Gender differences in mother-child conversations about shame and pride in a Hungarian sample
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Pohárnok, Melinda
Láng, András
Abstract / Description
Although meta-analytic reviews repeatedly found significant gender differences in the experiences of shame and pride throughout the life span, to date, gender differences in conversations about these emotions have not been studied. Our research was aimed at investigating the effect of child gender on maternal conversational style in and emotional content of mother-child conversations about shame- and pride-related past events in preschool years. Fifty four mother—preschool child dyads (52% girls, children’s age M = 70.36 months [SD = 8.13], mothers’ age M = 37.51 years [SD = 3.70]) from middle class Hungarian families were asked to talk about two past events, one in which children felt ashamed, and one in which they felt proud. The conversations were transcribed and coded for maternal conversational style and for emotional content. Maternal conversational style was indicated by maternal elaboration and evaluation of the child’s contributions. Emotional content was indicated by specific emotion terms, emotional behavior and emotional evaluations. In mother-son shame conversations, we found higher amount of negative emotional behavior. Boys also had longer conversations with their mothers, and mothers used more open-ended memory questions and more repetitions with boys in both shame and pride conversations. Girls had shorter contributions to pride stories than to shame stories, which was not the case for boys. Exploration of verbal socialization of shame and pride helps us to understand the development of individual differences in proneness to self-conscious emotions, and their implications for mental health.
Keyword(s)
parent-child conversations pride shame gendered socialization of emotions conversational style emotion wordsPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2021-05-31
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Volume
17
Issue
2
Page numbers
58–74
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Pohárnok, M., & Láng, A. (2021). Gender differences in mother-child conversations about shame and pride in a Hungarian sample. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 17(2), 58-74. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.2859
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ejop.v17i2.2859.pdfAdobe PDF - 244.09KBMD5: b814ab2620748fc9eab07a8ebb87cc8e
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Pohárnok, Melinda
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Láng, András
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-04-14T11:20:26Z
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Made available on2022-04-14T11:20:26Z
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Date of first publication2021-05-31
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Abstract / DescriptionAlthough meta-analytic reviews repeatedly found significant gender differences in the experiences of shame and pride throughout the life span, to date, gender differences in conversations about these emotions have not been studied. Our research was aimed at investigating the effect of child gender on maternal conversational style in and emotional content of mother-child conversations about shame- and pride-related past events in preschool years. Fifty four mother—preschool child dyads (52% girls, children’s age M = 70.36 months [SD = 8.13], mothers’ age M = 37.51 years [SD = 3.70]) from middle class Hungarian families were asked to talk about two past events, one in which children felt ashamed, and one in which they felt proud. The conversations were transcribed and coded for maternal conversational style and for emotional content. Maternal conversational style was indicated by maternal elaboration and evaluation of the child’s contributions. Emotional content was indicated by specific emotion terms, emotional behavior and emotional evaluations. In mother-son shame conversations, we found higher amount of negative emotional behavior. Boys also had longer conversations with their mothers, and mothers used more open-ended memory questions and more repetitions with boys in both shame and pride conversations. Girls had shorter contributions to pride stories than to shame stories, which was not the case for boys. Exploration of verbal socialization of shame and pride helps us to understand the development of individual differences in proneness to self-conscious emotions, and their implications for mental health.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationPohárnok, M., & Láng, A. (2021). Gender differences in mother-child conversations about shame and pride in a Hungarian sample. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 17(2), 58-74. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.2859
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5321
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5925
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.2859
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4692
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4692
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Keyword(s)parent-child conversationsen_US
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Keyword(s)prideen_US
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Keyword(s)shameen_US
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Keyword(s)gendered socialization of emotionsen_US
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Keyword(s)conversational styleen_US
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Keyword(s)emotion wordsen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleGender differences in mother-child conversations about shame and pride in a Hungarian sampleen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue2
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychology
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Page numbers58–74
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Volume17
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Visible tag(s)Version of Recorden_US