of emotion socialization ( ES ) research and is the first to explore socialization of positive emotion ( PE ) in 20 single African American ( AA ) mothers and their adolescents. Considering the dearth of research on ES with AA adolescents, an inductive, qualitative approach was warranted. A portion of mothers reported elevated depressive symptoms, which is important given their prevalence in AA women and that very few studies of ES have considered parental mental health. Although PE is gaining warranted attention in the scientific community based on recent data linking it to mental and physical health, PE has traditionally been a cornerstone of AA interactional style. The results suggest that AA mothers use complementary and contradictory responses to youth PE , often sharing and expanding, other times diminishing or teaching lessons. The findings emphasize the importance of racial and cultural considerations in ES practices and highlight the potential impact of elevated maternal depressive symptoms.