Daniel G. Séguin

Biography

I earned a Ph.D in Developmental Psychology (social development), an M.A. in Human Development, and a B.A. (Hons.) in general Psychology. Broadly, I am interested in social development across the lifespan. More specifically, I am interested in the socio-emotional development of children, adolescents, and adults. One of my research areas corresponds to Meta-Emotion Philosophy applied to specific parenting typologies and child-based outcomes. In this stream of research I study the parental socialization of children's emotions based on Goodness of Fit theory. I have developed one of the only self-report measures to assess mothers' meta-emotional styles with their children (Maternal Emotional Styles Questionnaire, MESQ; Lagacé-Séguin & Coplan, 2005). Empirically, I have confirmed that there are at least two distinct styles: an emotion coaching and an emotion dismissing parenting style. Interactions between these styles and aspects of child regulation and temperament have been found to be associated with specific social outcomes in childhood such as aggression, anxiety, and prosocial behavior.

Research Interest

Recently, I was awarded a grant to investigate the complex associations between meta-emotional styles in same and opposite sex parenting pairs and the corresponding social, emotional and cognitive development of children by using a multi-source multi-method approach. Specifically, from a goodness of fit perspective the direct, indirect, and interactive associations between parental emotional styles and child-based characteristics in the prediction of social-emotional development are being explored in families where the parents are either same or opposite sex.