Predicting Children's Anxiety Based on Parents' Reaction to Their Negative Emotions with Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation

Given the prominent role of the family in the mental health of child, it seems reasonable to predict family-based factors because the family is considered as a socio-cultural system that has a set of rules; So that the impact of family on members is such that many researchers consider them as a main cause of disorders. The aim of this study was to predict children's anxiety based on parents' reactions to their negative emotions with mediating role of emotion regulation. In this respect, a descriptive-correlational study was performed and 232 preschool children and their parents in the city of Tehran were selected through the convenience sampling method and investigated in terms of children's anxiety symptoms, coping with children's negative emotions, and emotion regulation. Multiple regression analysis and Bootstrap and Sable tests showed that parents' reaction to children's negative emotions affects children's anxiety by emotion regulation. Parents' reaction also predicted anxiety and emotion regulation, and emotion regulation predicted children's anxiety as well. It seems that just as parents' reaction to children's negative emotions play a role in children's anxiety, so does children's emotion regulation play an important role in their anxiety. It can be expected appropriate emotion regulation in children is as a barrier to parents' inappropriate reaction and anxiety caused by it.