This study examines the relationships among maternal meta-emotion philosophy, maternal video-mediated cognitions, and adolescent behavior adjustment. We adopt video-mediated recall methods to obtain mothers' perceptions of their interaction with their children. In total, 121 pairs of mothers (age, M = 42.55) and their adolescent children (age, M = 12.34) were videotaped for 10 min while discussing daily issues. The mothers reviewed the tape (30 episodes) and rated their own behaviors and the counterparts' behaviors on 8 cognitive or affective dimensions. The mothers also completed a parental meta-emotion philosophy inventory, and the adolescents completed the Youth Self-Report. The results indicate that maternal emotional dysfunction has a positive effect on adolescents' externalizing problem behaviors through mothers' perceptions of conflictual interaction. These findings highlight the importance of considering maternal meta-emotion philosophy in the mother-adolescent interaction process and understanding adolescent problem behaviors.
Keywords: Adolescent behavior adjustment; Meta-emotion philosophy; Parent-adolescent interaction; Video-mediated cognitions; Video-mediated recall.
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