Maternal socialization of positive affect (PA) is linked to children's regulation of positive and negative emotions and the development of psychopathology. However, few studies have examined multiple types of emotion socialization as related to children's PA regulation and depressive symptoms. The current study examined how mothers’ socialization of children's PA regulation was related to children's PA regulation, and if children's PA regulation mediated the association between maternal socialization and children's depressive symptoms. Ninety‐six mother–child dyads (children aged 7–12) completed questionnaires and a five‐minute discussion about a positive event the child previously experienced; 76 dyads completed surveys again five months later. Partial correlations, controlling for child age and gender, indicated associations between maternal PA socialization and child PA regulation. Moderated mediation models suggested that maternal modeling of savoring predicted Time 2 child depressive symptoms via children's own savoring, which was moderated by Time 1 depressive symptoms. The moderated path indicated that only for children who reported higher depressive symptoms at Time 1, higher levels of savoring predicted lower depressive symptoms at Time 2. These results underscore the importance of examining multiple types of PA socialization and child PA regulation to predict children's depressive symptoms longitudinally.

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Research shows that the gratitude is associated with positive mental health in both adults and children. However, research on how gratitude is learned or socialized is limited. The goal of the proposed study was to examine parental socialization of gratitude and its relation to children's gratitude to predict children's positive affect, depressive symptoms, and social skills. A mediation model was tested to determine if children's gratitude explained the link between mother socialization and child outcomes. It was expected that these indirect paths would be stronger for older children. Participants were 95 mother-child dyads who completed a battery of questionnaires and a video-recorded discussion task that was coded for socialization and understanding of gratitude. Using Hayes' PROCESS, a moderated mediation model indicated that mother's elaboration of gratitude during the discussion task was associated with higher levels of communication skills for children through children's understanding of gratitude, with the path from children's gratitude understanding to communication being moderated by child age. In other words, mothers' socialization of gratitude led to a better understanding of gratitude for children, which then led to increased communication skills for older children specifically. These results are important because they provide evidence for the paths through which gratitude is socialized in children. As a result, this study may prompt further research and the development of gratitude interventions to increase gratitude understanding in children and ultimately, the overall well-being and social skills of individuals.