Understanding the Link: Emotional Attention in Italian Families and Children’s Social Development

Abstract

Background: Emotional attention refers to the capacity to recognize and properly respond to one’s and others’ emotional states. On another note, family is a primary source of socialization that influences the development of various social skills. In another line, adolescence is a complex stage that has been associated with emotional difficulties that could be related to competences such as prosociability and inclusion. It is inferred that through the family context and the attention that is processed, a series of competencies are transmitted to the youngsters, but this relationship is still unclear. For this reason, the study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between the emotional attention of mothers and fathers and the social and prosocial competencies of their children. Methods: To accomplish this, a cross-sectional study and ex post facto design were conducted. The Trait-Meta Mood Scale (TMMS-24)-to assess emotional attention-, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)-to determine the prosociality dimension-, and the Test on Passing Developmental Tasks in Adolescence (TCS-A)-to measure social inclusionwere administered. The participants were N = 228 families composed of n = 114 mothers/fathers (67.5% females) and n = 114 daughters/sons (38.5% females) selected through non-probabilistic sampling using a convenience sample in the Bari region of Italy. A descriptive and inferential analysis-Student’s test and Pearson’s correlation-was performed with the statistic package SPSS version 28 (significance level p < 0.05). Results: The findings showed that the families possessed an adequate background in emotional attention and that their daughters and sons were also generally well-adjusted in social inclusion and prosociality. It also found certain signs that the prosocial competence of the children could be related to the behavior of their mothers and fathers. Conclusion: In conclusion, social inclusion is related to prosocial behavior, and maybe primarily cultivated within families where parents’ emotional self-regulation serves as a model for children although further research is necessary. Comparative studies between different cultures are also proposed.