Relationships Between Mother–Child Conversations About Emotion and Socioemotional Development of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Mother–child emotion-related conversations, as a practice of parental socialization of emotion, can help children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) develop socio-emotional skills. This study intends to explore relationships between mother–child conversations about emotions and socio-emotional skills of children with ASD by accounting for the moderating role of children personality traits and mothers’ emotional openness. Mothers of children with ASD (n = 49) responded to five questionnaires describing their conversations about emotions, emotional openness as well as their child’s socio-emotional skills and personality. We conducted hierarchical regression and moderation analyses. Our findings indicate that frequent mother–child conversations about emotions significantly predict higher emotional regulation and Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in children with ASD (p < 0.05). Moreover, children’s consciousness and openness to experience, along with mothers’ emotional openness significantly moderate the relation between mother–child conversations about emotions and children’s ToM skills (p < 0.05). Mother–child conversations about emotions, as a practice of parental socialization of emotion, could be beneficial for children with ASD. Children’s personality traits and mothers’ openness to emotion may act as a protective factor of ToM skills in children with ASD.