Gender differences in parentsʹ perceptions of their adult childrenʹs and their familiesʹ emotional expressivity

Using a recently published self report measure of emotional expressivity (EES; Kring et al., 1994) and a measure of family expressiveness, we investigated gender differences in ratings of individual and family emotional expressivity. Participants included 27 undergraduate men and 80 undergraduate women who completed self report inventories of their own and their familiesʹ emotional expressivity. Mothers and fathers of participants used the same instruments to rate their childrenʹs, their own and their familiesʹ overall expressivity. Both mothers and fathers were more in agreement with their daughters on the daughtersʹ emotional expressivity and the overall family expressivity than they were with their sons. Parentsʹ ratings were uncorrelated with their sonsʹ ratings of these variables. However, mothers and fathers differed with their offspring in the assessment of the level of positive and negative emotion in the family. For both male and female children, mothersʹ ratings of positive, but not negative, emotion were correlated with childrenʹs ratings. The opposite pattern was apparent for fathers. Fathersʹ ratings of negative, but not positive emotion in the family were correlated with both sonsʹ and daughtersʹ ratings.