2024/02/21 by Zeyi Shi, Lanyue Fan, Qian Wang
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Cultural Differences and Values #Early Childhood Education and Development
paper · doi:10.1111/jora.12918
openalex publication_date 2024/02/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
This research examined in China two types of parental minimization reactions to adolescents' negative emotions: Devaluing/invalidating that degrades the significance of adolescents' emotions (thereby invalidating adolescents' feelings) versus discounting/mitigating that downplays the seriousness of the situations (thereby mitigating adolescents' emotional arousals). Study 1 had 777 adolescents (389 females; mean age = 12.79 years) complete a survey; Study 2 had 233 adolescents (111 females; mean age = 12.19 years) complete a survey twice spanning around 6 months. Study 1 showed adolescents' perceived maternal devaluing/invalidating and discounting/mitigating reactions as two distinct factors, with different patterns of associations with other supportive versus nonsupportive parenting practices. Study 2 showed that over time, adolescents' perceived maternal devaluing/invalidating reactions predicted their dampened socioemotional functioning; discounting/mitigating reactions predicted their enhanced functioning.