Parental emotional regulation: A protective factor for children’s mental wellbeing in the face of stressful life events.

This research project aims to examine whether parental emotional regulation acts as a protective factor for children’s mental wellbeing following exposure to stressful life events. Stressful life events such as parental conflict, financial stress, and family disruption affect a large proportion of children and have been shown to increase the risk of internalising and externalising mental health problems. However, children vary substantially in how strongly these events impact their wellbeing, suggesting that certain factors may expose children to greater risk, while others may shield them from harm. The present study focuses on parental emotional regulation, defined as parents’ ability to manage and express their emotions effectively, as a potential moderator of the relationship between stressful life events and child mental wellbeing. Using longitudinal questionnaire data, the study will assess children’s exposure to stressful life events alongside measures of parental emotional regulation and child mental wellbeing outcomes. Child wellbeing will be operationalised using validated measures of internalising and externalising difficulties reported by parents and/or children. The primary aim is to test whether parental emotional regulation moderates the association between stressful life events and changes in child mental wellbeing over time. It is expected that higher parental emotional regulation will reduce the negative impact of stressful life events on children’s mental wellbeing. By directly examining this moderating effect, the study seeks to clarify whether parental emotional regulation functions as a protective factor that may help explain why some children show poorer outcomes following stress, while others remain relatively resilient.