The role of the family context in the Regulation of emotions

The role of the family context in  the Regulation of emotions

MANUAL RESEARCH PROJECT

B.Ed. (1.5 Year / 2.5 Year)

Course Code: 8613

Semester:Spring 2021

Region:……………

Theme:.  Children’s socio-Emotional

Sub-theme:. Regulating Emotions

             Topic:The role of the family context in  the Regulation of emotion 

Q.1 Why did you select this specific sub-theme and topic? Relate it to your experience / problem in your home / institution.

During pandemic situation, all parents and children staying at their home all time. I see children playing in front of their houses but most of parents use Games & application and activities for their children to keep them at home. After talking some parents and my seniors I decided to choose the following research problem:

“The role of the family context in  the Regulation of emotions”.One of the aims of the education is to equip children with the necessities of the changing and developing world.

We examined the associations among parental emotion socialization, and children’s emotion regulation and attachment to parents. In particular, we examined the moderating role of parental emotion socialization in the relationship between children’s emotion regulation and attachment to parents.The formation of attachment in early childhood lays the foundation for later social relationships and development of self-concept, and social–emotional skills.Attachment is as the strong emotional tie of one person to another, which is important and meaningful. The attachment system is critical for the newborn child’s survival and development. Children with a secure attachment to primary attachment figures are likely to explore their environment freely during the first year of life and are less likely to have internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.

The Ways of Being model focuses on ways of feeling, ways of relating and ways of doing. For young people to experience social and emotional learning (SEL) they must experience ways of feeling, relating and doing as a collective set of tools that work together. The family is a young person’s first context of socialization and a place where all three are happening. The family provides youth with opportunities to experience and practice across all three domains in a context that is most often experienced as safe, supportive, forgiving, and unconditionally loving. Children develop SEL through everyday family interactions. However, the role of families in supporting SEL during the middle school years has received little attention from researchers.  To have young people fully engaged and prepared to learn in and out of school, they need a strong foundation. As youth spend increasingly more time outside of the home, their SEL experiences are building on the foundation developed in the family – complementing and supporting the skills a young person brings to each new experience or contradicting what the young person has experienced at home. Either way, this requires youth to negotiate these similarities and differences and determine how best to incorporate that into their growing sense of self. Youth workers must understand the unique foundation from which each young person is starting and recognize and support the development of SEL upon this foundation.

The family is a training ground for exploring feelings and being in relationships. Families provide access to and awareness of social emotional skills and teach youth how to navigate experiences in different settings, including out-of-school programs. In this issue brief we focus on middle school aged youth, a time when young people are fully immersed in identity formation, emotional regulation, negotiating new peer and intimate relationships; simultaneously parents are critical in helping young people develop and hone these skills. We explore the ways that families support and promote SEL during middle school, and provide some examples of opportunities for family to intentionally support the development of SEL within their cultural and religious values and beliefs. We conclude with suggestions and strategies for adult staff who work with youth from diverse backgrounds.

Emotion regulation is defined as individuals’ internal and external processes responsible for monitoring, assessing, and altering their emotional reactions. Emotion regulation enables parents and children to react to daily experiences in a more tolerant and flexible way. Thus, emotion regulation has an important role in social adaptation and functionality of parents and children.

This study will identify the dimension of family context that most influence and contribute to student Regulation of emotions.

Q.2. What was your discussion with your colleague/friend/senior teacher or supervisor regarding the problem? (Provide your discussion with your colleague or supervisor for better understanding of the problem and alternate solutions)

Since I began my teaching practice, I have been using as many creative tasks as possible, not only strictly to teach students. In my action research project, I am therefore going to explore The role of the family context in  the Regulation of emotions. I discussed with my colleagues/friends/supervisor for better understanding of the problem and alternate solutions.

First of all, I explained that that in China, where covid-19 originated, schools reopened with a reduced number of learners in classes and shortened school days after months of attempts to contain the virus. For example, in Beijing and most cities, classes are limited to 20 students instead of the regular 30 students. The schools also close at 3:30 in the afternoon. A practice that is also changing the physical learning space for children is the wearing of creative winged hats that give children cues to keep a meter away from their peers.

• Discussion with colleges:

My colleague Rafay posited from this perspective that parents and parenting behavior, including attachment between parent and child, “do not unidirectionally influence children’s [emotion regulation]”, but rather, children’s individual characteristics, such as their emotion regulation, also influence parent–child interaction, including attachment. In his empirical study, explored the bidirectional association between children’s emotion regulation and their attachment to their parents. He used laboratory tasks and observation to investigate this association in preschool-aged children and found that the children’s ability to understand negative emotions significantly predicted mother–child concordance. He also found that when the children with better understanding of their negative emotions were in conversation with their mothers about their negative emotional experiences.

• Discussion with Superior:

my supervisor expressed that An inherent assumption of good parenting is providing children with age-appropriate opportunities and support for learning how to be successful and contributing citizens outside the family. The process of acquiring these skills begins in early childhood, and continues through everyday interactions and conversations – feeling, relating, and doing – all embedded within the context of a family’s culture and daily family life.

Parents and other family members are often the primary socializing agent, teaching youth the social norms, values, and behaviors needed to participate as effective members of a society. The family and cultural values important to the family play an important role in helping children experience and interpret the world around them. Specifically, family helps young people:

• make sense of their own emotions, develop capacity for self-awareness, and learn to manage and regulate emotions; [feeling]
• develop, understand and navigate relationships with others, and strengthen social skills for maintaining these relationships; [relating] and
• strengthen the cognitive skills needed to approach tasks and achieve goals. [doing]

habits and skills acquired while growing up at home are long lasting. If inconsequential habits become so much a part of what we do as adults, it is not hard to understand that the family plays a fundamental role in establishing the behavioral norms and social values of young people and how they act and react to people and situations outside the home. Despite the fact that the ways in which parents and families support SEL in youth is not often purposive or identified as supporting SEL, when cultural-based norms and values developed in the family are consistent with those expected outside the family, youth are prepared and ready to learn. However, for most youth there will be mismatches. Understanding family values and how families promote youth SEL allows youth workers, teachers, and other caring adults supporting the young person to more effectively support their growth and learning.

• Discussion with friends:

One of my friend explain that Parents guide children’s emotion socialization by identifying and recognizing emotions, discussing their importance with them, modeling emotional behavior, including expression and regulation of emotions, and setting the family emotional atmosphere in the home. Parents support children’s emotion socialization through positive emotion-related behavior, such as emotion-focused responses that help children to reduce the effects of emotional arousal in a social context. He also found that when parents display positive behavior in response to their children’s emotional expression (e.g., problem-focused behavior), this behavior is related to the children’s positive behavior, such as ease of adaptation to emotional arousal, for example, stimulating anger or fear. In contrast, when parents have a negative reaction, such as minimization, to the children’s emotions, the parents suppress and block the children’s emotional expression.

• Discussion with Teachers:

As indicated by my friend Ali that parent–child relationships that are based on sensitivity and warmth, namely, parental support of the children’s emotional expression, are related to better emotion regulation in the children. For example, Ali found that when parents displayed positive parenting approaches, such as supporting the children’s negative emotions and autonomy, these were related to higher levels of preschool children’s emotion regulation in their interactions with peers. In contrast, unsupportive and authoritarian approaches by parents, such as restraining the children’s emotional expression, were related to lack of emotion regulation in the children. For example children’s emotional expression (e.g., punishment) were related to the children’s negative emotional expression, such as reactions of anger in social situations.

• My Opinion:

According tome Family life is filled with learning opportunities. Young people need opportunities to make choices, choosing one option from among the many options available to them, and reflecting on the outcome of their choices. The family is an ideal place for this learning to happen; learning within the context of the family’s cultural values.

When families provide an environment that promotes early Social and emotional (SEL), youth learn that there is a connection between their emotions, behaviors and their well-being. Impulse control, persistence, and empathy are three critical aspects of SEL that are acquired during childhood and are important contributors to youth well-being.

Q.3. What did you find about the problem in the existing literature (books / articles / websites)?(Explore books and online resources to know what and how has been already done regarding this problem)

• Review of Literature

In the last two decades, there has been a substantial increase in psychology and popular culture’s interest in human emotionality and the ways in which individuals express and manage emotions (e.g., Cole, Martin, & Dennis, 2004; Denham, 1998; Eisenberg &Fabes, 1992; Fox, 1994; Garber & Dodge, 1991; Goleman, 1995). This interest is due in part to an increase in developmental research and theory suggesting that an essential component of children’s successful development is learning how to regulate emotional responses and related behaviors in socially appropriate and adaptive ways (Denham et al., 2003; Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Morris, 2002; Halberstadt, Denham, &Dunsmore, 2001; Kopp, 1992; Saarni, 1990). Research in developmental psychopathology also stresses the role of emotion regulation (ER) in development, and has linked difficulty in regulating negative emotions such as anger and sadness to emotional and behavioral problems (Cicchetti, Ackerman, & Izard, 1995; Eisenberg, Cumberland, et al., 2001; Eisenberg, Guthrie, et al., 1997; Frick & Morris, 2004; Silk, Steinberg, & Morris, 2003).

Many factors influence the development of ER. Child temperament, neurophysiology and cognitive development all play important roles (Eisenberg & Morris, 2002; Goldsmith & Davidson, 2004). Nonetheless, emotions are recognized as both products and processes of social relationships (Cole et al., 2004; Parke, 1994; Walden & Smith, 1997). Despite several decades of research on the importance of the social context, particularly the family, until recently there has been little research on the influence of social relationships in the development of ER abilities. In this review we suggest that one of the ways in which relationships affect children’s psychosocial development is through their impact on children’s ER (see also Eisenberg, Cumberland, &Spinrad, 1998; Eisenberg &Valiente, 2004; Power, 2004). Indeed, although most psychologists agree that the family context has a major impact on children and adolescents’ social and emotional development, the mechanisms through which context impacts development are less clear (Darling & Steinberg, 1993).

In this review we argue that the family context affects the development of ER in three important ways (see Figure 1). Firstly, children learn about ER through observation. Secondly, specific parenting practices and behaviors related to the socialization of emotion affect ER. Thirdly, ER is affected by the emotional climate of the family, as reflected in the quality of the attachment relationship, styles of parenting, family expressiveness and the emotional quality of the marital relationship. Additionally, throughout this review we highlight the impact of socialization practices in middle childhood and adolescence. Because there is little research on family socialization of ER during adolescence, we discuss how early socialization affects ER throughout development, and the ways in which early socialization practices set the foundation for later socialization and related developmental changes. The last section of the review examines how individual characteristics, such as children and parents’ emotionality, and the family context work together to influence overall emotional development; and how socialization practices change as children develop into adolescents. Suggestions for future research are highlighted throughout the article and are also summarized at the end of the review.

Eisenberg et al. (1998) reviewed the parenting literature on the socialization of emotion in a seminal review article. The current review expands upon that work in several important ways. Firstly, research published since 1998 is reviewed, including a significant amount of additional research on ER. Secondly, this review focuses more broadly on the family, also including studies of the marital relationship, and focuses more narrowly on the socialization of ER, rather than overall emotion socialization, which includes the socialization of emotional competence more globally. Relevant definitional and measurement issues regarding the socialization of ER are not discussed in depth, as these topics are discussed in other current reviews (see Bridges, Denham, &Ganiban, 2004; Eisenberg &Spinrad, 2004) and are beyond the scope of this article.

• The Study of Emotion Regulation

Research on the construct of ER has only recently begun to burgeon (Cole et al., 2004; Fox, 1994). Existing empirical studies of ER differ widely in the measures, methods and levels of analyses employed (Eisenberg, Morris, &Spinrad, 2005; Morris, Robinson, & Eisenberg, 2005; Raver, 2004; Underwood, 1997; Walden & Smith, 1997). Although methods of assessment vary widely, Thompson (1994, p. 27) argues that ‘researchers share a common intuitive understanding of what is meant by ER’ (see also Cole et al., 2004; Underwood, 1997). The definition of ER adhered to in this review comes from Thompson (1994) and similar definitions are offered by Eisenberg and Morris (2002), Eisenberg and Spinrad (2004), Eisenberg et al. (1997), Grolnick, Bridges, and Connell (1996) and Kopp (1989):

Emotion regulation consists of internal and external processes involved in initiating, maintaining, and modulating the occurrence, intensity, and expression of emotions.

Several components of this definition deserve further explanation in the context of the current review (see also Thompson, 1994). Firstly, ER includes internal and external processes. The study of ER concerns internal processes employed to manage emotions, such as emotional cognitions, attention shifting and the management of physiological responses, as well as the role of external influences, such as parents or other individuals, who help in the modulation of emotions. For young children, a considerable amount of ER occurs through the actions and intervention of others (Kopp, 1989; Thompson, 1994). As children develop, they rely less on parents to aid in ER, and often utilize other socialization agents, such as peers (Eisenberg & Morris, 2002; Silk et al., 2003). Additionally, ER processes modulate the intensity and expression of emotions. Specifically, ER mechanisms modulate what Thompson (1990) calls emotional tone, the specific emotion experienced (e.g., anger, sadness, joy), and emotional dynamics (e.g., intensity, duration, lability). Finally, investigators must also consider the specific processes involved in modulating and maintaining emotional experiences, processes referred to as ER strategies, or coping strategies associated with emotion management (Brenner &Salovey, 1997). Thus, in this review, we include studies examining all components of ER that involve familial influences on these processes.

The above definition also implies that ER connotes an ability to respond in a socially appropriate, adaptive and flexible manner to stressful demands and emotional experiences (Cole, Michel, & Teti, 1994; Eisenberg & Morris, 2002;Walden & Smith, 1997). Emotions serve important expressive and communicative functions, and, from a functionalist perspective, serve to energize, motivate and guide adaptive functioning (Campos, Campos, & Barrett, 1989; Thompson, 1990). While strong negative emotions can be adaptive, such as in the context of threat or fear, strong emotional arousal can become maladaptive when it does not match contextual or social demands (Cicchetti et al., 1995). An essential objective in the development of ER then is for children and adolescents to learn ways in which to manage emotions in socially and contextually appropriate ways (Eisenberg & Morris, 2002; Kopp, 1992).

• The Tripartite Model of the Impact of the Family on Children’s Emotion Regulation and Adjustment

Our model illustrates processes involved in familial socialization of ER, the role of parent and child characteristics in the socialization of ER, and the mutual effects of these processes/characteristics on overall adjustment. In our model, socialization of ER occurs via three processes: observation/modeling, parenting practices and the emotional climate of the family (including parenting style). We distinguish between parenting practices (specific parental behaviors defined by content and socialization goals), and parenting style (parent’s attitudes toward the child which create an emotional climate) in our model, because we believe that this distinction is important in understanding the ways in which parents influence development (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Children’s ER and familial influences are bidirectional processes in our model, supporting a family systems view where children and families mutually influence one another throughout development.

We posit that parental characteristics (e.g., parental reactivity and ER, mental health, and familial history) influence what the child observes, parenting practices, the emotional climate of the family and child characteristics. Specifically, parents’ own beliefs regarding emotions, their own parent–child relationship and attachment status, and their ability to control their own emotions, affect emotion socialization and the ways in which parents interact with children and other family members (Gottman, Katz, &Hooven, 1997). Moreover, children’s own reactivity and regulation are affected to some degree by inherited traits from parents (Eisenberg & Morris, 2002).We posit that child characteristics, such as children’s vulnerability to experiencing negative emotions, moderate relations between family context variables and children’s ER, such that children who are high in reactivity are most at risk for developing emotion regulatory difficulties when living in a negative family environment. Children’s own developmental status also affects the ways in which family factors impact ER. For example, a young child is more dependent on parents’ attempts to aid in ER, whereas an adolescent may rely more on peers for such support (Eisenberg & Morris, 2002).

Our model also illustrates that although there are direct effects of the family context on children’s adjustment (e.g., internalizing, externalizing, social competence), much of the effects of the family context on children’s psychosocial development occur via the impact of the family on children’s ER (see Eisenberg et al., 2003; Eisenberg, Gershoff, et al., 2001), thus a mediational model is proposed. Indeed, there is a burgeoning amount of evidence supporting such a view. For example, Contreras, Kerns, Weimer, Gentzler, and Tomich (2000) found that the association between maternal attachment and peer competence was explained by the effects of attachment on children’s ER (assessed as constructive coping). Similarly, Volling, McElwain, and Miller (2002) found that children’s effortful control mediated the relation between maternal emotional availability and child compliance in toddlers. Eisenberg and colleagues have demonstrated that ER is a link between parenting and child adjustment in several studies (e.g., Eisenberg, Gershoff, et al., 2001). For example, they found that the effects of parental behavior on children’s externalizing behavior was indirect through children’s regulation of emotion (Eisenberg, Losoya, et al., 2001). Although adjustment is the outcome of our model, in this review we focus primarily on the socialization of ER and individual characteristics that affect the socialization process, and discuss findings on adjustment only when examined as part of a study reviewed.

The processes described in this model are, of course, imbedded in culture. Culture affects the ways in which parents interact with children (specific parenting practices), the emotional climate of the family (e.g., via display rules, and gender roles), and the ways in which emotions are interpreted, expressed and reacted to by others (see Saarni, 1990). Despite such an important influence, the role of culture in the socialization of ER is beyond the scope of this review.

• The Family Context and Emotion Regulation

The environment that children experience affects their overall growth and development in many important ways. Children’s families, schools, neighborhoods, peers and culture all play a role in emotional development. Despite these important contextual influences, most research to date on ER and context has focused primarily on parental influences (for exceptions see Aucoin, Morris, &Terranova, 2007; Volling, McElwain, & Miller, 2002), and more work is needed on how other important contextual factors such as peers, school, culture and neighborhood affect ER. This will be especially important for understanding how adolescents regulate emotion because of the prominence of the extra-familial social context in adolescents’ lives (Steinberg & Silk, 2002). It should be noted that most research on ER and the family context has focused primarily on the mother–child relationship; however, fathers and siblings play an important role in children’s development of ER, despite little empirical evidence on this issue (for exceptions see Volling, McElwain, et al., 2002; Zeman Penza, Shipman, & Young, 1997).

• Observing/Modeling Emotion Regulation in the Family

One mechanism through which families influence ER is via children and adolescents learning about emotions and ER by observing parents’ emotional displays and interactions (Parke, 1994). Modeling has long been demonstrated as an important mechanism through which children learn specific behaviors (Bandura, 1977). Theory and research regarding modeling, emotion contagion and social referencing provide some evidence for the observational learning of ER processes. The modeling hypothesis suggests that parents’ own emotional profiles and interactions implicitly teach children which emotions are acceptable and expected in the family environment, and how to manage the experience of those emotions. Children learn that certain situations provoke emotions, and they observe the reactions of others in order to know how they ‘should’ react in similar situations (Denham, Mitchell-Copeland, Strandberg, Auerbach& Blair, 1997). Some parent–child emotional interactions are likely to be particularly salient. For example, when parents often display high levels of anger toward children in frustrating situations, children are less likely to observe and learn effective ER responses. In addition, parents’ overall expressivity, which will be discussed in more detail in a subsequent section, may affect children and adolescent’s modeling of ER; if parents display a wide range of emotions freely, children learn about the appropriateness of different emotions across different situations, as well as about a variety of emotional responses (Denham et al., 1997).

• Emotion Contagion

The overall amount of emotion in the family, particularly negative emotionality, may actually induce negative emotions in children. Studies suggest that emotion contagion, or the ‘catching’ of an emotion, occurs in early infancy and beyond (Saarni, Mumme, & Campos, 1998). Emotion contagion is said to occur when a facial, vocal or emotional gesture generates a similar response in another person (Saarni et al., 1998). Most research on emotion contagion to date has focused on negative emotions; however, emotions such as laughter are important in emotion socialization and overall parenting, and more research on the transmission of positive emotions in general is an area worthy of study.

• Social Referencing and Modeling

Another way that children and adolescents learn about emotions and ER is through social referencing. Social referencing is the process of looking to another person for information about how to respond, think or feel about an environmental event or stimuli (Saarni et al., 1998). There are few, if any, specific studies of social referencing in older children and adolescents, but it can be assumed that older children also look to parents during novel situations in order to acquire information regarding possible emotional responses, and in order to learn ways in which to manage emotions resulting from stressful situations. Indeed, Emde, Biringen, Clyman, and Oppenheim (1991) posited that when a child is put into a stressful situation, referencing of the parents’ emotion-related message allows the child to access internal depictions of parental emotion, determine the affective meaning, and to begin to regulate emotions and behaviors accordingly (see also Barrett & Campos, 1987). During adolescence, it is likely that peers also are utilized as social referencing agents. Adolescents often look toward peers in order to gain information about how to respond to social and emotional situations (Steinberg & Silk, 2002). Moreover, adolescents experience certain emotions, like hopelessness and romantic loss/love, for the first time due to cognitive advances in functioning (Steinberg & Silk). It may be that for these types of emotional experiences, adolescents look to parents and peers in order to ‘learn’ how to deal with such emerging issues as sexuality, independence and intimacy. Research on such topics is greatly needed.

There is some evidence that children actually model parents’ strategies for regulating emotion (Parke, 1994). For example, children exposed to maternal depression have a limited repertoire of ER strategies, and they utilize strategies that are considered to be less effective compared with children of never depressed mothers (Garber, Braafladt, &Zeman, 1991; Silk, Shaw, Skuban, Oland, & Kovacs, 2006). It is likely that in normative samples, children also learn/model adaptive vs. maladaptive strategies for managing emotions. These behaviors may just be more evident in non-normative samples and in early childhood when children are first actively learning about ER.

It is difficult for researchers to separate observational learning effects from specific emotion socialization processes and the emotional climate of the family. Most likely, these processes occur in tandem to influence the development of children and adolescents’ ER. Nevertheless, it is clear that children model emotions and learn about emotion regulatory processes through experiences in the family; and that experiences with, and observations of, parents, siblings and marital interactions build a foundation for emotional discourse and the development of ER.

Q.4. What were the major variables / construct of your project? Give definitions / description from literature. (What are the key terms in your topic or study? what do you mean of these terms? What particular meaning you will attach to the term when used in this project)

• Key Terms in the Project/Major variables:

A word that serves as a key, as to the meaning of another word, a sentence, passage, or the like. The key concept is usually the main idea in the essay question. To provide the readers a better understanding of the frequently used terms in the study, the following terms are defined operationally:

• Self-regulation

Self-regulation       is        described     as       the individuals’ ability to direct their actions towards goals and ideals which can come from personal desires or the expectations of others, and helps individuals adjust to the           demands      of       society          and    the environment.

• Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation is the conscious or non-conscious control of emotion, mood, or affect. Conscious control is an active thought process or a commitment to a behavior to control your emotion, also known as a coping mechanism. Non-conscious control means thoughts and behaviors you don’t control, like temperament and how some people are just not very emotional. When we say emotions, we mean single emotions that are easy to define but rarely occur in isolation, like anger or sadness

• Family Contex

The family is the child’s first social setting. Within the family and the family’s cultural context, children quickly learn what is expected of them and learn what it means to be a member of a social group. Families influence children’s thinking and behavior by praising to show approval or correcting to show disapproval. In particular, praising efforts while emphasizing strategies, perseverance, and progress promote learning and progress. And the ways in which families express praise, support, and share strategies, will look different across different families.

Families intentionally create opportunities for their young people to promote their cultural values and rituals. Think about your own family rituals – what do you do without even thinking about it because that’s just the way things were when you were growing up? Whether or not you remove your shoes when you enter a home, brush your teeth before – or after breakfast, or know how to catch and filet a fish, is likely a function of early family interactions. And you soon realize that shared family rituals are specific to a family’s cultural and religious beliefs when you enter a friend’s home and leave your shoes on! Families promote SEL through the implicit norms, routines and expectations within the family, as well as through the intentional learning experiences families create for their young people.

• Education:

Education _iis _iwhat _ipushes _ius _ito _iachieve _iour _igoals, _ifeel _imore _ifulfilled _iand _iimprove _iour _ioverall _iquality _iof _ilife. iUnderstanding _iand _ideveloping _iyour _iEducation _ican _ihelp _iyou _ito _itake _icontrol _iof _imany _iother _iaspects _iof _iyour _ilife.

• Motivation:

Motivation is the word derived from the word ‘motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behavior can be – desire for money & Success.

• Pandemic Condition:

A pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people”. The classical definition includes nothing about population immunity, virology or disease severity.

Q.5 What did you want to achieve in this research project? (Objective / purpose of the study; what was the critical question that was tried to be answered in this project)

Research problems and research objectives basically have the same meaning. Therefore, very often research problems are stated in the same way as the research objectives. This indicates the important role of research problems and research objectives in research activities. However, research objectives should be stated differently from the research problems, as the research problems are stated as questions to be answered by the researchers, while the objectives are stated as the goal of research to be achieved by the researchers. Research objectives are more focused than research problems.

• Objective/purpose of the study

To our knowledge, no researcher has examined how children’s emotional regulation and parental emotion socialization predict parent–child attachment in the Pakistan’s culture. Therefore, in this study we examined this topic to gain an understanding of how parents’ emotion socialization moderates the association between the children’s emotion regulation and their attachment to their parents.

The objectives of this study are:

1. To identify the parents’ roles in the development regulation of emotions?
2. To identify teachers’ roles in the development of Regulation of emotions among their students
3. To identify the level of Self-regulation among primary school students.
4. To identify the level of motivation among school students through Self-Regulating behaviors.
5. To identify the skills Regulation of emotions skills among school students.
6. To identify students academic achievement through Regulation of emotions.

• Critical Question:

Self-control in education is a very broad topic, and many questions could have been asked of teachers and students to gather information for this study. The researcher narrowed down the topic by focusing on teachers and students’ motivation, grades, attendance, and attitude. As a result, this study considered the following research questions:

1. Self-regulation has an essential function in the academic performance of students and their construction of the concepts r u agree?
2. Is there a significant difference in Self-Regulating skills according to their gender?
3. Regulation of emotions influences the students learning and academic achievement r u agree?
4. Does students learn more when parents are actively involved in learning activities?
5. Do increases in parent responsiveness behaviours result in increases in young children’s Regulation of emotions skills?
6. Is parental responsiveness equally effective, or does its effectiveness vary for children with varying characteristics (e.g., socio-economic status, ethnicity, biological risk factors)?

Q.6 Who were the participants in your project? (Give details of the individuals or groups who were focused in this project e.g. the early grade students whose handwriting in Urdu was not good or the students of class VIII who did not have good communication skills)

In order to understand the complexities of much validity, researchers’ participation in and observation of the phenomenon should be the appropriate approach for more authentic understanding and explanation of the qualitative data. The targeted population was children enrolled in elementary (8th) level of Elementary School Ram Diyana Mid Ranjha Tehsil Kot Momin District Sarghoda. However, in this questionnaire, forty (40) children, taking a related course, were selected in Elementary School Ram Diyana Mid Ranjha Tehsil Kot Momin District Sarghoda located indistrict Sarghoda as a sample while considering the research control and validity of this study. This sample included children of the two major medium (English Medium and Urdu Medium). These participants might generally represent the children in elementary(8th) level. The peer reading strategies was developed on the basis of a series of research regarding written skills identification and improvement for elementary (8th) children. This curriculum purported toexplain the following topic.The role of the family context in  the Regulation of emotionsduring pandemic situation(destress time) among the children of elementary (8th) level through motivation.

Q.7How did you try to solve the problem? (Narrate the process step-wise. Procedure of intervention and data collection)

The procedure of this research was involved on an activity research to discover and tackle the issue. The social wonder under investigation was the The role of the family context in  the Regulation of emotions. Survey, interviews, field notes and perceptions were utilized to gather the information expected to give the data knowledge important to respond to the research questions.

• Sampling:

The entire peer learning from which a sample is chosen is known as the population and we choose the students of Elementary School Ram Diyana Mid Ranjha Tehsil Kot Momin District Sarghoda. It was quite convenient for the researcher, being a resident of District Gujranwala to accumulate quality data from chosen city and school. Sample is smaller representation of large data. Generally, it consists of all the observation that represents the whole population. The number of observation included in a sample is called size of sample. The students of Elementary School Ram Diyana Mid Ranjha Tehsil Kot Momin District Sarghoda and their Teachers were selected for this class based action research.

• Ethical Considerations:

An action research is considered „ethical’ if research design, interpretation and practical development produced by it have been negotiated with all parties directly concerned with the situation under research. Permission to conduct the study was first sought from the principal and area governing body. Permission was sought from area peoples. The rights of the participants (elementary level children) were spelled out clearly i.e. they could refuse to be audio recorded and they could demand to see any notes or recordings.

• Collection of Data:

The term questionnaire is often used interchangeably with survey. It is common and easy method of data collection in action research. Similarly, it is quickest, cheapest, confidential method of collecting data from respondents. So in such type studies, it is very necessary during development of measurement tool for quality data to keep all aspects in mind. Quantitative method was used to get important and meticulous information. Information was collected through questionnaire consisting only close ended questions relative to research objectives. The close ended questionnaire was made for data collection.

Q.8. What kind of instrument was used to collect the data? How was the instrument developed?(For example: observation, rating scale, interview, student work, portfolio, test, etc.)

Questionnaire was used to collect the data needed to provide the information insight necessary to answer the research questions. In this technique a number of questions were designed according to requirement and relevancy of researcher being conducted. The questionnaire was prepared to attain study objectives.

• Quantitative research

Quantitative data contains Closed ended information such as that found on attitude positive behavior and performance instruments. In this study the children have been given a questionnaire to find out the developing of educational apps uses through motivation activity and this questionnaire has been derived and analyzed in terms of numerical data. This is why the research falls under quantitative category.

• Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions for the purpose of gathering information from respondent’s statistical society. Usually a questionnaire consists of a number of questions that the respondent has to answer in a set format. A distinction made between open ended and closed ended questions an open ended question ask the respondent to formulate his own answer, whereas a closed ended question has the respondent pick an answer from given number of options.

Questionnaire is:

1. Self-Regulating has an essential function in the academic performance of students and their construction of the concepts r u agree?
2. Is there a significant difference in Self-Regulating skills according to their gender?
3. Regulation of emotions influences the students learning and academic achievement r u agree?
4. Does students learn more when parents are actively involved in learning activities?
5. Do increases in parent responsiveness behaviours result in increases in young children’s Regulation of emotions skills ?
6. Is parental responsiveness equally effective, or does its effectiveness vary for children with varying characteristics (e.g., socio-economic status, ethnicity, biological risk factors)?

Q.9. What were the findings and conclusion? (Provide instruments and analysis asappendix)

• Findings and Discussion

Appendix

Scale

1.Often   2. Sometimes   3. Never 

• Major Findings:
• 65% of the students admitted that The Self-Regulating skills has an essential function in the academic performance of students and their construction of the concepts.
• More than half 55% of the students admitted that there is a significant difference in students’Self-Regulating skills according to their gender.
• 50% of the students admitted thatRegulation of emotions skills are very important for the students learning and academic achievement.
• More than half 55% of the students admitted that students learn more when parents are actively involved in learning activities with students.
• 60% students admitted that increases in parent responsiveness behaviours result in increases in young children’s Regulation of emotions skills and academic achievements.
• 55% students admitted that parental responsiveness effectiveness vary for children with varying characteristics (e.g., socio-economic status, ethnicity, biological risk factors).

• Conclusion:

For practitioners and educators who work with youth, it is important to recognize that the foundation for social emotional learning is established at home, and thus is grounded in each family’s culture. In the ways of being model, family culture is part of “ways I am.” This includes the attitudes, beliefs, and values youth have about themselves, their family, and the world around them. How families choose to socialize their young people, implicitly and intentionally, is related to their cultural and religious beliefs and values. This intersection of family and society present a challenge and opportunity to young people and the adults who support them. Supporting the family as a context for SEL requires starting by seeking to understand the values and beliefs each family brings to their ways of being.

It can be concluded that Regulation of emotions in young children does affect academic outcome for those who transition to formal schooling from a preschool environment. Further, children who are good self-regulators will see greater academic success than those who cannot self-regulate in the later elementary grades. These conclusions are exciting in light of the importance placed on self-regulatory behavior by teachers particularly in the Early Learning  program where students must interact through open play with their peers. The ability to Regulation of emotions in this environment allows students to work collaboratively with others and problem solve without the intervention of the teacher.

• Future Considerations for Practice

In terms of future research, we note that there are some areas, which need further exploration. Firstly, research should be conducted to determine the ways that students who are not enrolled in preschool can effectively transition to school. In other words, what ways can parents assist their children with effective entry to formal schooling by supporting their Regulation of emotions development at home? While not part of the scope of this report, I believe that given the evidence associated with the self-regulatory skills, which preschool children present, then establishing programming to assist students at home would prove beneficial.

According to Statistics Canada, approximately 50% of families in Canada use child care for their children under the age of 4. Importantly, 30% of these children are in non-structured care such as a nanny, family member or sibling (2012). This statistic reflects a large number of children who would as the research suggests, benefit from transitional support.

Secondly, additional research regarding the impact that gender has on self-regulation should be conducted. There appears to be limited research in this area and because isolating the variable of gender can be problematic for researchers in terms of other variables, I believe that this important aspect deserves additional insight. We know from the research that boys lag behind girls with respect to academic achievement. Further, boys appear to adopt fewer self-regulating behavior than girls. For this reason, the impact that gender has on both boys’ ability to self-regulate behavior and its impact on academic success should prove beneficial to meeting the academic needs of boys.

Thirdly, the evidence shows that children from lower income families demonstrate fewer self-regulation abilities than their peers. While communities and governments attempt to alleviate the income disparity between families, some direct measures with respect to the children in these families can show positive impacts. We believe that researchers and governments might do well to target program options for children of lower income families by providing transition programs which to be beneficial to children.  Because of the recent changes to the format of kindergarten to the full day format, it is important to support teachers in doing the best job they can for their students. With play based learning the focus of ELK (Early Learning Kindergarten), students are being asked to rely heavily on the ability to self-regulate their behavior in order to manage their learning experiences in these classes. From a Pakistan’s perspective, there appears to be a lack of programming options for teachers to implement socio-emotional learning into the classroom. This is not to say that teachers neglect this aspect of direct teaching; however, unlike programs in the Pakistan. With the adoption of programming in Pakistan, we believe there would be fewer problems associated with students’ ability to self-regulate. Certainly, adopting programs that foster self-regulation in Pakistan’s children would benefit teachers, parents and all students.

Q.10. Summary of the Project(What and how was the research conducted – main objective, process and findings)

Research studies are being conducted in order to provide results that will help with social, professional and the purpose of this action research will be a common knowledge that when Parents are seen upholding Home tasks for children’s, it creates a high level of children confidence and trust in the learning process to empower studentslogical reasoning and logical thinking.The main purpose of this study was to examine the extent of The role of the family context in  the Regulation of emotionsof elementary school students inElementary School Ram Diyana Mid Ranjha Tehsil Kot Momin District Sarghodaon academic achievement.

There is substantial evidence that self-regulating behavior is an important aspect of young children’s development. Self-regulation in children is not only present in children but also has the potential to grow and develop as children age and mature. This maturation process happens when children are exposed to a variety of social situations, which they internalize and draw from when making future social decisions. Young children who have preschool experience are noted to be better able to handle the demands of school entry as compared to students who transition from home. This ability appears to be partly due to the fact that these children have already been exposed to situations where they have had to make decisions within a social group and may have received instruction from educators in this regard.

In this study we examined the interplay between parental emotion socialization and children’s emotion regulation with respect to the children’s attachment to their parents. First, we found that when parents seldom used the minimization reaction, children with poor emotion regulation displayed stronger attachment to their parents than children with effective emotion regulation. This finding is interesting, because it suggests that parents’ infrequent use of the minimization reaction has an ameliorating role for their children with poor emotion regulation, as these children demonstrate more secure attachment to their parents than other children. This finding is similar to the conceptualization of how parents’ socialization of their children interacts with the children’s individual characteristics, such as emotionality, so that children with poor emotion regulation may have better social relationships than their peers. This includes attachment in a social context, when children experience supportive parenting, for example, low levels of negative parenting. Further, previous findings have shown that children with poor emotion regulation tend to find ways to establish attachment with their caregiver in a context of flexible, sensitive, and supportiveencouragement of emotions. From this perspective, in this study, children with low scores for emotion regulation were inclined to obtain higher scores for attachment to their parents, when their parents did not minimize their emotional reactions.

Second, we found that when parents used a punitive reaction frequently, children with poor emotion regulation would display a stronger attachment to their parents than children with high emotion regulation. This finding appears contradictory as we found that the combination of a low score for emotion regulation and a high score for parents’ punitive response to the children’s emotional expression could lead to children’s weak attachment to their parents. Our finding requires further exploration for clarity and generalizability.

In addition, an examination of the association between attachment and emotion regulation relies on the cultural context. From this perspective, Pakistani children with poor emotion regulation may not have a negative perception of their parents’ punitive approach to their emotion socialization and, thus, they still have a strong attachment to their parents. Researchers have found that in Pakistani culture, the children have a positive perception of authoritarian parenting, and this style of parenting has positive associations with children’s social outcomes. Although this finding may appear contradictory, in general, interpretation of findings should be made from the perspective of the interactional model of child development, that is, child–environment interaction. In this study we examined the interplay between parental emotion socialization and children’s emotion regulation with respect to the children’s attachment to their parents. First, we found that when parents seldom used the minimization reaction, children with poor emotion regulation displayed stronger attachment to their parents than children with effective emotion regulation. This finding is interesting, because it suggests that parents’ infrequent use of the minimization reaction has an ameliorating role for their children with poor emotion regulation, as these children demonstrate more secure attachment to their parents than other children. This finding is similar to the conceptualization of how parents’ socialization of their children interacts with the children’s individual characteristics, such as emotionality, so that children with poor emotion regulation may have better social relationships than their peers. This includes attachment in a social context, when children experience supportive parenting, for example, low levels of negative parenting. Further, previous findings have shown that children with poor emotion regulation tend to find ways to establish attachment with their caregiver in a context of flexible, sensitive, and supportive encouragement of emotions. From this perspective, in this study, children with low scores for emotion regulation were inclined to obtain higher scores for attachment to their parents, when their parents did not minimize their emotional reactions.

Second, we found that when parents used a punitive reaction frequently, children with poor emotion regulation would display a stronger attachment to their parents than children with high emotion regulation. This finding appears contradictory as we found that the combination of a low score for emotion regulation and a high score for parents’ punitive response to the children’s emotional expression could lead to children’s weak attachment to their parents. Our finding requires further exploration for clarity and generalizability.

In addition, an examination of the association between attachment and emotion regulation relies on the cultural context. From this perspective, Pakistani children with poor emotion regulation may not have a negative perception of their parents’ punitive approach to their emotion socialization and, thus, they still have a strong attachment to their parents. Researchers have found that in Pakistani culture, the children have a positive perception of authoritarian parenting, and this style of parenting has positive associations with children’s social outcomes. Although this finding may appear contradictory, in general, interpretation of findings should be made from the perspective of the interactional model of child development, that is, child–environment interaction.

• Objective/purpose of the study:

The objectives of this study are:

1. To identify the parents’ roles in the development regulation of emotions?
2. To identify teachers’ roles in the development of Regulation of emotions among their students
3. To identify the level of Self-regulation among primary school students.
4. To identify the level of motivation among school students through Self-Regulating behaviors.
5. To identify the skills Regulation of emotions skills among school students.
6. To identify students academic achievement through Regulation of emotions

• Findings

In this study we examined the interplay between parental emotion socialization and children’s emotion regulation with respect to the children’s attachment to their parents. First, we found that when parents seldom used the minimization reaction, children with poor emotion regulation displayed stronger attachment to their parents than children with effective emotion regulation. This finding is interesting, because it suggests that parents’ infrequent use of the minimization reaction has an ameliorating role for their children with poor emotion regulation, as these children demonstrate more secure attachment to their parents than other children. This finding is similar to the conceptualization of how parents’ socialization of their children interacts with the children’s individual characteristics, such as emotionality, so that children with poor emotion regulation may have better social relationships than their peers. This includes attachment in a social context, when children experience supportive parenting, for example, low levels of negative parenting. Further, previous findings have shown that children with poor emotion regulation tend to find ways to establish attachment with their caregiver in a context of flexible, sensitive, and supportive encouragement of emotions. From this perspective, in this study, children with low scores for emotion regulation were inclined to obtain higher scores for attachment to their parents, when their parents did not minimize their emotional reactions.

Second, we found that when parents used a punitive reaction frequently, children with poor emotion regulation would display a stronger attachment to their parents than children with high emotion regulation. This finding appears contradictory as we found that the combination of a low score for emotion regulation and a high score for parents’ punitive response to the children’s emotional expression could lead to children’s weak attachment to their parents. Our finding requires further exploration for clarity and generalizability.

Q.11. How do you feel about this practice? What have you learnt? (Self-reflection)

In the earlier I was bit confused when I went to area for research. I was hesitated to start my work in the area but when I arranged meeting with parents then suddenly this hesitation went away. The staff of the area told me that we will help you and guide you whenever you need. After meeting with parents and their positive response I was satisfied and ready to do it. After this practice I feel that it was great experience of my life because I experienced a lot of new things. I am feeling very satisfied and glad after my research. It was quite interesting and Conflict management experience. Now I am confident after this research. Now I am able to do these all sorts of such tasks. I m feeling myself as confident, glad and learnt person. I learnt a lot of new things which I never learnt in my previous life. For example when I talked with senior Parents and expert people I learnt a lot of skills of writing. When i taught the children then me counsel dictionary and great writers, businessmen and novels .These all things increased my Conflict management also showed them video lesson of some expert and creative writers to teach them. It also helped me to learn new things. This practice also improved my writing skills too. I also learnt how to write effectively and accurately I have improved my English grimmer. My vocabulary has been improved. I learnt new methods of improving writing. I learnt how to write stories in appropriate way. Overall it helped me to develop new writing skills, new way of teaching writing skills. So I am glad to say that it was unforgettable experience of my life. First of all most of us numb the uncomfortable emotions, but unknowingly when we do this research we can also end up numbing our other emotions like joy, peace, happiness, and pleasure. We can’t fully have one without the other. The first step is always awareness, because once we have awareness we can start to do something about it. This is one of the reasons I love researching and attending classes as it’s basically a scheduled time in the day, where I have no other distractions, to just be in my routine and notice how I’m feeling. That being said I rarely make it to a class once a week these days, so I do have to find simple and quick ways to connect. Since mindfulness is about being present in the moment and noticing all the sensations and emotions in your mind and life, one thing you can do is ask yourself where in your mind you feel your emotions. I had mixed feelings with research. I was bit nervous and somewhat curious to learn action research. I attend all of the meeting to reach 80% attendance to learn about how to do action research effectively. My experience regarding current research was informative. In this regard my respective supervisor helps me a lot.

Q.12. What has it added to your professional skills as a teacher?

This research process teaches me a lot of professional skills.

After completing research, it felt more confident about the work. It felt motivated to solve classroom issues through action research. It added confidence not only in myself but in students and colleagues. As a confident person the researcher can now inspire others to be confident, and my confidence can help influence my students to be a better person.

At start, discussed my research objectives with colleagues and senior staff, the researcher conducted questionnaire from teachers of selected school. This developed my communication skills as well. Being able to communicate with not only my students but with parents and staff is an essential skill. Almost all of my day as a teacher is spent communicating with students and colleagues so it is crucial to be able to talk clear and concise in order to get my point across.

During research, it felt that there are a number of areas that still need to be studied to solve classroom issues and problems. Teaching is a lifelong learning process. It’s now learnt that the world is always changing, along with the curriculum and educational technology, so it’s up to me, the teacher, to keep up with it. Teaching method is very important to motivate students and to develop their interest toward subject. Many new things were learnt in this research and now the researcher is willing to try new things, from new educational apps to teaching skills and electronic devices. The researcher learnt that being innovative means not only trying new things, but questioning my students, making real-world connections and cultivating a creative mindset. It’s getting my students to take risks and having students learn to collaborate.

The last but most important thing that learnt in whole research work is commitment. A teacher needs to always be engaged in their profession. The students need to see that their teacher is present and dedicated to being there for them.

Q.13. List the works you cited in your project (follow the APA manual – 6th Edition).

References

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• Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Altan-Aytun, Ö., Yagmurlu, B., &Yavuz, H. M. (2013). Turkish mothers’ coping with children’s negative emotions: A brief report. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 22, 437–443.
• Atay, Z. (2009). The relationship between maternal emotional awareness and emotion socialization practices (Unpublished master’s thesis). Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, Turkey.
• Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2011). Differential susceptibility to rearing environment depending on dopamine-related genes: New evidence and a meta-analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 39–52.
• Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52, 664–678. https://doi.org/c4wxxp
• Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 793–828). New York, NY: Wiley.
• Brumariu, L. E. (2015). Parent–child attachment and emotion regulation. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 148, 31–45. https://doi.org/cbrf
• Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K. A. (2010). Parent–child attachment and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence: A review of empirical findings and future directions. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 177–203. https://doi.org/d4hjsk
• Calkins, S. D., Smith, C. L., Gill, K. L., & Johnson, M. C. (1998). Maternal interactive style across contexts: Relations to emotional, behavioral and physiological regulation during toddlerhood. Social Development, 7, 350–369. https://doi.org/b9xn2p.