Parental expressive suppression undermines adolescent-parent's neural synchrony in response to emotional stimulus

Emotional communication plays a crucial role in the adolescent-parent relationship, and parents' ability to regulate emotions is particularly important. Parental expressive suppression has been found to negatively affect adolescent-parent relationships, but the specific neural mechanisms underlying these effects are unknown. This study examines how parental expressive suppression impacts neural synchrony during emotional responses. Using EEG hyperscanning, we recorded brain activity in 21 high expressive suppression (HEP) and 28 low expressive suppression (LEP) adolescent-parent dyads while viewing emotional images. Results show LEPs rated positive images higher and exhibited greater inter-brain synchrony across all frequency bands. The results suggest that parental expressive suppression weakens neural synchronization with adolescents, which may affect the quality of the adolescent-parent relationship. This study provides new perspectives for understanding the biological basis of adolescent-parent relationships.