(PS7-34) Child Effects on Maternal Emotion Regulation: Mentalization as a Moderator and Protective Factor

Abstract Text: Emotion regulation (ER) and mentalization, the ability to understand the mental states of others, are transdiagnostic mechanisms that may underlie attachment-related risk and psychopathology in families. Existing family therapy interventions focus primarily on changing parent behavior in the interest of improving child outcomes. However, empirical research in this field has often taken a one-sided approach to an intrinsically dyadic, bidirectional relationship. Parents under stress may behave in ways that heighten psychopathology risk in children, but little is known about how children with psychopathology may contribute to parent symptoms in turn. To bridge this gap, the current study examined reciprocal influences between maternal ER and child psychopathology symptoms over three months, with mothers’ mentalization as a moderator of these pathways. Mothers (N = 205) with children aged 3 to 18 and self-reported mental health history were recruited online via Prolific. Participants completed self-report questionnaires at two time points three months apart, reporting on a target child’s psychopathology symptoms and their own mentalization and ER difficulties. A cross-lagged panel model was used to test for reciprocal effects over time. Cross-lagged effects were significant only in one direction (B = .15, SE = .04, p = .001), with greater child psychopathology contributing to more difficulties in maternal ER three months later. Maternal ER did not predict changes in child psychopathology (B = .06, SE = .05, p = .17). In tests of moderation, the overall model predicting maternal ER at time 2 was significant (R^2 = .67, F(7, 193) = 54.72, p < .001), including the interaction between mentalization and child psychopathology at baseline (B = .07, SE = .03, p = .02). Post hoc probing indicated that child psychopathology predicted more ER difficulties over time only among mothers with poor mentalization abilities at baseline. In contrast, child psychopathology did not have an impact on ER among mothers with high mentalization abilities. Findings suggest potential child effects on maternal ER difficulties. Specifically, when children exhibit greater psychopathology (or behavioral and emotional problems), it may contribute to their mothers’ increased difficulties in ER over time; however, the extent to which children’s behavior problems impact mothers may depend on how well mothers can mentalize. Mothers’ ability to understand the mental states of their children may be a protective factor and a key point of intervention for parent-child difficulties and affective psychopathology.