The Relation Between the Time Mothers and Children Spent Together and the Children’s Trait Emotional Intelligence

Parenting practices have been shown to predict children’s emotional intelligence. The time that mothers and children spend
in joint activity is an important aspect of the parent–child relationship, and it has been found to be influential in different
domains of children’s development. However, it has not been investigated in relation to children’s emotional intelligence.
This is a void in the literature that needs to be filled.

This research gathers preliminary data to study the time mothers and children spent together in joint activity, the types
of activities that they develop when they are together, and the relation that those activities have with the children’s trait
emotional intelligence.

Data was collected for both mothers and children (N = 159) using self-report questionnaires. Correlations between time variables and trait emotional intelligence dimensions
were computed using Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient. Partial correlations between the same variables controlling
for responsive parenting were also computed.

The time mothers and children spent together in different activities correlated with different dimensions of trait emotional
intelligence, even after partialling out the effect of responsive parenting. However, different mother–child joint activities
correlated differently with trait emotional intelligence dimensions.

The amount of time mothers spent with their children and the quality of their interactions are important in terms of children’s
trait emotional intelligence, not only because those times of joint activity reflect a more positive parenting, but because
they are likely to promote modeling, reinforcement, shared attention, and social cooperation.