Little is known about the complex processes leading to prosocial behavior. However, theories suggests that empathy, empathic responding, and emotion regulation abilities, may all contribute to the presence or absence of prosocial behavior. While theoretical papers demonstrate relationships between these constructs, researchers to date have only focused on small aspects of this complex relationship (e.g., the relationship between sympathy and emotion regulation, the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior). This study proposed a complex model whereby empathy was both directly related to prosocial behavior and indirectly related to prosocial behavior via sympathy or personal distress. Furthermore, this study proposed an emotion regulation framework for understanding the relation between empathy and prosocial behavior, suggesting that one's emotion regulation abilities would cause a differential presentation of empathic responses, leading to a potential increase or decrease in prosocial behavior. An adult sample was recruited. Analyses were completed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results indicate that hypothesized model adequately fit the data. All hypothesized associations between variables were significant. However, contrary to the hypothesis, emotion regulation ability did not alter the associations between study constructs. Strengths, limitations, and implications will be discussed. / Master of Science

Parental socialization of emotions has been a topic of interest in developmental research for decades because of the importance of understanding how children learn about their emotions. The influence of the sex of both parent and child, however, are often not considered, and research on parent emotion socialization has often focused on infants and young children. Not considering these constructs during middle childhood ignores the importance of this developmental period, during which children have a more established gender identity and thus might recognize a shared identity with a parent. Emotion socialization from both parents during this developmental period has the potential to differentially inform children’s expectations of gender norms related to emotions. Men and women interpret and express their emotions differently and may differentially socialize their children regarding emotions along these patterns. The current study examined parental emotion coaching and elaboration observed during discussions of positive and negative emotions between 44 children with their mothers and fathers, with specific focus on the sex of the parents and children. I expected that mothers would engage in more emotion coaching and use a more elaborative style than fathers. Additionally, I expected that parents of girls would be more encouraging of positive emotions than parents of boys and that parents of boys would be more discouraging of negative emotions than parents of girls. Children between the ages of 6 and 9 visited the Children’s Emotions Lab with their mothers and fathers on separate occasions and participated in an emotion talk task with each parent. Each pair discussed a time when the child was happy and a time when the child was upset; each discussion lasted two and a half minutes each. I found a significant emotion valence by child sex interaction: parents were more elaborative and encouraging when discussing positive emotions with daughters than with sons and that parents were more elaborative and encouraging when discussing negative events with sons than with daughters. There was also specific parent gender by child sex interaction: mothers were less elaborative and encouraging with daughters than sons and that fathers were less elaborative and encouraging with sons than daughters. Findings from this study suggest that parents’ experiences with their own emotions influence their emotion socialization practices with their children. Recommended practices for future studies and interventions are suggested. / M.S. / Emotion socialization refers to the ways we come to understand the rules, expectations, and understanding of emotions. Research often looks at the ways that parents socialize, or teach, emotions to their children by examining parent attitudes about children’s emotions, parents’ reactions to children’s emotions, and parent-child discussions of emotions. However, often this research is limited in scope, examining only mothers’ parenting, only examining socialization of negative emotions, or using only parent-report data. Research has previously found that boys and girls are socialized differently when it comes to emotions, and I want to build on established research to examine these differences further. For this study, I have observed parent-child conversations about positive and negative emotions, including both mothers and fathers. Forty-four children participated with both their mothers and fathers. I looked at parental elaboration, which is how parents ask for and provide information within a conversation, and parental encouragement of emotions, which relates to how parents validate children’s emotions and help children to understand cause and consequences of their emotions. I hypothesized that mothers would be more elaborative, that is ask for and give more information in conversations, and encouraging, that is helping children to accept, understand and respond to their emotions, than fathers. I also hypothesized that parents of daughters would be more elaborative and encouraging when talking about positive emotions and that parents of sons would be less encouraging of negative emotions. Only parts of my hypotheses were supported by the data from my study. Mothers and fathers did have different strategies of emotion socialization, and fathers of daughters were more encouraging of positive emotions. However, parents of sons were more encouraging of negative emotions. Further, parents were less elaborative and encouraging of their same-sex children’s emotions. These findings suggest that parents’ own experiences, and possibly even the ways their own parents socialized them, is related to the ways they socialize their children.

Background and Aims: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by deficits in social interactions and communication, and the presence of stereotypic behaviors and restricted interests. Children with ASD also demonstrate difficulties in emotional competence, including poor emotion regulatory capacity. The goal of this study was to investigate the link of social skills to emotion regulation and emotionality in 3 through 7 year-old children with and without ASD. Methods: Both parental report and behavioral laboratory observations were used to examine emotion regulation and emotionality in 21 typically developing (TD) children and 12 high functioning children with ASD. Results: This study had three major findings. First, an association between enhanced reported emotion regulation and increased social skills was found in children with ASD, but not in TD children. Second, children with ASD demonstrated lower reported emotion regulation, higher reported general negative emotionality, and lower reported general positive emotionality compared to their TD peers. Third, reported emotion regulation was linked to reported specific emotionality in children with ASD and to reported general emotionality in the TD group, though not in the predicted direction. Few significant findings occurred for observed emotion regulation or observed emotionality. Conclusions: Although current results should be interpreted with caution due to small sample size, a link between social skills and parent-reported emotion regulation was found in children with ASD. Children with ASD were also viewed by their parents as having poor emotion regulation and increased negative emotionality compared to their TD peers. Limitations and future research are discussed. / Ph. D.

Emotion socialization is defined as how socializers teach children about emotions, and one way socializers do this is through reminiscing about past emotional events. In the current study, I build on prior research on maternal emotion socialization by examining grandmothers' role in socializing children's emotions, given the prominence of grandparents' involvement in caregiving tasks for minority and underrepresented families. I also incorporate indirectness, a concept that is well-established in linguistic research. Rather than focusing on what family members say during emotion-related reminiscing, indirectness assesses how family members communicate reminiscing content. Participants for Study 1 – the Family Interaction Study – were 18 grandmother-mother-child triads (5 Latinx and 13 Appalachian) with children in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. Families discussed two past, shared emotional events together, one positive event and one negative, in both triadic and dyadic interactions. Grandmothers', mothers', and children's speech was coded for use of emotion labels and explanations, using an established coding scheme in the emotion socialization literature, as well as for indirectness, using a coding scheme created in my previous work. Grandmothers and mothers completed questionnaires about children's social outcomes (emotion regulation and social competence), and children self-reported on their own social behavior. Grandmothers and mothers also completed questionnaires about their beliefs about children's emotions, as well as their experiences related to being underrepresented. Finally, grandmothers and mothers responded to an open-ended prompt about their race, ethnicity, and culture in relation to emotion and family values. Descriptive analyses for the Family Interaction Study were conducted to examine similarities and differences between grandmothers' and mothers' speech during familial conversations. Descriptive results indicate that grandmothers and mothers were involved during reminiscing conversations to a similar extent. Given the small sample size for this study, I was not able to conduct the planned within- and across-group tests for associations between grandmothers' and mothers' experiences and beliefs, their emotion-related discourse, and children's social outcomes. Grandmothers' and mothers' responses to the open-ended prompt were analyzed with a thematic analysis. Qualitative results identified themes present in existing literature, such as those regarding emotion expression, emotion regulation, and teaching of emotion, as well as themes not yet identified in the literature, such as the role of religion in the socialization of children's emotions. Participants for Study 2 – the Online Grandmothers Study – were 150 grandmothers (52 African American, 51 Latinx, and 50 Appalachian) with grandchildren in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. Grandmothers completed the same questionnaires as the participants in the Family Interaction Study about grandchildren's social outcomes, as well as their beliefs about children's emotions, and their experiences related to being underrepresented. Quantitative analyses for this study were conducted to investigate associations between grandmothers' social position, beliefs about emotion, and grandchildren's social outcomes. Results for the Online Grandmothers Study indicate links between grandmothers' value of positive emotion and children's lower lability/negativity, lower internalizing behaviors, and lower externalizing behaviors, particularly for African American families. Further, for Appalachian families, results indicate a link between grandmothers' belief in parental guidance of children's emotions and children's lower externalizing behaviors. Thus, results suggest that grandmothers play a unique role in children's socio-emotional development, one that is both similar and different to the mother's. This role may pertinent for development in middle childhood for a few reasons, including grandmothers' influence on children's developing sense of self, promoting children's positive coping as they transition into adolescence, as well as providing salient experiences regarding race/ethnicity that may serve as a basis for racial-ethnic identity (REI) development. Overall, findings highlight the importance of considering intergenerational shared caregiving in minority families and the roles of grandmothers as socializing agents. / Doctor of Philosophy / Grandmothers are important for family functioning and influence how children develop social skills. In the current studies, I examined grandmothers' emotion talk, beliefs about emotions, and experiences as underrepresented, as well as links to children's social skills. Participants for Study 1 – the Family Interaction Study – were 18 grandmother-mother-child triads (5 Latinx and 13 Appalachian) with children in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. Families discussed past events together and speech was coded for emotion talk. Grandmothers and mothers completed questionnaires about their beliefs about children's emotions, children's social outcomes, as well as their experiences as being underrepresented. Finally, grandmothers and mothers responded to an open-ended prompt about their race, ethnicity, and culture in relation to emotion and family values. Descriptive results indicate that grandmothers were involved during reminiscing conversations to a similar extent as mothers. Themes were identified in grandmothers' and mothers' conversations about the open-ended prompt. Notably, grandmothers and mothers identified religion as an important influence on emotion in their families. Participants for Study 2 – the Online Grandmothers Study – were 150 grandmothers (52 African American, 51 Latinx, and 50 Appalachian) with grandchildren in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. Grandmothers completed the same questionnaires as in Study 1. Results for the Online Grandmothers Study indicate links between grandmothers' value of positive emotion and better social skills, particularly for African American families. Further, for Appalachian families, results indicate a link between grandmothers' belief in parental guidance of children's emotions and children's better social skills. Findings illustrate the importance of grandmothers in underrepresented families and as influences on children's social skills.

Despite the rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), interventions for the adult population, most of whom do not achieve independent living, are limited (Seltzer, Shattuck, Abbeduto, and Greenberg, 2004). Additionally, many individuals with ASD experience impaired emotion regulation (ER), which is thought to contribute to higher rates of psychiatric comorbidities among adults with ASD as well as indirect effects upon adaptive functioning, interpersonal relationships, and vocational status ( Mazefsky et al., 2013; Samson, Huber, and Gross, 2012). The primary purpose of the current study was to investigate the initial feasibility and efficacy of an adapted mindfulness-based individual therapy for adults with ASD to target ER difficulties, and evaluate ER as a potential change process. Initial feasibility of mindfulness-based approaches among adults with ASD was supported by acceptable treatment fidelity and participant satisfaction ratings. Efficacy of the intervention was partially supported; four of the participants demonstrated significant improvements in impulse control, access to ER strategies, and emotional acceptance, and two of the participants evidenced significant decreases in emotional symptom distress. Analysis of ER as a potential change process found significant improvement for four participants, but slopes demonstrated that improvement initiated before treatment, a confound for determination of change processes. Further research is recommended, including additional timepoints, a clinical cutoff-derived sample, and further understanding of the role of self-regulatory deficits for individuals with ASD. / Ph. D.

The increase in bullying and its detrimental impacts threaten children's healthy development across the world; however, little research has examined multi-factors related to bullying. Guided by ecological theory, this study examined ecological factors that related to children's bystander and defender behavior when they witness bullying. Considering the role of culture and maternal emotion socialization in children's socio-emotional development, cultural differences in the relation of maternal emotion socialization on children's reactions to bullying through their empathy were investigated. Children (10-12 years old) and their mothers in the United States (n=165) and South Korea (n=158) participated in an online survey. Mothers completed the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions to assess maternal unsupportive and supportive reactions to their children's emotions. Children reported on their empathy (i.e., personal distress and empathic concern) using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and on their bystander/defender behaviors using the Types of the Conformity Groups in Bullying. For bystander behavior, mothers' unsupportive reactions were significantly correlated with children's bystander behavior through empathic concern in both cultures. Personal distress mediated the relation of maternal unsupportive reactions to bystander behavior only in the American sample. For defender behavior, American mothers' supportive reactions directly predicted defender behavior whereas the effect of Korean mothers' supportive reactions on defender behavior was mediated by empathic concern. More personal distress was related to more defender behavior in the American sample while less personal distress was related to more defender behavior in the Korean sample. Results of this study supported cultural differences in the relation of maternal emotion socialization to children's reaction to bullying. American children were more likely to help the victim when their mothers supported their negative emotions. For Korean children, mothers' supportive reactions were related to their prosocial behavior through their empathic concern. However, in both cultures, children's empathic concern was a significant mediator in the relation between maternal unsupportive reactions and bystander behavior. This finding may provide educational guidance to bullying intervention programs across cultures. / Doctor of Philosophy / More than one out of five students in the United States and more than one out of ten students in South Korea experience bullying. The detrimental effects of bullying can affect not only victims and bullies but also classmates who witness the bullying. I examined factors that related to bystander behavior (ignoring or staying away from bullying) and defender behavior (helping the victim or actively endeavoring to stop bullying) in bullying to help in efforts to stop bullying. Because positive emotional experiences with mothers can help children develop empathy and empathy tends to elicit helping behavior, I examined how mothers' reactions to their children's negative emotions were related to children's bystander behavior and defender behavior through their empathic abilities. However, research and theories on bullying has been predominantly focused on Western populations. My study addressed this gap, examining cultural differences in the relations between the United States and South Korea to bring attention to the role of culture in parents' emotional socialization and children's development. Results from this study will help schools and communities to provide culturally sensitive bullying intervention programs with parents. Children (10-12 years old) and their mothers in the United States (n=165) and South Korea (n=158) participated in an online survey. Mothers were asked about ways that they react to their children's negative emotions. Mothers' unsupportive reactions refer to minimization, distress and punitive reactions when their children express negative emotions. Mothers' supportive reactions mean maternal comforting, acknowledgement, and encouragement of children's negative emotions. In the online survey, children reported on their empathy and reactions when they witness bullying. Cultural differences in the relations were confirmed. American children were more likely to help the victim when their mothers supported their negative emotions. For Korean children, mothers' supportive reactions were related to their defender behavior through their empathic concern. However, in both countries, the more mothers displayed supportive reactions, the more children reported empathic concern; children's empathic concern was an important bridge between maternal unsupportive reactions and bystander behavior.

Exercise is important to employees’ health and well-being. Exercise has been found to increase resources, foster resource replenishment, and increase happiness, which may make it effective in supporting employees against the harmful effects of depletion that arise from emotion regulation. Surface acting is a demanding behavior in which employees must fake their emotions to follow organizational display rules, but we know little about how exercise breaks can prevent harmful effects extending from this common job demand in some organizational settings (e.g., customer service). Fifty participants (N = 50) completed a surface acting task in which they listened to audio-recorded negative restaurant reviews and were instructed to respond to the reviews without conveying negative emotions across a 90-minute in-lab experimental session. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four break conditions (no break, a passive break, an exercise break, or a flaw essay break) which occurred halfway through the experimental session. Participants then completed the surface acting task again for 20 minutes. The surface acting task was effective in inducing emotion regulation. Participants who received a break experienced a decrease in depletion after the break, while participants who did not receive a break experienced an increase in depletion. However, no evidence was obtained to suggest that exercise breaks led to a reduction in depletion relative to other experimental conditions, nor a difference in mastery or positive affect. This thesis contributes to research on emotion regulation and exercise break by creating a new surface acting task that can easily be given in experiments. Also, this thesis suggests that organizations should ensure that employees are receiving breaks during worktime to guarantee employees maintain high productivity. / M.S. / Work is stressful as individuals may need to enhance, change, fake or suppress emotions through a process known as emotion regulation. One type of emotion regulation is surface acting in which individuals fake emotions to better align with organizational display rules. Surface acting has been found to contribute to emotional exhaustion, work-to-family conflict, feelings of inauthenticity and insomnia. Surface acting is common in customer jobs in which employees need to address customer concerns. Research has demonstrated that breaks can be used to help restore resources and reduce depletion. Specifically, exercise has been found to be beneficial in helping employees combat the harmful effects of emotion regulation and the depletion that comes with it. In this study, fifty participants completed a surface acting task in which they listened to audio-recorded negative restaurant reviews and were instructed to respond to the reviews without conveying negative emotions across a 90-minute in-lab experimental session. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four break conditions (no break, a passive break, an exercise break, or a flaw essay break) which occurred halfway through the experimental session. Participants then completed the surface acting task again for 20 minutes. The surface acting task was found to induce emotion regulation. Participants who received a break experienced a decrease in depletion after the break, while participants who did not receive a break experienced an increase in depletion. There was no evidence to suggest that exercise breaks were better at reducing depletion than the other conditions. This thesis suggests that organizations should ensure that employees are receiving breaks during worktime to guarantee employees maintain high productivity.

No / This article draws on findings from a three-year project to develop and deliver culturally appropriate support group materials for South Asian and Eastern European family carers of relatives with dementia living in the UK. Analysis of interview and field note data revealed insights into how understandings of dementia in different cultural contexts can become operationalized through stigma processes and in turn influence the ways in which people with dementia and their family carers engage with formal and informal support.

Previous research has shown peer victimization during adolescence to have strong lasting effects on mental health. Religiousness and forgiveness are two factors that are positively related to mental health and the current study proposes that they may have a protective influence against the negative effects of peer victimization. Additionally, religiousness and forgiveness may be related in that forgiveness may be a link in the religiousness/health relationship. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships among religiousness, forgiveness and mental health in the context of peer victimization during adolescence. Mental health was measured by internalizing symptomatology and emotion regulation. Analyses were conducted using Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that forgiveness may indeed be a link in the religiousness/health relationship but only when examining private religious practices. Results further show that religiousness may not be a strong protective factor in the context of peer victimization and that certain dimensions of forgiveness (specifically benevolence motivations) may actually exacerbate the effects of peer victimization on internalizing symptomatology rather than act as a protective factor. / Master of Science

The present study investigated autonomic nervous system (ANS) patterning during experimentally manipulated emotion. Film clips previously shown to induce amusement, anger, contentment, disgust, fear, and sadness, in addition to a neutral control, were presented to 34 college-aged subjects while electrodermal activity, blood pressure and electrocardiogram (ECG) were recorded as was self-reported affect. Mean and mean successive difference of inter-beat interval were derived from the ECG. Pattern classification analysis revealed emotion-specific patterning for all emotion conditions except disgust. Discriminant function analysis was used to describe the location of discrete emotions within a dimensional affective state space, for both self-report and ANS activity. Findings suggest traditional dimensional emotion models accurately describe the state space for self-reported emotion, but may require modification in order to accurately describe the state space for ANS activity during discrete emotions. Proposed modifications are consistent with the adoption of a discrete-dimensional hybrid model as well as current trends in emotion theory. / Master of Science