Intergenerational transmission of psychopathology: the mediating role of maternal self-expressiveness and child emotion regulation

Maternal psychopathology is one of the major risk factors for children’s psychopathology. It is important to examine mechanisms underlying intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. The current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of maternal emotion expressiveness and child emotion regulation in the relationship between maternal psychopathology and child externalizing problems. We collected data from mothers of the fourth-grade children living in Ankara, Turkey. We examined the indirect effect of maternal psychopathology on child externalizing problems through maternal self-expressiveness and child emotion regulation using PROCESS Macro. Findings indicated that mothers’ psychopathology severity level negatively predicted their positive expressiveness in family environment, which in turn was associated with less child emotion regulation and ultimately more externalizing behaviors. However, maternal psychopathology was not indirectly linked to externalizing problems of children through negative expressiveness and both mediators in sequence. This study adds to the understanding of the processes underlying intergenerational transmission of psychopathology through the socialization of emotion in families, which provides implications for prevention and intervention programs.