Article Accepted Manuscript

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 words

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2021-03-08

Journal title

Europe's Journal of Psychology

Publisher

PsychArchives

Publication status

acceptedVersion

Review status

reviewed

Is version of

Citation

Pohárnok, M., & Láng, A. (in press). Gender differences in mother-child conversations about shame and pride in a Hungarian sample [Author accepted manuscript]. Europe's Journal of Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4692
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Pohárnok, Melinda
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Láng, András
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2021-03-08T17:42:54Z
  • Made available on
    2021-03-08T17:42:54Z
  • Date of first publication
    2021-03-08
  • 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.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    acceptedVersion
    en
  • Review status
    reviewed
    en
  • Sponsorship
    The preparation of this manuscript was supported by the European Union, co-financed by the European Social Fund. Comprehensive Development for Implementing Smart Specialization Strategies at the University of Pécs. Grant number: EFOP-3.6.1.-16-2016-00004.
    en_US
  • Citation
    Pohárnok, M., & Láng, A. (in press). Gender differences in mother-child conversations about shame and pride in a Hungarian sample [Author accepted manuscript]. Europe's Journal of Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4692
    en
  • ISSN
    1841-0413
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/4147
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4692
  • Language of content
    eng
    en_US
  • Publisher
    PsychArchives
    en_US
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.2859
    en
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5925
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5925
  • Keyword(s)
    parent-child conversations
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    pride
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    shame
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    gendered socialization of emotions
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    conversational style
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    emotion words
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Gender Differences in Mother-Child Conversations about Shame and Pride in a Hungarian Sample
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
    en_US
  • Journal title
    Europe's Journal of Psychology
    en
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsychOpen GOLD
    en_US
  • Visible tag(s)
    Accepted Manuscript
    en_US