Exploring the Impact of Maternal and Paternal Acceptance on Adolescent Girls’ Emotion Regulation

Maternal acceptance is associated with youth emotion regulation (a correlate of depression among adolescent girls); however, less is known about the impact of fathers. In this prospective study, we examined effects of maternal and paternal acceptance on youth sadness inhibition (a facet of emotion dysregulation) among adolescent girls (n = 82; M age = 13.28; 43% from minoritized racial/ethnic groups) over 1 year. Youth varied on depression risk, which was assessed via clinical diagnostic interviews. Bivariate results showed that maternal acceptance was associated with lower youth sadness inhibition at baseline and 1-year follow-up, while paternal acceptance was only associated with lower youth sadness inhibition at 1-year follow-up. Step-wise regressions showed that paternal acceptance was inversely associated with youth sadness inhibition over time, above and beyond effects of youth age, baseline sadness inhibition, depression risk, and maternal acceptance. Findings highlight the importance of examining both mothers’ and fathers’ impact on adolescent girls’ development of emotion regulation.