COVID-19 impact on parental emotion socialization and youth socioemotional adjustment in Italy

This study examines the change and associations in parental emotion socialization strategies in response to children’s negative emotions and youths’ adjustment, comparing before the Covid-19 pandemic hit Italy and since the pandemic began. Participants were convenient cross-sectional/normative (Study 1) and clinical/longitudinal (Study 2) samples of Italian parents whose children were in middle childhood and adolescence. In Study 1, self-reported socialization strategies, youths’ maladjustment, and emotion dysregulation increased since the pandemic began. Whereas, in Study 2, socialization strategies and youths’ maladjustment decreased since the pandemic started. In both studies, unsupportive parental emotion socialization predicted youths’ maladjustment and emotion dysregulation, while supportive parental emotion socialization predicted adaptive emotion regulation. This study advances knowledge about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the family context.