Mothers' affective experiences and child behaviors: A diary study examining child-driven effects among Chinese preschoolers

Notwithstanding the growing empirical evidence from longitudinal studies on child-driven effects, they are limited in illuminating the existence of child-driven effects in day-to-day life and the affective mechanisms that underlie these processes. The current study examined mothers’ affective experiences elicited by their preschoolers’ behaviors in daily life. Seventy-seven families in China were studied for 14 days through a daily diary design. Children’s behaviors elicited changes in both mothers’ daily emotional reactivity and their global mood states. Mothers’ emotional reactivity towards children’s behaviors largely accounted for the child-elicited changes in their global mood. Moreover, when mothers were less educated, exhibited higher depressive symptoms, and when their children were perceived to be high in externalizing behaviors, mothers were more likely to react negatively. These findings suggest that parents’ emotional reactions are closely linked to children’s behaviors and these child-elicited emotional reactions further influence parents’ daily overall mood on a day-to-day basis.