Session: Cultivating Youth Well-Being Across the Lifespan: Spotlight on Parent Mindfulness, Positive Affect, and Socialization of Happiness and Empathic Joy
4 - (SYM 116) How Parent Data Shaped the Content of SHAPE JOY, a Parenting Program to Support Positive Empathy in Young Children
Associate Professor Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia
Research on empathy in children has primarily highlighted negative empathy (i.e., empathy responses to others’ distress and pain; Liew et al., 2011), with very few investigations emphasizing positive empathy, defined as a state of happiness when noticing another’s happiness (Sallquist et al., 2009). While children tend to focus more on positive emotions in childhood, this “positivity bias” shifts in middle childhood to a focus on negative emotions (Mezulis et al., 2004). The primary objective of SHAPE JOY (Socializing Happiness and Promoting Empathic Joy in Our Youth) is to teach parents emotion socialization and mindful parenting practices to help their young children (ages 4-6) maintain this positive bias by nourishing their positive empathy into an enduring trait. The presentation will describe the content and creation of SHAPE JOY. Data were collected to assess interest in and feasibility of SHAPE JOY content and resources (i.e., instructional material, parent-child activities, and storybooks). All participating caregivers (N = 7) were biological mothers who identified as female. Mothers were on average 36 (SD = 4) and reported high incomes Mannual = $213,571.43 (SD = $104,191.90). Regarding parent race/ethnicity, 1 parent identified as Black/African American, 2 parents identified as multiracial (1 as both Hispanic and White, and 1 as both Black/AA and White), and 1 parent identified as Other explaining that she was both Thai and American and identified equally with both languages and cultures. Children were on average 4.71 (SD = 0.66). Five were male, and two were female. Interview transcripts were coded by the first author with a content analytic approach. Themes around what mothers liked/disliked about program modules were explored, as were the importance and relevance of the program. Additional themes around child characteristics, barriers, culture, and suggestions for change also emerged. Based on results of the qualitative analyses, SHAPE JOY program content was substantially modified. The final program consists of 6 parent-meditated modules with a parenting skill, child skill, and parent-child activities using storybooks, games, and family photographs focusing on (1) Introduction and Parent Contemplation (of family goals re: empathy), (2) Child Spotting Happy Clues/Parent Attending, (3) Child Mindful Self-Awareness/Parent Responding to Child Emotion Cues, (4) Child Perspective-Taking/Parent Emotion Coaching, (5) Child Prosocial Behavior/Parent Contingent Reinforcement, and (6) Family Savoring.