Examining the Relationship between Work Stress, Emotion Regulation, and Adult-Child Interactions among Family Child Care Providers

Abstract

This study examined work-family stress, emotion regulation, and how the combination of these variables affect the quality of adult-child interactions in a sample of family child care providers. I hypothesized that family child care providers who reported using cognitive reappraisal in conditions of higher work-family stress would have higher observer ratings in the quality of their interactions with the children for whom they care when compared with family child care providers with high work-family stress who use expressive suppression. Conversely, I hypothesized that family child care providers who reported using expressive suppression in conditions of higher work-family stress would have lower observer ratings in the quality of their interactions with the children for whom they care when compared with family child care providers with high work-family stress who use cognitive reappraisal. Years of experience, household income, and depression served as control variables in regression analyses. Bivariate correlations were seen between child care providers’ reported use of cognitive reappraisal and the control variables, years of experience and depression. However, hierarchical regression analyses did not demonstrate the expected results. As these findings contradict existing theory and research about adult emotional self-regulation, the discussion considers conceptual and methodological reasons for this. Future studies should examine further links among work-family stress, emotion regulation, and adult-child interactions.