Exploring the associations between family functioning and emotion regulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Previous works have proposed the role of the family in shaping emotion regulation as well as how this association extends to predict outcomes like mental health (Morris et al., 2007; Suveg et al., 2010; Thompson, 2014). Current reviews on the links between family functioning and emotion regulation have focused on particular aspects of the family such as emotional expression (Bariola et al., 2011), parental factors (Petersen et al, 2017; Zimmer-Gembeck et al., 2022), attachment (Brumariu, 2015), or parent-child interactions (Rattaz, 2022). To date, no meta-analyses have looked more comprehensively into the various domains of family functioning and how they might be related to the different aspects of emotion regulation. The current review will synthesise existing evidence on the links between family functioning and emotion regulation, measure the size of their relationships, and provide commentary and analysis on the nature of their associations. Given the dynamic processes involved in both family functioning and emotion regulation, this review will further explore the moderating variables between them. We hope to shed some light on questions such as whether or not family functioning relates to emotion regulation across developmental stages, whether some domains of family functioning (e.g. cohesion, communication, problem-solving, or relationships) are more or less strongly associated with certain aspects of emotion regulation (adaptive/maladaptive strategies and difficulties), or what roles the unique family circumstances and contexts play in these associations. Emotion regulation is seen as a transdiagnostic factor in many mental health issues (Aldao, et al., 2016), hence, it will also be valuable to explore what role family functioning (or its domains) plays in the pathway towards mental health and well-being. Where possible, we will test the indirect effect of family functioning on variables such as mental health or wellbeing via emotion regulation.