Understanding the Relationships between Diverse Family Structures and the Development of Emotion Regulation of Mexican-Origin Children: Population-Based Estimates

Emotion regulation is the earliest indicator of self-regulation and can affect the subsequent development of other self-regulation behaviors. Thus, understanding how children of immigrants develop emotional regulation is imperative as it has important implications for their life course. Using a nationally representative sample of children in 2001 from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), the study investigates the relationship between family structures – both nuclear and extended family structures – and child’s emotional regulation for Mexican-origin children. The study finds that the influences of family structures on children’s emotion regulation across racial and ethnic groups differ. Specifically, for U.S.-born children of Mexican immigrant parents, residing in vertically extended family structures (i.e., with grandparents) is negatively associated with children’s emotion regulation whereas residing in horizontally extended family structures (i.e., with aunt or uncle) is positively associated with children’s emotion regulation. However, the significant relationships between family structures and children’s emotion regulation disappear when controlling for parental sensitivity towards children.