Mothers’ and Fathers’ Emotion Socialization and Children’s Emotion Regulation: A Within-Family Model Elizabeth A. Shewark and AlysiaY. Blandon, The Pennsylvania State University Abstract In the current study, we examined whether mothers’ and fathers’ reactions to young children’s positive and negative emotions were associated with children’s negativity and emotion regulation.We utilized a within-family design with 70 families (mother, father, and two siblings between the ages of 2 and 5 years). Mothers and fathers completed questionnaires about their emotion socialization as well as children’s negativity and emotion regulation. Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ unsupportive reactions to children’s positive emotions were associated with children’s negativity. Fathers’ unsupportive reactions to children’s emotional displays were dif- ferentially associated with older and younger siblings’ emotion regulation. Fathers’ unsupportive responses to children’s positive and negative emotions also contributed jointly to children’s emotion regulation. The results suggest that exploring the within- family correlates of children’s emotion regulation and negativity is useful for under- standing children’s emotional development. Keywords: mothers’ emotion socialization; fathers’ emotion socialization; children’s emotion regulation and negativity Introduction Greater negativity and deficits in emotion regulation are linked to more externalizing behavior problems, difficulties with peers (Blandon, Calkins, Grimm, Keane, & O’Brien, 2010; Halligan et al., 2013), and internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Eggum, 2010), across childhood. Important devel- opments occur in children’s emerging regulatory ability, and individual differences are evident in these skills across the toddler and preschool years. Young children first learn the rules and expectations for the expression and modulation of emotions during their daily family interactions. Conceptual models of emotion socialization have identified multiple aspects of the family environment that are associated with the development of children’s emotion regulation, including emotion-related parenting practices (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998; Morris, Silk, Steinberg, Myers, & Correspondence should be addressed to Alysia Y. Blandon, Department of Psychology,The Penn- sylvania State University, 140 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Email: ayb10@ psu.edu Social Development Vol 24 No. 2 266–284 May 2015 doi: 10.1111/sode.12095 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd