Young children learn their emotion regulation skills by modeling and internalizing their caregivers' emotional competencies. Inadequate or problematic emotional competencies in parents can result in insufficient development of these competencies in children, which can
have severe consequences on multiple domains of their lives, including physical wellbeing. This study examined the relationship between emotional competencies, health care usage rates, somatization and health anxiety in the context of a family with young children. Participants were mothers of children 4-11 years old recruited in the community. The results revealed a relationship between mother's emotional competencies and mother and child's health care usage rates. Mother's health care usage rates were also linked to mother's health anxiety and child's somatic symptoms. These findings add to our understanding of the relationship between emotional competencies of parents and children, and the effects it can have on both mother's and child's physical wellbeing. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.
Author Keywords: emotional competencies, health care usage, mother and child, somatization