Emotion talk during reminiscing: A comparative study between mother-son and mother-daughter dyads from two different educational backgrounds in Costa Rica

Abstract

Emotion talk promotes socioemotional development during the preschool years. This study explored emotion talk during reminiscing conversations of 64 Costa Rican dyads comprised of mothers and their 4-year-old. Three results are provided by this study. First, the causes, consequences, and resolutions of emotions were more frequently mentioned during discussions of negative emotional valence events than during discussions of positive emotional valence events. Second, dyads including mothers with low educational levels mentioned emotions in their conversations to a larger extent than dyads comprised of mothers with high educational levels. However, the depth with which emotions were discussed did not vary significantly between both groups. Third, no significant differences were found in the emotional content of the conversations with regard to the sex of the child. Results are discussed in light of their implications for understanding the socialization of emotions during early ages within the Costa Rican and Latin American context.