Background: Mindfulness based interventions are becoming increasingly popular for use with children and adolescents, particularly within the school context. Objectives: The aim of the systematic review was to examine the effectiveness of school-based mindfulness interventions with particular reference to mental health and wellbeing. The main study aimed to determine if beliefs about emotions and mindfulness moderated the relationship between stressors and somatic symptoms in an adolescent population. Method: The literature was systematically searched for mindfulness interventions carried out with children and adolescents within the school context. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in a rural sample of 489 high school students to examine specific a priori anticipated relationships amongst beliefs about emotions, mindfulness, stressors, and somatic symptoms. Results: Six studies met the criteria for inclusion. The study demonstrated that school-based mindfulness interventions produce some evidence of effective outcomes for mental health and wellbeing in children and adolescents. Factors associated with improvements included that the intervention was delivered by an experienced mindfulness trainer, and that home practice formed part of the intervention. Somatic symptoms were significantly correlated with beliefs about emotions and were significantly inversely correlated with dispositional mindfulness. Lower levels of mindfulness were associated with stronger beliefs about the unacceptability of expressing or experiencing negative emotions. Beliefs about emotions and mindfulness did not significantly moderate the relationship between somatic symptoms and stressors within an adolescent population. Conclusion: Further research is necessary to determine if mindfulness as a construct or an intervention is effective in enhancing adolescents’ resilience to stressors by improving mental health and wellbeing.

Recent studies have addressed the importance of identifying determinants of parental emotion socialization (ES) to clarify how and why parents engage in ES practices. Furthermore, emotions occur within cultural contexts. Recent work has drawn attention to the importance of cross-cultural research for developmental science. Consistent with these calls for research, I examined parents' beliefs about emotions and self-construals as two sets of distinct factors guiding parental ES responses in China and the United States (US). Three emotion-related beliefs (manipulation [children can use emotions to manipulate parents]; parental knowledge [parents have to know all about their child's emotions]; autonomy [children can work through emotions on their own]) and two self-construals (independence [view self as unique entity]; interdependence [view self as connected with others]) were highlighted. One hundred seven parents with 7- to 11-year-old children (75 Chinese, 32 US; 90 mothers, 17 fathers) completed online questionnaires in their native language. MANCOVA analyses indicated cultural differences. Compared with Chinese parents, US parents less strongly endorsed beliefs about manipulation, parental knowledge, and autonomy. US parents endorsed more supportive and less nonsupportive responses towards children's emotions than Chinese parents. There was a trend for Chinese parents to endorse more interdependence than independence in self-construals, whereas no within-person difference was found for US parents' endorsement of these two self-construals. For both Chinese and US parents, beliefs about emotions and self-construals were significantly associated with ES responses. Linear regressions showed that parents' stronger manipulation belief was associated with higher nonsupportive responses to positive and negative emotions. Parents with stronger parental knowledge or autonomy beliefs reported more supportive responses to negative emotions and explanations of positive emotions. Stronger belief in parental knowledge was also related to more endorsed encouragement of positive emotions and lower nonsupportive responses to negative emotions. After controlling for the effects of beliefs, parents with higher interdependent self-construal reported more supportive responses to negative emotions and more explanatory responses to positive emotions. Parents who endorsed higher independent self-construal reported more encouraging responses to positive emotions and less nonsupportive responses to negative emotions. Results are discussed in relation to meaning and significance within socio-cultural contexts. / Doctor of Philosophy / Parental emotion socialization (ES) refers to the process through which parents socialize children's social and emotional competence. Parents from different cultures may enact different ES practices. To better clarify the cross-cultural similarities and differences as well as to better understand how and why parents endorse various ES practices, I conducted the current study. I worked with Chinese and US families and examined how parents' beliefs and perceptions of self (self-construal) as guiding factors were associated with parental ES responses to children's emotions. I focused on three beliefs about emotions: manipulation (children can use emotions to manipulate parents); parental knowledge (parents need to know all about their child's emotions); autonomy (children can handle emotions on their own) and two self-construals: independence (view self as unique entity); interdependence (view self as connected with others). One hundred seven parents (75 Chinese, 32 US; 90 mothers, 17 fathers) participated and their children were 7- to 11-year-old. Parents completed online questionnaires in their native language. I found cultural differences in parents' beliefs and ES responses. Compared with Chinese parents, US parents believed less strongly in children using emotions as manipulations, in parents knowing all about their child's emotions, and in children being able to work through emotions on their own. US parents reported more supportive and less nonsupportive responses to children's emotions than Chinese parents. I found no cultural differences in how parents' beliefs and self-construals associated with their ES responses. For both Chinese and US parents, the more strongly they believed children using emotions to manipulate others, the more nonsupportive responses they endorsed towards children's emotions. Parents' stronger beliefs in parents knowing their child's every emotion and in child's own capability of handling emotions were both related to their more supportive and exploratory responses to children's emotions. In terms of the effects of parents' self-construals, the higher parents viewed themselves as connected to others, the more support and explanation they reported in reaction to children's emotions. Meanwhile, the higher parents viewed themselves as unique and independent, the more encouraging and less nonsupportive responses towards children's emotions they reported. Overall, findings contributed to the understanding of parental ES within the cultural context in relation to parents' beliefs about emotions and perceptions of self.

To identify potential determinants of emotion socialization (ES) in the socio-cultural context, the current study examined a moderated mediation model whereby parents’ independent and interdependent self-construals were proposed to moderate associations of parents’ beliefs about children’s emotions with parents’ ES, which in turn relate to children’s social competence. Seventy-five Chinese parents (65 mothers, 10 fathers) with children in middle childhood (43 girls, 32 boys; Mage=9.18, SD=1.26) completed translated Chinese versions of the Parents’ Beliefs about Children’s Emotions Questionnaire, the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale, the Parental Reactions to Children’s Positive Emotions Scale, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Self-Construal Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Measurements were modified to include ego-focused and other-focused positive and negative emotions (i.e., pride, warmth, anger, and shame/guilt). Bivariate correlations, hierarchical multiple regressions, and exploratory analyses using the PROCESS macro were conducted. Parents endorsed both independent and interdependent self-construals, and on average reported significantly higher interdependent than independent self-construals. Chinese parents’ endorsement of independent self-construal may make their beliefs about ego-focused emotions more salient, thereby inducing ES responses aligned with their beliefs. Parents’ interdependent self-construal was related to their ES to other-focused emotions. Chinese parents’ nonsupportive reactions to children’s anger and pride were related to children’s social competence, which suggests that the inhibition of emotions may have some adaptive functions in Chinese society. Overall, findings contributed to the understanding of parental ES in Chinese families and emphasized the role of parents’ self-construal as an individual-level indicator of cultural values in the ES process. / M.S. / Centered around the process through which parents socialize children’s social and emotional competence (emotion socialization, ES), the current study examined how parents’ beliefs about children’s emotions associated with their ES reactions, how their beliefs together with their perceptions of self (self-construal) related to their ES reactions, and how their ES reactions associated with their children’s behaviors in a Chinese sample. Seventy-five Chinese parents (65 mothers, 10 fathers) with children from 7- to 11-year-old (43 girls, 32 boys) completed Chinese versions of questionnaires about their beliefs about children’s emotions, their ES reactions, their self-construal, their perceptions of children’s behaviors, and some demographic information. The associations aforementioned were tested. Chinese parents perceived themselves as both unique entities (independent self-construal) and connected with others (interdependent self-construal), with a higher level of interdependent self-construal. Parents’ endorsement of independent self-construal may spotlight their beliefs about children’s pride and anger, which in turn induce more ES reactions that are consistent with their beliefs. Parents’ interdependent self-construal was related to their ES reactions to children’s feelings of love and shame/guilt. Parents’ nonsupportive reactions to children’s anger and pride were related to children’s higher competence, which suggests that Chinese society may endorse the inhibition of emotions. Overall, findings contributed to the understanding of cross-cultural differences of parental ES between American and Chinese families and the impact of their perceptions of self on their ES reactions.