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Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1026/0942-5403/a000300

Zusammenfassung. Es wird eine deutsche Version des Elterntrainings Tuning in to Kids vorgestellt. Das Training zielt über die Förderung elterlicher Strategien zur Emotionssozialisation auf eine Verbesserung kindlicher emotionaler Kompetenzen ab und kombiniert kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutische Prinzipien mit einem emotionsfokussierten Ansatz. In einer kontrollierten Pilotstudie mit Prä-Posttest-Design (TG: n = 41, KG: n = 30; Alter der Kinder: 3 – 6 Jahre) wurden durch das Training nicht-supportive emotionsbezogene Überzeugungen und Reaktionen auf kindliche Emotionen reduziert sowie supportive Überzeugungen und Reaktionen aufgebaut. Für verschiedene Maße des emotionalen Familienklimas zeigten sich tendenziell positive Effekte. Trotz der Vorläufigkeit der Befunde sprechen die Ergebnisse für eine gute Trainierbarkeit elterlicher Strategien zur Emotionssozialisation und einen stärkeren Einbezug in Prävention und Intervention.


A German Adaptation of Tuning in to Kids: Fostering Emotion Socialization Strategies in German Parents of Preschool Children

Abstract. Emotional competence refers to skills in recognizing, understanding, and managing emotional experience and expressiveness (Denham, Bassett, & Wyatt, 2007) and has been found to be an important protective factor for healthy social, emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning (Voltmer & von Salisch, 2017). Parents play an important role in the development of children’s emotional competence, yet few programs focus on parental emotion socialization in parent education. This pilot study tested the delivery in Germany of an Australian group parenting program, “Tuning in to Kids” (Havighurst & Harley, 2007), which targets parent emotion socialization in order to improve emotional competencies in children aged 3.5 – 10 years. “Tuning in to Kids” teaches parents skills in emotion awareness, understanding, and regulation and how to respond supportively to children’s emotions, using the five steps of emotion coaching (Gottman, 1996). Australian and German cultures have many things in common. However, German families are less emotionally expressive when compared with Australian families (Matsumoto et al., 2008) and tend to talk less openly about their emotions (Croucher, Sommier, Rahmani & Appenrodt, 2015). The aim of this study was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of “Tuning in to Kids” in changing parenting practices, beliefs about emotions, and parental stress in a sample of German parents of preschool children (3 – 6 years). Program materials were translated, slightly adapted, and back-translated by the study’s authors. Facilitators received training and supervision before and during facilitation from the Australian “Tuning in to Kids” team. Parents (intervention group: n = 41; untreated control group: n = 30) were recruited via public institutions and newspaper advertisements. Both groups completed the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale, the Parental Emotional Style Questionnaire as well as subscales of the Parenting Stress Index (Parent–Child Attachment, Partner Relationship) and the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Inconsistent Discipline, Powerful Enforcement) at baseline and about 9 weeks after baseline. Results showed that compared with the control group, the intervention reduced parents’ nonsupportive reactions toward child emotions and improved supportive reactions as well as favorable emotion-related beliefs. Positive effects were also observed for various measures of the emotional family climate. The results replicate the Australian efficacy findings (Havighurst et al., 2010), but have to be interpreted with caution owing to the small sample size and sample constrictions (overrepresentation of more educated parents). Further studies need to address long-term effects and include child outcomes. Nevertheless, large effect sizes indicated parents’ receptiveness to learning emotion coaching and highlight the potential of including emotion socialization as a target for parenting in the German health system.

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