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Panel information
Panel 23. Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

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Perceived social evaluations give rise to the experiences of self-conscious emotions, such as shame and guilt (Leary, 2007; Somerville et al., 2013). Caregivers, who provide the first social contexts in which children start to understand the self in relation to others, play a critical role in early emotion socialization. However, little is known about how family factors might shape young children’s experiences of self-conscious emotions. Among the few studies that have examined such association, most focus on mothers, particularly the relations between maternal internalizing symptoms or qualities of maternal-child engagement and children’s expressions of self-consciousness (Muris & Meesters, 2013; Nikolić et al., 2023). In the present study, we examined the associations between paternal factors (i.e., father’s psychopathology symptoms and parenting) and children’s transgression-induced negative self-conscious emotions.

Fathers and their 3-7 year old children (N = 87; M = 4.52 years; 53% biological male; 64% White) participated in the current study. Adapted from previous studies with young children (e.g., Drummond et al., 2017), a staged transgression paradigm was used. Children were randomly assigned into: (1) an Intact Toy condition (control; n = 42); or (2) a Broken Toy condition (n = 55). Children were asked to play alone with a toy car. In the Broken Toy condition, the toy had been tampered with to break during play, while in the Intact Toy condition, the toy car remained intact. Children’s negative self-conscious emotions following the staged transgression procedure were independently coded by hypothesis-naive researchers; coding reliability was established on a randomized 17% of the sample (ICC = .91 for guilt; ICC = .77 for shame; ICC = .74 for embarrassment). Father’s psychopathology symptoms and parenting data were also collected. We hypothesized that (a) father’s psychopathology symptoms would predict more shame in children, and (b) authoritative parenting, characterized by boundary-setting along with warmth and support, would predict lower levels of shame.

The experimental manipulation effectively elicited increased negative self-conscious emotions in children, t(85) = 6.74, p < .001 (Figure 1). Multiple linear regressions were then conducted for children in the Broken Car condition to examine predictors of each type of self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt, embarrassment). Model 1 included the child's age. Father’s psychopathology symptoms (internalizing and externalizing symptoms in separate regressions due to high correlation) were added into Model 2, followed by authoritative parenting scores in Model 3. Results were in line with hypotheses. Both internalizing and externalizing symptoms self-reported by the fathers predicted more shame (but not guilt or embarrassment) in children, βs ≥ .42, ps ≤ .006. Controlling for age and father’s psychopathology symptoms, authoritative parenting was associated with lower levels of shame in children, β = .28, p = .047.

The study examined previously under-researched factors and gained novel insights into children’s early self-consciousness. Children whose fathers reported increased psychopathology symptoms expressed more shame following a staged transgression. Authoritative parenting style protected against increased shame in children, regardless of the levels of father’s psychopathology symptoms. Findings highlight the need to consider fathers’ role in children’s emotion and moral development.

Author information

Author	Role
Yuerui Wu, New York University Shanghai	Presenting author
Jasmine J. Fraser, New York University Shanghai	Non-presenting author
Yucheng Bao, Vanderbilt University	Non-presenting author
Zipei Wang, New York University	Non-presenting author
Dana T. Hartman, University of California Davis	Non-presenting author
Gail S. Goodman, University of California Davis	Non-presenting author

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