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Papers by Lisa Sheeber

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2011

Emotional and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence set the stage for the development o... more Emotional and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence set the stage for the development of adaptive or maladaptive beliefs about emotions. Although research suggests that parents’ behaviors and beliefs about emotions relate to children’s emotional abilities, few studies have looked at parental socialization of children’s emotions, particularly in families with depressed adolescents. The present study examined associations between parent and adolescent meta-emotion philosophies (MEP), defined as thoughts, reactions, and feelings about their own emotions. Additionally, adolescent depressive status was tested as a moderator of relationships between parents’ and adolescents’ MEP. One hundred and 52 adolescents, aged 14–18 (65.8% female), and their parents (148 mothers, 106 fathers) participated in a study on emotion socialization in families of depressed and healthy adolescents. Depressed adolescents (n = 75) and matched healthy adolescents (n = 77) were recruited based on research criteria for mental health status. The sample was largely Caucasian (82%) and of middle socioeconomic class status. Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ MEP about their children’s emotions were associated with adolescents’ MEP, although parents’ MEP about their own emotions was unrelated to adolescents’ MEP. Fathers’ MEP about children’s emotions made unique contributions to adolescents’ MEP across both adolescent groups. Adolescents’ depressive status moderated the relationship between mothers’ and adolescents’ MEP such that mothers’ MEP was particularly relevant for depressed adolescents. The continued influence of parents in the emotional lives of adolescents is discussed as well as differences in emotion socialization in families with depressed and healthy adolescents.

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2010

Background: Increases in externalizing behaviors during the transition to adolescence may put ch... more Background: Increases in externalizing behaviors during the transition to adolescence may put children at risk for developing mental disorders and related problems. Although children’s ability to regulate their emotions appears to be a key factor influencing risk for maladjustment, emotion processes during adolescence remain understudied. In this longitudinal study, we examined a multi-level mediational model in which emotion coaching by parents was posited to influence the ability of adolescents to regulate their emotions, which in turn influences their expression of problem behaviors.Methods: We recruited a representative community sample of 244 families with biological sibling pairs comprising a child in late elementary school and a child in middle school. Maternal meta-emotion interviews were coded for mother emotion coaching and adolescent difficulty with anger. Mothers also completed questionnaires on adolescent irritability. Ratings of adolescent problem behaviors were obtained from mother and teacher questionnaires completed at two time points. Using structural equation modeling, constructs were partitioned into components across older and younger siblings to examine shared and nonshared variance and contextual effects.Results: Cross-sectional data indicated that mothers' emotion coaching of anger was related to better anger regulation in adolescent siblings, which was, in turn related to less externalizing behavior. Although support for mediational effects was limited in the longitudinal data, both older and younger siblings' difficulties in regulating anger predicted adolescent externalizing behavior three years later. Additional longitudinal predictors of externalizing behavior were observed for younger siblings. In particular, emotion coaching of anger by mothers was associated with decreased externalizing behavior, while conversely, older siblings' externalizing behavior was associated with increased externalizing behavior in the younger siblings over time.Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of considering family emotion processes in understanding adolescent problem behavior. Both maternal emotion coaching of adolescent anger and adolescent difficulty in regulating anger influenced adolescent externalizing behavior. Emotion coaching interventions seem worthy of consideration for enhancing the impact of prevention and intervention programs targeting youth externalizing behaviors.

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2009

Background: Depression is often characterized as a disorder of affect regulation. However, resea... more Background: Depression is often characterized as a disorder of affect regulation. However, research focused on delineating the key dimensions of affective experience (other than valence) that are abnormal in depressive disorder has been scarce, especially in child and adolescent samples. As definitions of affect regulation center around processes involved in initiating, maintaining, and modulating the occurrence, intensity, and duration of affective experiences, it is important to examine the extent to which affective experiences of depressed youth differ on these dimensions from those of healthy youth.Methods: The affective behavior and experience of adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 75) were compared to a demographically matched cohort of healthy adolescents (n = 77). Both samples were recruited from community high schools. A multi-source (parents and adolescent), multi-method (interviews, behavioral observations, questionnaires) assessment strategy was used to examine positive and negative affects.Results: Depressed youth had significantly longer durations, higher frequency, and greater intensity when experiencing angry and dysphoric affects and shorter durations and less frequency of happy affect when compared to healthy youth. The most consistent, cross-method results were evident for duration of affect.Conclusions: Clinically depressed adolescents experienced disturbances in affective functioning that were evident in the occurrence, intensity, and duration of affect. Notably, the disturbances were apparent in both positive and negative affects.

Psychological Services, 2014

Nearly 2 million children in the United States have a parent in prison. The circumstances related... more Nearly 2 million children in the United States have a parent in prison. The circumstances related to this situation place them at increased risk for behavioral and emotional disorders. The process of reunification between mother and child after release is a stressful and emotional one. A pilot study was conducted to develop and test a new program, Emotions: Taking Care of Yourself and Your Child When You Go Home. The objective of the Emotions Program was to teach emotion regulation and emotion coaching skills to incarcerated mothers so as to assist mothers and their children to cope better with the stress associated with incarceration and the transition home from prison. Pilot participants (N = 47) had previously participated in Parenting Inside Out, an evidence-based parenting program for incarcerated parents. The participants were then assigned to the Emotions Program (n = 29) or the comparison condition of no additional treatment (n = 18). All mothers were assessed before (T1) and after the program (T2), and again 6 months after release from prison (T3). Intervention effects of the Emotions Program on mothers’ emotion regulation, emotion socialization, and adjustment were examined using repeated-measures analysis of variance with a between-subjects factor of group (Emotions Program vs. comparison) and a within-subjects factor of time (T1 vs. T2 vs. T3). Moderate time by group interaction effects were observed for aspects of emotion regulation, emotion socialization behavior, and criminal behavior in mothers, with participants in the Emotions condition showing improvement relative to those in the comparison condition.

Depression and Anxiety, 2010

Background: The aim of this study was to identify the aspects of cardiac physiology associated wi... more Background: The aim of this study was to identify the aspects of cardiac physiology associated with depressive disorder early in life by examining measures of autonomic cardiac control in a community-based sample of depressed adolescents at an early phase of illness, and matched on a number of demographic factors with a nondepressed comparison group. Methods: Participants were 127 adolescents (44 boys), ages 14–18, who formed two demographically matched groups of clinically depressed and nondepressed participants. Adolescents were excluded if they evidenced comorbid externalizing or substance-dependence disorders, were taking medications with known cardiac effects, or reported regular nicotine use. Resting measures of heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, skin conductance level, blood pressure, and pre-ejection period were collected. Results: Depressed adolescents had resting heart rates significantly higher than those of healthy adolescents. No other measure of autonomic functioning differentiated the groups. Post hoc analyses were conducted to examine the influence of illness chronicity, severity, comorbidity, and sex on cardiac psychophysiology. These variables did not appear to exert a significant influence on the findings. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that neither autonomic cardiac control, illness chronicity, or severity, nor medication effects fully explain resting heart rate differences between depressed and nondepressed adolescents. Future research on depression and heart rate should consider mechanisms other than sympathetic or parasympathetic control as potential explanations of heart rate differences, including blood-clotting mechanisms, vascular and endothelial dysfunction of the coronary arteries, and inflammatory immune system response. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

This study compared parental socialization of adolescent positive affect in families of depressed... more This study compared parental socialization of adolescent positive affect in families of depressed and healthy adolescents. Participants were 107 adolescents (42 boys) aged 14 -18 years and their parents. Half of the participants met criteria for major depressive disorder and the others were demographically matched adolescents without emotional or behavioral disorders. Results based on multi-source questionnaire and interview data indicated that mothers and fathers of depressed adolescents were less accepting of adolescents' positive affect and more likely to use strategies that dampen adolescents' positive affect than were parents of healthy adolescents. Additionally, fathers of depressed adolescents exhibited fewer responses likely to enhance the adolescents' positive affect than were fathers of healthy adolescents. These findings build on those of previous work in examining parental responses to adolescent emotions, focusing on positive emotions and including both mothers and fathers.

Emotion, 2012

Though much is known about the stable mood patterns that characterize depressive disorder, less a... more Though much is known about the stable mood patterns that characterize depressive disorder, less attention has been directed to identifying and understanding the temporal dynamics of emotions. In the present study, we examined how depression affects the trajectory of dysphoric and angry adolescent emotional behavior during adolescent-parent interactions. Adolescents (72 depressed; 69 nondepressed) engaged in video recorded positive and negative interactions with their parents. Depressed adolescents showed a linear increase in dysphoric behaviors throughout the negative interactions, while the incidence of these behaviors remained relatively stable across the interactions among nondepressed adolescents. A similar linear increase was not found in angry behavior. These findings show that depression in adolescence is associated with greater escalation of dysphoria during conflictual interactions between adolescents and their parents.

The focus on parental stress in the literature on inmate family contact builds on the broader lit... more The focus on parental stress in the literature on inmate family contact builds on the broader literature on the impact of imprisonment on the mental health of prisoners and the direct consequences of such on their family members. This work points to the ways in which requisite coping strategies developed in response to stressors that are specific to prisons and prison culture can result in hypervigilance, interpersonal distrust and suspicion, emotional overcontrol, alienation, psychological distancing, social withdrawal and isolation, the incorporation of exploitative norms of prisoner culture, and a diminished sense of self-worth and personal value. In the present report, we examine associations between mother-child contact, self-report and biological measures of maternal stress and adjustment, and caregiver report of child adjustment during and after maternal imprisonment. Three sets of research questions are examined.

Development and Psychopathology, 2015

Affective family processes are associated with the development of depression during adolescence. ... more Affective family processes are associated with the development of depression during adolescence. However, empirical description of these processes is generally based on examining affect at the individual or dyadic level. The purpose of this study was to examine triadic patterns of affect during parent-adolescent interactions in families with or without a depressed adolescent. We used state space grid analysis to characterize the state of all three actors simultaneously. Compared to healthy controls, triads with depressed adolescents displayed a wider range of affect, demonstrated less predictability of triadic affective sequences, spent more time in and returned more quickly to discrepant affective states, and spent less time in and returned more slowly to matched affective states, particularly while engaged in a problem-solving interaction. Furthermore, we identified seven unique triadic states in which triads with depressed adolescents spent significantly more time than triads with healthy controls. The present study enhances understanding of family affective processes related to depression by taking a more systemic approach and revealing triadic patterns that go beyond individual and dyadic analyses.

Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2000

Despite recent suggestions that depression can be conceptualized as a disorder of affect regulati... more Despite recent suggestions that depression can be conceptualized as a disorder of affect regulation, relatively little research has focused on affect regulation skills in depressed individuals. This paper investigated whether depressed adolescents (N = 25) differ from nondepressed adolescents (N = 25) on two indices of affect regulation (i.e., duration of negative affective states and reciprocity of maternal negative affect) as well as whether these indices are related to microsocial family interactional processes. Analyses revealed that depressed teens differed from their nondepressed peers with regard to duration of negative affective states but not in their likelihood of reciprocating negative affect. Additionally, indices of adolescent affect regulation were related to family interactional processes. Duration of depressive affect was positively associated with maternal display of facilitative behavior contingent on adolescent depressive behavior. Duration of aggressive behavior ...

Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2000

The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between child responses to interparental d... more The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between child responses to interparental depressive behavior and subsequent child depressive symptomatology. Data were collected on 156 two-parent families. Families completed questionnaire data and participated in problem-solving interactions, which were coded using a microsocial observational system. Three potential child responses to interparental depressive behavior were examined: facilitative, aggressive, and depressive. Results indicated that for female adolescents the displays of facilitative and depressive behavior as well as the suppression of aggressive behavior in response to interparental depressive behavior were related to increases in depressive symptomatology. For males, on the other hand, the display of aggressive and depressive behavior in response to interparental depressive behavior was related to increases in depression. Results provide preliminary support both for the examination of child responses to confli...

Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2003

The intergenerational transmission of aggressive parenting behavior was examined within the conte... more The intergenerational transmission of aggressive parenting behavior was examined within the context of a prospective longitudinal study of adolescent and young adult adjustment. Thirty-nine young adults (G2; 33 females, 6 males) who had participated in early phases of this study with their parents (G1) continued their involvement with their young children (G3; 17 females, 22 males, mean age = 2.6) several years later. Data included direct observation of parent-adolescent (G1-G2) and parent-child (G2-G3) interactions as well as self-reports. Analyses demonstrated directly observed cross-generational continuity in aggressive parenting from G1 to G2 some 6-7 years later. However, the results also showed that adolescent aggressive behavior served as the mediational link reducing the direct path from G1 to G2 aggressive parenting to nonsignificant levels. The results are consistent with a social interactional model of intergenerational continuity of parenting behavior.

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2015

Earlier use of tobacco in adolescence is associated with numerous adverse outcomes later in life.... more Earlier use of tobacco in adolescence is associated with numerous adverse outcomes later in life. Although a number of studies have linked individual differences in affective functioning to adolescent smoking, these have relied primarily on self-report measures, and the contribution of different dimensions of affect to the onset of tobacco use during this period remains unclear. The current study examined these issues in a sample of 180 adolescents recruited from an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study examining emotional development. At approximately age 12, participants completed a questionnaire measure of affective temperament and took part in a family interaction task that was coded observationally to provide measures of dysphoric, aggressive, and positive behaviors. At 2 subsequent assessments, which took place approximately 2.5 years and 4 years after the initial assessment, participants completed a questionnaire measure of substance use. In total, 70 participants initiated smoking between the ages of 12 and 17. An earlier onset of smoking was predicted by more aggressive and less positive observed behavior during the interaction task, as well as lower levels of self-reported temperamental Effortful Control. There were no associations between dysphoric behaviors, or temperamental measures of negative affectivity or surgency and the onset of smoking. The findings add to a small body of literature demonstrating that behavioral components of affect can prospectively predict substance use in adolescence and suggest that different dimensions of affect show unique relationships with early substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Women, 2006

This book addresses mood and anxiety disorders in women. It takes a broad developmental approach,... more This book addresses mood and anxiety disorders in women. It takes a broad developmental approach, aimed at understanding and offering appropriate treatment for women with such disorders. The primary aim of this first chapter is to examine the emergence of the gender gap in depressive disorders at puberty, and to compare alternative theories as to the factors that underpin gender differentiation in depression at this developmental stage. These models are synthesised using an evolutionary perspective on gender differences to ...

Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2015

The pituitary gland is integral in mediating the stress-response via its role in hypothalamic-pit... more The pituitary gland is integral in mediating the stress-response via its role in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function. Pituitary gland volume (PGV) is altered in stress-related psychopathology, and one study to date has shown stress to be associated with age-related PGV change during adolescence. The current study investigated the effects of a number of different types of early life (i.e., childhood and adolescent) stress (including childhood maltreatment, stressful life events, and maternal affective behavior) on PGV development from mid- to late adolescence using a longitudinal design. The influence of PGV development on depressive and anxiety symptoms was also investigated. Ninety one (49 male) adolescents took part in mother-child dyadic interaction tasks when they were approximately 12 years old, reported on childhood maltreatment and stressful life events when they were approximately 15 years old, and underwent two waves of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, when they were approximately 16 and 19 years old. Results revealed that childhood maltreatment predicted accelerated PGV development in females, and maternal dysphoric behavior predicted accelerated PGV development in the whole sample. PGV development was not associated with depressive or anxiety symptoms. These results suggest an effect of early life stress on altered HPA axis function across mid- to late adolescence. Further research is required to assess functional implications and whether these changes might be associated with risk for subsequent psychopathology.

Psychological Services, 2014

Nearly 2 million children in the United States have a parent in prison. The circumstances related... more Nearly 2 million children in the United States have a parent in prison. The circumstances related to this situation place them at increased risk for behavioral and emotional disorders. The process of reunification between mother and child after release is a stressful and emotional one. A pilot study was conducted to develop and test a new program, Emotions: Taking Care of Yourself and Your Child When You Go Home. The objective of the Emotions Program was to teach emotion regulation and emotion coaching skills to incarcerated mothers so as to assist mothers and their children to cope better with the stress associated with incarceration and the transition home from prison. Pilot participants (N = 47) had previously participated in Parenting Inside Out, an evidence-based parenting program for incarcerated parents. The participants were then assigned to the Emotions Program (n = 29) or the comparison condition of no additional treatment (n = 18). All mothers were assessed before (T1) and after the program (T2), and again 6 months after release from prison (T3). Intervention effects of the Emotions Program on mothers&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; emotion regulation, emotion socialization, and adjustment were examined using repeated-measures analysis of variance with a between-subjects factor of group (Emotions Program vs. comparison) and a within-subjects factor of time (T1 vs. T2 vs. T3). Moderate time by group interaction effects were observed for aspects of emotion regulation, emotion socialization behavior, and criminal behavior in mothers, with participants in the Emotions condition showing improvement relative to those in the comparison condition.

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2009

The development of reward-based learning and decision-making, and the neural circuitry underlying... more The development of reward-based learning and decision-making, and the neural circuitry underlying these processes, appears to be influenced negatively by adverse child-rearing environments characterized by abuse and other forms of maltreatment. No research to-date has investigated whether normative variations in the child-rearing environment have effects on adolescent brain structure. We examined whether normative variations in maternal responses to adolescents' positive affective behavior were associated with morphometric measures of the adolescents' affective neural circuitry, namely the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Healthy adolescents (N ¼ 113) participated in laboratory-based interaction tasks with their mothers, and underwent high-resolution (3T) structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The mother-adolescent interactions included a pleasant event-planning interaction (EPI) and a conflictual problem-solving interaction (PSI). Adolescents, whose mothers displayed more punishing responses to their positive affective behavior during both tasks, and only during the PSI, had larger left dorsal ACC and bilateral OFC volumes, respectively. In addition, boys whose mothers evidenced this pattern of behavior during the EPI had larger right amygdala volumes. These results suggest that normative variations in maternal responses to affective behavior are associated with the structural characteristics of adolescents' affective neural circuitry, which may have implications for the development of their social, cognitive and affective functioning.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008

Adolescence is a key period for the development of brain circuits underlying affective and behavi... more Adolescence is a key period for the development of brain circuits underlying affective and behavioral regulation. It remains unclear, however, whether and how adolescent brain structure influences day-to-day affective behavior. Because of significant changes in the nature of family relations that also typically occur during adolescence, parent-child interactions provide a meaningful context where affective behavior and its regulation may be assessed. In a sample of 137 early adolescents, we investigated the relationship between aspects of the adolescents' brain structure and their affective behavior as assessed during observation of parent-child interactions. We found a significant positive association between volume of the amygdala and the duration of adolescent aggressive behavior during these interactions. We also found male-specific associations between the volume of prefrontal structures and affective behavior, with decreased leftward anterior paralimbic cortex volume asymmetry associated with increased duration of aggressive behavior, and decreased leftward orbitofrontal cortex volume asymmetry associated with increased reciprocity of dysphoric behavior. These findings suggest that adolescent brain structure is associated with affective behavior and its regulation in the context of family interactions, and that there may be gender differences in the neural mechanisms underlying affective and behavioral regulation during early adolescence. Particularly as adolescence marks a period of rapid brain maturation, our findings have implications for mental health outcomes that may be revealed later along the developmental trajectory. emotion ͉ family interactions ͉ neuroimaging ͉ structural MRI ͉ gender differences A growing body of evidence suggests that early adolescence marks entry into a period of substantial neurobiological change, with significant effects on cognitive, social, and emotional development (1). More specifically, it has been proposed that adolescence involves a shift from greater limbic to prefrontal cortical (PFC) control of behavior, with an increase in the inhibitory connections between these two regions (2). These neural changes are believed to underlie a shift from behavior that is driven by affective impulses to more regulated behavior that is guided by consideration of future personal and social consequences (3). Such changes mark adolescence as a critical period during which to examine the neural contributions to affective behavior, particularly emotion regulation.

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2011

Emotional and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence set the stage for the development o... more Emotional and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence set the stage for the development of adaptive or maladaptive beliefs about emotions. Although research suggests that parents' behaviors and beliefs about emotions relate to children's emotional abilities, few studies have looked at parental socialization of children's emotions, particularly in families with depressed adolescents. The present study examined associations between parent and adolescent meta-emotion philosophies (MEP), defined as thoughts, reactions, and feelings about their own emotions. Additionally, adolescent depressive status was tested as a moderator of relationships between parents' and adolescents' MEP. One hundred and 52 adolescents, aged 14-18 (65.8% female), and their parents (148 mothers, 106 fathers) participated in a study on emotion socialization in families of depressed and healthy adolescents. Depressed adolescents (n = 75) and matched healthy adolescents (n = 77) were recruited based on research criteria for mental health status. The sample was largely Caucasian (82%) and of middle socioeconomic class status. Results indicated that mothers' and fathers' MEP about their children's emotions were associated with adolescents' MEP, although parents' MEP about their own emotions was unrelated to adolescents' MEP. Fathers' MEP about children's emotions made unique contributions to adolescents' MEP across both adolescent groups. Adolescents' depressive status moderated the relationship between mothers' and adolescents' MEP such that mothers' MEP was particularly relevant for depressed adolescents. The continued influence of parents in the emotional lives of adolescents is discussed as well as differences in emotion socialization in families with depressed and healthy adolescents.

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2011

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2010

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2009

Psychological Services, 2014

Depression and Anxiety, 2010

Emotion, 2012

Development and Psychopathology, 2015

Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2000

Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2003

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2015

Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Women, 2006

Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2015

Psychological Services, 2014

Nearly 2 million children in the United States have a parent in prison. The circumstances related... more Nearly 2 million children in the United States have a parent in prison. The circumstances related to this situation place them at increased risk for behavioral and emotional disorders. The process of reunification between mother and child after release is a stressful and emotional one. A pilot study was conducted to develop and test a new program, Emotions: Taking Care of Yourself and Your Child When You Go Home. The objective of the Emotions Program was to teach emotion regulation and emotion coaching skills to incarcerated mothers so as to assist mothers and their children to cope better with the stress associated with incarceration and the transition home from prison. Pilot participants (N = 47) had previously participated in Parenting Inside Out, an evidence-based parenting program for incarcerated parents. The participants were then assigned to the Emotions Program (n = 29) or the comparison condition of no additional treatment (n = 18). All mothers were assessed before (T1) and after the program (T2), and again 6 months after release from prison (T3). Intervention effects of the Emotions Program on mothers&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; emotion regulation, emotion socialization, and adjustment were examined using repeated-measures analysis of variance with a between-subjects factor of group (Emotions Program vs. comparison) and a within-subjects factor of time (T1 vs. T2 vs. T3). Moderate time by group interaction effects were observed for aspects of emotion regulation, emotion socialization behavior, and criminal behavior in mothers, with participants in the Emotions condition showing improvement relative to those in the comparison condition.

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2009

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2011

Emotional and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence set the stage for the development o... more Emotional and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence set the stage for the development of adaptive or maladaptive beliefs about emotions. Although research suggests that parents' behaviors and beliefs about emotions relate to children's emotional abilities, few studies have looked at parental socialization of children's emotions, particularly in families with depressed adolescents. The present study examined associations between parent and adolescent meta-emotion philosophies (MEP), defined as thoughts, reactions, and feelings about their own emotions. Additionally, adolescent depressive status was tested as a moderator of relationships between parents' and adolescents' MEP. One hundred and 52 adolescents, aged 14-18 (65.8% female), and their parents (148 mothers, 106 fathers) participated in a study on emotion socialization in families of depressed and healthy adolescents. Depressed adolescents (n = 75) and matched healthy adolescents (n = 77) were recruited based on research criteria for mental health status. The sample was largely Caucasian (82%) and of middle socioeconomic class status. Results indicated that mothers' and fathers' MEP about their children's emotions were associated with adolescents' MEP, although parents' MEP about their own emotions was unrelated to adolescents' MEP. Fathers' MEP about children's emotions made unique contributions to adolescents' MEP across both adolescent groups. Adolescents' depressive status moderated the relationship between mothers' and adolescents' MEP such that mothers' MEP was particularly relevant for depressed adolescents. The continued influence of parents in the emotional lives of adolescents is discussed as well as differences in emotion socialization in families with depressed and healthy adolescents.