Introduction The quality of emotional exchanges between mothers and children predicts important developmental outcomes such as emotion expressive tendencies. However, more articulated accounts of the basic processes underlying the socialization of such individual differences are needed. We hypothesized that approach and avoidance motivational focus represents such an underlying mechanism, and would predict emotional qualities of the mother child interaction during a frustrating task. Motivation and Emotion Motivation theory suggests that underlying motivational dimensions of approach and avoidance can account for patterns in the socialization of emotional tendencies. Approach is associated with a focus on positive outcomes whereas avoidance is associated with a negative outcome focus. Approach related emotions - happiness due to the presence of positive outcomes, sadness due to the loss of positive outcomes Avoidance related emotions - anxiety due to the presence of negative outcomes, calm due to the absence of negative outcomes We predicted that… Maternal focus on approach and avoidance would predict parallel approach and avoidance related emotions in both mothers and children. Maternal experience of approach and avoidance related emotions would co-occur with parallel emotion expression in children. Method 116 mother-preschooler dyads interacting a frustrating wait Measure of maternal motivational focus: motivational focus was evaluated as approach if mothers’ self-reported personal goals emphasized positive outcomes and as avoidant if they emphasized negative outcomes. Measures of emotion: –Mothers rated experiences of approach related emotions (happiness and sadness) and avoidance related emotions (calm and anxiety). Ratings were on a 4-point scale. –These same emotions were coded for children from observations of facial expressions, and postural and vocal cues. Duration of emotion expression was recorded in seconds Results 1. As predicted, maternal motivational focus predicted maternal self-report of emotion and child expressed emotion. Using Analysis of Variance (all F’s, p<.05), when mothers who focused on approach were compared to mothers who focused on avoidance, approach-oriented mothers experienced less calm, and had children who showed greater sadness and less anxiety. Maternal experiences of emotion did not moderate or mediate correspondences between maternal motivational focus and child expressed emotion. Discussion Motivational focus might be useful in predicting patterns of emotion in socializing interactions, as well as coherence between mother and child emotion that cannot be accounted for by emotional contagion. Interestingly, maternal experienced emotion did not mediate or moderate the association between motivational focus and child expressed emotion. Alternate measures of motivational focus should be developed. A greater sampling of child expressed emotion and maternal experiences and expressions of emotion is needed. Targeting motivational focus as an underlying dimension might allow for exploration of emotion-behavior correspondences – that is, we can ask to what extent is emotion linked to behavior, cognition, and physiology by virtue of their underlying approach and avoidance motivational focus. Implications for psychopathology – approach creates a vulnerability for depressive symptoms, and avoidance for anxious symptoms? Future research should examine whether hypothesized links with motivation are consistent with corresponding brain activity. Motivational Links Between Maternal and Child Emotion During a Frustration Tracy A. Dennis NYU School of Medicine Pamela M. Cole & Laura H. Cohen The Pennsylvania State University Results 2. Expected correspondences between maternal and child emotions emerged. Regression analyses showed that mothers who experienced more avoidance emotions had children who showed more avoidance emotions, whereas mothers who experienced more approach emotions had children who showed fewer avoidance emotions. Furthermore, approach-related child expressed sadness was associated with maternal self-report of greater sadness and less happiness, but not with maternal anxiety and calm. Child Avoidance Emotions Child Sadness