Mother–child emotion dialogues: the disrupting effect of maternal history of communal sleeping

The study examined associations between mothers’ upbringing background (kibbutz vs. home) and maternal-sensitive guidance of emotional conversations with their preschool children; children’s cooperation and exploration; and the coherence of their conversations. Using a quasi-experimental design, 112 children and their mothers (72 kibbutz raised, 40 home) completed the Autobiographical Emotional Event Dialogue. We hypothesized that maternal kibbutz upbringing would be associated to lower levels of mothers’ sensitive guidance of the conversations, children’s lower cooperation and exploration, and lower overall coherence. Results showed no upbringing-related differences for the mothers, but significant differences were found for the children, with children of kibbutz-raised mothers showing less cooperation and exploration, and lower levels of coherence for these dyads. The role of maternal background in shaping the interaction with their child is discussed.