The explanation of the causal model of parental meta-emotional philosophy based on emotional self-awareness, differentiation and existential anxiety

The emotional component of the relationship between parents and children plays an important role in the formation of problematic behaviors in children and adolescents and their mental health in general. The present study was conducted with the aim of explaining the causal model of parental meta-emotional philosophy based on emotional self-awareness, differentiation and existential anxiety. The study method was descriptive-correlation and structural equation model analysis. The statistical population included all the parents of Kermanshah city. A total of 201 parents were selected using the accessible method. The data collection tools were the Parental meta-emotion philosophy Scale, the Emotional Self-Awareness Scale, the Self-Differentiation Inventory - Short Form, and the Existential Concerns Questionnaire (Van Brugen et al., 2017). The validity of the tools was measured by using content validity in a qualitative method and reliability by internal consistency by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21 and AMOS 21 software. The results showed that the direct paths of existential anxiety to meta-emotional philosophy; Differentiation to emotional self-awareness; and emotional self-awareness to meta-emotional philosophy, as well as the indirect path of differentiation to parental meta-emotional philosophy with the mediating role of emotional self-awareness is positive and significant. In other words, the results showed that parents who have higher differentiation have more emotional self-awareness and are more in emotion coaching in meta-emotional philosophy. This finding can be used in theoretical models related to the determinants of parent's emotion coaching or in psychological interventions to help parents to increase their emotion coaching.