Emotion Regulation as a Moderator for Academic Anxiety in Children of Emergency Services Personnel
Date
2025-08
Authors
Dumaresque, Caitlin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mount Saint Vincent University
Abstract
Academic anxiety significantly influences children's functioning at school. This study investigated how parental factors—post-traumatic stress, emotional expressivity, and parenting style—influence academic anxiety in children of Canadian emergency services personnel, and the moderating role of children's emotion regulation. Data were collected from 70 parents through online surveys consisting of the CAIS-P, PTCI, EES, PSDQ, and CBCL. High levels of parental post-traumatic stress, authoritarian parenting, and permissive parenting were correlated with high levels of academic anxiety in children. Emotion regulation was shown to significantly moderate the relations between all predictor variables and academic anxiety. Low versus high levels of emotion regulation were also considered in post-hoc analyses. Findings highlight the intergenerational effects of parental trauma and parenting styles, along with the protective role of emotion regulation. Implications for school psychologists include advocating for struggling students and providing family support. Future research should focus on more diverse samples and children’s perspectives.