Cherish the good times: Relational savoring in parents of infants and toddlers

Abstract

Savoring, or prolonging emotions associated with positive events, improves emotion and life satisfaction; little work, however, focuses on the savoring of interpersonal experiences, termed relational savoring. In a sample of 435 parents, the authors evaluated the impact of relational savoring on emotion and parent–child relationship satisfaction compared to a personal savoring and neutral control condition. Two years later, the authors reassessed parents' feelings of closeness with their children in a subsample of the original participants (n = 64). Both savoring conditions resulted in higher positive emotion for all parents, whereas the effects on negative emotion, relationship satisfaction, and closeness were only present for those higher in attachment avoidance. This study opens new avenues of investigation in both relational savoring and parent–child relationships.

Secure Base Script Content Explains the Association Between Attachment Avoidance and Emotion-Related Constructs in Parents of Young Children

“…Building on Bryant's () foundational work on savoring, the process of prolonging, intensifying, and appreciating the positive emotions attached to experiences, relational savoring involves the purposeful activation of and focused reflection on moments of positive connection between the self and another person (Borelli, Sbarra et al., ). Consistent with theorizing, our prior work has suggested that parental attachment avoidance, as measured by self‐report, is associated with poorer relational savoring quality (Bond & Borelli, ), although in an experimental study comparing relational savoring to a control condition, we (Burkhart et al., ) found that although self‐reported attachment avoidance was inversely related to traitlike savoring, highly avoidant parents exhibited the largest gains in emotion and relationship satisfaction. Yet, despite the fact that avoidant parents reaped the most from the relational savoring exercise, based on our prior work (Bond & Borelli, ), it seems likely that the memories avoidant parents generate contain less SBS content.…”

“…For the purpose of this study, we conducted focus groups comprised of parents of young children with the goal of eliciting information regarding which types of parenting situations parents of young children find stressful (see Burkhart et al, ). Based on these focus groups, we developed a vignette describing a stressful situation that focus group members suggested would elicit strong feelings of distress and helplessness in the parent, which ought to make RF especially difficult (Slade, ).…”

“…Far fewer studies have examined the association between self‐reported romantic relationship attachment style and parenting (for a review, see Jones, Cassidy, & Shaver, ) or child attachment (Stern, Borelli, & Smiley, ), although theoretically these constructs should be related (Bowlby, 1988). Historically, researchers working within the attachment framework have predominantly examined parents’ responses to children's heightened negative emotion (E. Waters & Cummings, ), but emerging work involves a closer focus on parents’ reactions to events involving positive emotion (Borelli, 2006; Burkhart, Borelli, Rasmussen, & Sbarra, ; Lyons‐Ruth, ) and everyday situations (Posada, Waters, Crowell, & Lay, ). In the current study, we fill a gap in the research literature by examining parents’ emotional responses to reflecting upon positively valenced interactions with their children as well as the interrelations between parent's self‐reported romantic attachment avoidance and its cognitive (SBS) and emotion‐related (emotional reactivity, mentalization) correlates.…”

Emotion Coregulation Processes between Mothers and their Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder: Associations with Children’s Maladaptive Behaviors

“…A variety of techniques could plausibly be used to improve initiation of positive interactions in dyads with children with ASD. Mindfulnessbased interventions (Cachia et al 2016), relational savoring interventions (Burkhart et al 2015), and mentalizationbased interventions (Slade 2005) may help promote positive dyadic engagement, improve parental perception of dyadic interactions, and increase parental sensitivity.…”

Positive affect regulation in youth: Taking stock and moving forward

“…Additionally, in line with broaden and build (Fredrickson, ), upregulating PA can help people develop strengths and flourish. For example, youth who exhibit higher levels of PA are rated higher on social competence (Isley, O'Neil, & Parke, ), and parents’ relational savoring (i.e., thinking of a best memory with one's child) can promote relationship closeness and satisfaction (Burkhart, Borelli, Rasmussen, & Sbarra, ). Moreover, these processes are cyclic wherein PA enhances one's relationships, and one's positive relationships will enhance people's PA (Ramsey & Gentzler, ).…”