Publication
“Mãe, pai: des(envolvimento da)culpa” The mediating effect of emotion regulation in the relationship between attachment security and healthy guilt
| Summary: | ABSTRACT: Despite growing empirical evidence on the importance of a more comprehensive understanding of guilt owing to its role in prosociality and societal well-being, there are nevertheless many unknown aspects surrounding guilt, namely concerning the emergence and possible significant precursors of guilt such as attachment and emotion regulation. Therefore, our main objectives were to understand how attachment security to both caregivers relates to healthy guilt proneness and examine the mediating effect of emotion regulation in this relationship. We recruited 101 children aged 8 to 10 years old (50.5% girls; Mage = 8.99 years old, SD = .69) and their parents (n = 202). Children reported attachment security to both parents using the SSQ, and their proneness to ethical and non-ethical guilt, healthy guilt and absence of guilt, using the SERT. Parents reported their perception of their child’s emotion regulation capacity, measured by the ERC. Generally, results found that attachment security to both mother and father significantly predicted reported proneness to ethical guilt [F(1.97) = 4.05, p =.01, R2 = .11; F(1,97) = 3.25, p =.03, R2 = .09, respectively], with attachment to the father also predicting absence of guilt [F(1,97) = 7.46, p <.001, R2 = .19] and healthy guilt scores [F(1,97) = 2.62, p = .01, R2 = .08]. However, although global emotion regulation scores reported by each caregiver were significantly correlated with ethical guilt (rmother = .27, p = 0.01; rfather = .25, p = .05), no significant mediating effect of emotion regulation was found (p > 0.05). |
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| Main Authors: | Mango, Anwen Aisling Fonseca |
| Subject: | guilt attachment emotion regulation middle childhood culpa vinculação regulação emocional segunda infancia |
| Year: | 2024 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | master thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Ispa-Instituto Universitário |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | Repositório do Ispa - Instituto Universitário |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT: Despite growing empirical evidence on the importance of a more comprehensive understanding of guilt owing to its role in prosociality and societal well-being, there are nevertheless many unknown aspects surrounding guilt, namely concerning the emergence and possible significant precursors of guilt such as attachment and emotion regulation. Therefore, our main objectives were to understand how attachment security to both caregivers relates to healthy guilt proneness and examine the mediating effect of emotion regulation in this relationship. We recruited 101 children aged 8 to 10 years old (50.5% girls; Mage = 8.99 years old, SD = .69) and their parents (n = 202). Children reported attachment security to both parents using the SSQ, and their proneness to ethical and non-ethical guilt, healthy guilt and absence of guilt, using the SERT. Parents reported their perception of their child’s emotion regulation capacity, measured by the ERC. Generally, results found that attachment security to both mother and father significantly predicted reported proneness to ethical guilt [F(1.97) = 4.05, p =.01, R2 = .11; F(1,97) = 3.25, p =.03, R2 = .09, respectively], with attachment to the father also predicting absence of guilt [F(1,97) = 7.46, p <.001, R2 = .19] and healthy guilt scores [F(1,97) = 2.62, p = .01, R2 = .08]. However, although global emotion regulation scores reported by each caregiver were significantly correlated with ethical guilt (rmother = .27, p = 0.01; rfather = .25, p = .05), no significant mediating effect of emotion regulation was found (p > 0.05). |
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