Dutch validation of the parental assistance with child emotion regulation (PACER) questionnaire in parents of elementary school-aged children

Parental emotion socialization behaviors play a key role in shaping emotion regulation development in childhood. Previous research has assessed these behaviors via variables that reflect the degree of supportive versus unsupportive parenting practices. The Parental Assistance with Child Emotion Regulation (PACER) scale was developed to measure the degree to which parents assist their children in executing specific emotion regulation strategies. The aim of this study is to validate the Dutch version of the PACER in a sample of 288 Dutch biological parents (64.0 of children aged 4–12 (Mage = 8.1, 52.9 . Parents completed the PACER along with online questionnaires assessing parental risk – and protective factors. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the 10-factor structure of the PACER in this Dutch sample, revealing good internal consistency. Findings did not support the comparative 2-factor model that categorized strategies as either “adaptive” or “maladaptive”. Furthermore, parental risk factors (i.e., parenting stress and parents' use of expressive suppression) were related to less assistance with generally adaptive strategies (e.g., problem solving, reappraisal). Conversely, parental protective factors (i.e., positive emotional reactivity and parents' use of reappraisal) were positively related to these adaptive strategies yet negatively related to encouragement of expressive suppression. Lastly, mothers provided more assistance with adaptive strategies and less assistance with maladaptive strategies compared to fathers. Overall, the findings support the Dutch PACER as a valid and reliable scale to measure parental assistance with child emotion regulation in elementary-school aged children.