The need to target parent emotion regulation in child mental health treatment: A commentary on Brandão et al. (2023)

Abstract

This systematic review and meta-analysis by Brandão and colleagues (2023) focused on the role of emotion regulation abilities in parental burnout. Their review highlighted that targeting parent emotion regulation holds promise for alleviating parenting stress, thus preventing parental burnout and improving parent and child mental health outcomes. It also underscored the need for more research, particularly longitudinal and intervention research, seeking to understand the link between parent emotion regulation, parental burnout, and both parent and child psychological functioning, and the need to consider multiple caregivers (i.e., not just including mothers). In this commentary, I reflect on these takeaways and the importance of simultaneously targeting parent emotion regulation and mental health during treatment for child mental health, and highlight some observational and intervention work in this area that can provide a springboard for future research and intervention efforts.