Domestic Violence, Emotion Coaching, and Child Adjustment

This article addresses the question of whether parents in domestically violent homes have difficulty talking to and helping their children manage their emotions-what has been referred to as emotion coaching. Emotion coaching as a moderator in the relationship between domestic violence (DV) and children's behavior problems was also examined. Results indicated that DV was not associated with a general deficit in emotion coaching but that DV was associated with less coaching of anger and fear depending on whether the parent was the perpetrator or victim of DV. Emotion coaching also moderated the relationship between DV and children's behavior problems. Implications for the development of an intervention program to improve parental coaching of emotion in domestically violent homes is discussed.