The relations of children’s emotion knowledge to their observed social play and reticent/uninvolved behavior in preschool: Moderation by effortful control

Using data from a study of 140 preschool children (39% female), we examined the relations between direct assessments of emotion knowledge and naturalistic observations of behavior during free‐play periods, and tested parent‐ and teacher‐reported effortful control as a moderator of these relations. Basic emotion recognition was unrelated to social play and reticent behavior, whereas situational understanding of emotions (thought to be a relatively sophisticated aspect of emotion knowledge) was negatively related to reticent/uninvolved behavior and marginally positively related to social play. Effortful control significantly moderated these relations, such that situational emotion understanding was more strongly related to reticent/uninvolved behavior and social play at low levels of effortful control, and unrelated to outcomes at high levels of effortful control. These results highlight the unique role of situational understanding in predicting children’s social competence and suggest that emotion knowledge is particularly important for children who struggle with effortful regulation skills.     

Teacher Reports of Children's Friendships and Social Groups: Agreement with Peer Reports and Implications for Studying Peer Similarity

Teacher–peer agreement about children’s friendships and social group affiliations was examined in a sample of 219 children in grades 1, 3, and 5. Peer reports were used to identify reciprocated friendships and informal social groups. Teachers listed each child’s closest friends and described the informal social groups existing in their classrooms. Teachers also rated children’s externalizing behavior problems and academic orientation and provided direct ratings of the externalizing behavior problems and academic orientation of children’s friends. Teacher–peer agreement was reliable for friendships and social groups and was stronger in the upper elementary grades. Estimates of peer similarity were highest when teachers provided global ratings of the behaviors of the children’s friends. Results suggest that teacher reports of children’s peer affiliations have some validity but result in inflated estimates of peer similarity.     

Observed Emotions as Predictors of Quality of Kindergartners’ Social Relationships

This study evaluated whether positive and anger emotional frequency (the proportion of instances an emotion was observed) and intensity (the strength of an emotion when it was observed) uniquely predicted social relationships among kindergarteners (N = 301). Emotions were observed as naturally occurring at school in the fall term and multiple reporters (peers and teachers) provided information on quality of relationships with children in the spring term. In structural equation models, positive emotion frequency, but not positive emotion intensity, was positively related to peer acceptance and negatively related to peer rejection. In contrast, the frequency of anger provided unique positive prediction of teacher–student conflict and negative prediction of peer acceptance. Furthermore, anger intensity negatively predicted teacher–student closeness and positively predicted teacher–student conflict. Implications for promoting social relationships in school are discussed.     

‘You Feel Sad?’ Emotion Understanding Mediates Effects of Verbal Ability and Mother–Child Mutuality on Prosocial Behaviors: Findings from 2 Years to 4 Years

Early individual differences in prosocial behaviors are pivotal for children's peer relationships. To investigate the interplay among verbal ability, emotion understanding, and mother–child mutuality as predictors of prosocial behaviors, we observed 102 children at the ages of two, three, and four. All time points included verbal ability and emotion understanding tests and both video‐based and maternal ratings of prosocial behavior. The first two time points also included video‐based ratings of mother–child mutuality. The third time point included teacher ratings of prosocial behavior and an experimental task. Regression analysis demonstrated robust associations between emotion understanding at the age of three and prosocial behavior at the age of four. Path analysis showed that emotion understanding at the age of three mediated associations between verbal ability/mother–child mutuality at the age of two and prosocial behavior at the age of four.     

The relations between maternal mental state talk and preschoolers’ behavioral adaptation and school readiness: moderation by emotion situation knowledge

This study investigated the extent to which associations between mothers' elaborated talk about mental states and preschoolers’ behavioral adaptation (i.e., social competence and internalizing and externalizing behavior) and school readiness were moderated by emotion situation knowledge. Families (N = 120) were mostly middle‐income and White and 70 of the preschoolers (M = 50.65 months, SD = 6.19) were boys. Results revealed a positive association between elaborated maternal mental state talk and social competence, but only for children average and high in emotion situation knowledge. For children low in emotion situation knowledge, there was a positive association between elaborated maternal mental state talk and internalizing behavior. There also was a negative relation between elaborated maternal mental state talk and school readiness for preschoolers low in emotion situation knowledge. Findings highlight the importance of considering emotion situation knowledge when examining associations between elaborated maternal mental state talk and young children’s social behavioral adaptation and readiness for school.     

Theory of Mind in Preadolescence: Relations Between Social Understanding and Social Competence

Theory of mind (ToM) underlies the ability to attribute mental states to people as a way of understanding their social behaviour. Although ToM development is an active area of research, most empirical investigations focus on infants and young children. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to assess ToM in preadolescents and to determine whether individual differences in this mentalizing ability relate to social competence and relate differently for girls and for boys. It was hypothesized that preadolescents' ability to understand thoughts and emotions in others would be associated with their social competence. 128 preadolescents (64 girls; 64 boys; mean age 11-9) completed peer social competence ratings, a vocabulary task, and participated in a social understanding (ToM) interview. Teacher ratings of the participants' social competence were also collected. Based on composite ToM scores, results indicated positive associations between ToM and (a) peer ratings of social-interaction skills, (b) general vocabulary ability. Separate gender analyses revealed significant effects. Results are discussed in relation to (1) individual differences in social understanding and social competence and (2) effects of socio-cultural context.     

Peer Nominations of Emotional Expressivity Among Urban Children: Social and Psychological Correlates

The current study examined associations between peer nominations of children's expression of negative emotions and psychological, social, and behavioral correlates in a sample of 523 first graders. Children (85 percent African‐American) completed a peer nomination measure for expressing negative emotions. In addition, three other domains of functioning were assessed using multiple raters: internalizing symptoms (self, parent), externalizing behavior (parent, teacher), and social competence (parent, teacher). Regression analyses indicated that peer nominations of negative emotions predicted higher levels of teacher‐rated externalizing behavior and lower levels of teacher‐rated social competence. Peer nominations of emotions were significantly associated with teacher ratings but unrelated to self‐ and parent‐report measures. Adding to a small but growing literature, our findings underscore the importance of assessing peer perceptions of children's emotional expressivity and their associations to social and psychological functioning in an urban, predominantly African‐American sample.     

The Role of Peers and Siblings in Toddlers’ Developing Understanding of Incompatible Desires

According to previous research, social experiences with other children might explain why three‐year‐olds are already quite proficient in understanding desires but not beliefs as subjective mental states. This study investigated toddlers’ (N = 50) developing subjective understanding of incompatible desires around the age of 3 years (M = 35.5 months) and the associated social factors (i.e., family demographics, peer, and sibling variables). Results indicated a developmental sequence from understanding desires to understanding desire‐dependent emotions with an unexpected positivity bias in toddlers’ prediction of own emotions. A hierarchical regression model revealed that specific social factors (i.e., reported quality of peer interactions and day care attendance) individually contributed to explaining the variance in children's desire‐reasoning skills. Findings are interpreted as supporting a belief–desire asymmetry, and specific social experiences, such as positive peer interactions and desire conflicts, may promote toddlers’ understanding of incompatible desires as subjective mental states.     

Preschool Boys with Pervasive Hyperactivity: Early Peer Functioning and Mother–Child Relationship Influences

This study compared the peer functioning of a community sample of preschool boys with pervasive hyperactivity (N=33) and comparison boys (N=34), and examined the extent to which any differences in peer functioning between these groups could be explained by comorbid child conduct problems and parenting factors. The quality of boys’ peer relations was assessed on the basis of teacher and observer ratings of peer‐related behavior at preschool. The quality of parenting and boys’ behavior at home were assessed using the Parental Account of Children's Symptoms Interview, the Parenting Scale, and videotaped mother–son interactions. Boys with hyperactive behavior problems showed higher rates of aggressive, noncompliant, and nonsocial behaviors, and lower rates of prosocial behavior and peer acceptance than boys in the comparison group. These between‐group differences in social functioning remained significant following statistical control for the effects of conduct problems, highlighting the wide range of peer difficulties associated with preschool hyperactivity. Results of further analyses suggest that the quality of early mother–child interactions and the behavioral features of hyperactivity may make unique contributions to the 00development of peer relationship difficulties in preschool children with pervasive hyperactivity.     

Social Competence with Peers in Third Grade: Associations with Earlier Peer Experiences in Childcare1

The early developmental antecedents of individual differences in children's social functioning with peers in third grade were examined using longitudinal data from the large‐scale National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) study of early child care. In a sample of 1,364 children, with family and child factors controlled, the frequency of positive and negative peer interactions in childcare between 24 and 54 months and the number of hours spent in childcare peer groups of different sizes (alone, dyad, small, medium, large) predicted third graders' peer competence at three levels of analysis: individual social skills, dyadic friendships, and peer‐group acceptance. Children who had more positive experiences with peers in childcare had better social and communicative skills with peers in third grade, were more sociable and co‐operative and less aggressive, had more close friends, and were more accepted and popular. Children with more frequent negative experiences with peers in childcare were more aggressive in third grade, had lower social and communicative skills, and reported having fewer friends. When children spent more time in small‐sized peer groups in childcare (four or fewer children at 24 months of age up to seven or fewer at 54 months), they were more sociable and co‐operative in third grade, but their teachers rated them as more aggressive, suggesting that such children may be more socially outgoing and active both positively and negatively. Like those who spent more time in small peer groups, children who spent more hours in medium‐sized groups received higher ratings for peer aggression by their third‐grade teachers. Children who spent more time with one other child in childcare or in small peer groups had fewer classroom friends in third grade as reported by the teacher but not according to maternal report or self‐report. There were no significant associations between the amount of time children spent in large childcare‐based peer groups and third‐grade peer social competence.     

Social-Cognitive Factors in Childhood Social Anxiety: A Preliminary Investigation

The present study addresses the social cognition of socially anxious children, with particular emphasis on their ability to understand others' mental states in interpersonal situations. The heterogeneous sample used in this preliminary investigation consisted of 63 primary school children in England and the USA. The English children were from a mainstream classroom of 8- to 9-year-olds, while the children from the USA ranged in age from 6 to 11 years and had been selected by school district officials for a variety of social interaction difficulties. All children completed measures of social anxiety, shy negative affect, and various social-cognitive abilities, and teacher ratings of social skills were additionally available for the USA subgroup. Results showed that feelings of social anxiety are not associated with any basic deficit in the understanding of recursive mental states which concern facts about the physical world. However, there was evidence that socially anxious children—particularly those with high levels of shy negative affect—do experience specific social-cognitive difficulties in understanding the links between emotions, intentions, and beliefs in social situations. Providing further support for this link, socially anxious children were rated by their teachers as poorer than non-anxious children only on social skills that require insight into others' mental states. Directions for further examination of this complex interplay between cognitive and emotional factors in the development of social anxiety are discussed.     

Cooperative Problem-Solving and Teaching in Preschoolers

The current study investigated the ontogenetic origins of children's skills of cooperative problem-solving in a task involving two complementary roles. Participants were peer dyads of 24, 30, 36, and 42 months of age. Primary dyads were initially presented with an instrumental problem whose solution required them to cooperate by coordinating two complementary actions. To further investigate their understanding of the task, these same dyads were then presented with the same problem but with roles reversed. Finally, after each of these primary participants had demonstrated proficiency in both roles, each was separately paired with a naive peer and given the opportunity to teach the naive partner the task. A clear ontogenetic trend emerged. Even with adult assistance, 24-month-old children never became independently proficient at the task. Thirty-and 36-month-old children became proficient mostly independently, but only relatively slowly and without demonstrating extensive amounts of behavioral coordination or the use of explicitly directive language to facilitate coordination. Although they did show evidence of recognizing when a peer was new to the task, children of this age engaged in little explicit teaching of naive peers. In contrast, 42-month-old children mastered the task much more quickly than the other children, responded much more quickly and accurately when their roles were reversed, coordinated both their actions and language in the task to a much greater extent, and engaged in more explicit teaching of naïve peers. Results are discussed in terms of the developing social cognitive skills that enable children from 2 to 4 years of age to understand other persons as mental agents with whom they may share mental perspectives.     

Maternal Mental State Language and Preschool Children's Attachment Security: Relation to Children's Mental State Language and Expressions of Emotional Understanding

Mothers’ mental state language in conversation with their preschool children, and children's preschool attachment security were examined for their effects on children's mental state language and expressions of emotional understanding in their conversation. Children discussed an emotionally salient event with their mothers and then relayed the event to a stranger. Compared to mothers of insecurely attached children, mothers of securely attached children used more mental state language and had children who used more mental state language with both mother and stranger, and who expressed more emotional understanding in the mother–child conversation. Maternal mental state language and attachment security made shared contributions to children's mental state language with their mothers. Maternal mental state language accounted for the effects of attachment security on children's expressions of emotional understanding in the mother–child conversation. Mothers’ mental state language to their children may enhance secure attachment and foster children's understanding of mental states in self and others.     

A Three‐factor Structure of Emotion Understanding in Third‐grade Children

Theoretical conceptualizations of emotion understanding generally imply a two‐factor structure comprised of recognition of emotional expressions and understanding emotion‐eliciting situations. We tested this structure in middle childhood and then explored the unique predictive value of various facets of emotion understanding in explaining children's socioemotional competence. Participants were 201 third‐grade children and their mothers. Children completed five different measures, which provided eight distinct indices of emotion understanding. Mothers completed two questionnaires assessing children's socioemotional skills and problems. Results indicated that: (a) emotion understanding in third‐grade children was differentiated into three unique factors: Prototypical Emotion Recognition, Prototypical Emotion Knowledge, and Advanced Emotion Understanding, (b) skills within factors were modestly related, (c) factors varied in complexity, supporting theoretical and empirical models detailing developmental sequencing of skills, and (d) skills in Prototypical Emotion Knowledge were uniquely related to mothers’ reports of third‐grade children's socioemotional competence. Implications regarding elementary‐school‐age children's social cognitive development are discussed.     

Self-perceived Social Acceptance and Peer Social Standing in Children with Aggressive–Disruptive Behaviors

Examining children's perceptions of their social acceptance in conjunction with others’ ratings of their peer social standing can enhance our understanding of the heterogeneity in children exhibiting disruptive behavior problems. Using a sample of 213 youth rated in the top 31 percent of their class on aggressive–disruptive behaviors, the current study examined the interaction between children's perceptions of their social acceptance and their peer‐rated social standing in predicting emotional and behavioral problems. Overall, lower peer‐rated social standing was associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior, academic problems, and hyperactivity/inattention. On the other hand, higher self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased levels of peer‐rated fighting at school. For children who were rated as having high social standing among their peers, poorer self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased oppositional behaviors and conduct problems at home. In addition, children who reported lower self‐perceived social acceptance exhibited increased levels of depressive symptoms, even when they were relatively well liked by their peers. The potential implications for working with subgroups of children with aggressive–disruptive behaviors are discussed.     

Exploring the Bidirectionality of Emotion Understanding and Classroom Behavior with Spanish‐ and English‐speaking Preschoolers Attending Head Start

The present study investigated time‐dependent relationships between emotion understanding and the behavioral adjustment of preschoolers over a single school year using a latent variable structural equation modeling framework. Teacher reports of child behavior (hyperactivity, emotion symptoms, conduct problems, peer problems, and prosocial behavior) and performance assessments of emotion understanding were obtained twice at a 6‐month interval for a sample of 281 preschoolers (159 boys and 122 girls, with mean age = 52.40 months) from English‐ (N = 158) and Spanish‐speaking (N = 123) backgrounds. Emotion understanding and behavior were stable over time, and cross‐sectional associations between them were in expected directions. Cross‐lagged paths revealed that the behavior variables significantly associated with emotion understanding across time were hyperactivity, emotion symptoms, and peer problems, and that behavior variables were generally better predictors of emotion understanding than vice versa. Differences across gender and language groups suggest a stronger and more complex bidirectional relationship between emotion understanding and behavior for girls and for Spanish‐speaking children compared wth boys and English‐speaking children. Results are discussed with respect to the value of exploring cross‐lagged relationships and the potential importance of gender and culture as determinants of those relationships.     

Emotional Climate in Families Experiencing Homelessness: Associations with Child Affect and Socioemotional Adjustment in School

This study examined associations among family‐level risks, emotional climate, and child adjustment in families experiencing homelessness. Emotional climate, an indirect aspect of emotion socialization, was indexed by parents’ expressed emotion while describing their children. Sociodemographic risk and parent internalizing distress were hypothesized to predict more negativity and less warmth in the emotional climate. Emotional climate was expected to predict observer‐rated child affect and teacher‐reported socioemotional adjustment, mediating effects of risk. Participants were 138 homeless parents (64 percent African‐American) and their four‐ to six‐year‐old children (43.5 percent male). During semi‐structured interviews, parents reported demographic risks and internalizing distress and completed a Five Minute Speech Sample about their child, later rated for warmth and negativity. Children's positive and negative affect were coded from videotapes of structured parent‐child interaction tasks. Socioemotional adjustment (externalizing behavior, peer acceptance, and prosocial behavior) was reported by teachers a few months later. Hypotheses were partially supported. Parent internalizing distress was associated with higher parent negativity, which was linked to more negative affect in children, and parent warmth was associated with children's positive affect. Neither emotional climate nor child affect predicted teacher‐reported externalizing behavior or peer acceptance, but parental negativity and male sex predicted lower prosocial behavior in the classroom. Future research directions and clinical implications are discussed.     

Participant roles in preschool bullying: The impact of emotion regulation,social preference,and quality of the teacher–child relationship

The present work investigated whether emotion regulation and social preference were associated with participant roles in bullying as a function of the quality of the relationship with teachers. Participants were 332 children (172 boys), in the age of 42–76 months (M = 58.74; SD = 7.84). Peer nominations were employed to assess social preference and participant roles (bullying, victimization, defending the victim, and outsider behavior). Teachers completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist, which yields the dimensions of emotion regulation and lability/negativity, and the Student – Teacher Relationships Scale, to evaluate conflict and closeness with the teacher. Multilevel models highlighted that emotional lability was positively associated with bullying and outsider behavior, emotion regulation was positively related to bullying and defending behavior, and social preference was negatively associated with bullying and victimization and positively with defending behavior. Interactions indicated that lability and low social preference were associated with bullying, and emotion regulation with outsider behavior, in children with a conflictual relationship with the teacher whereas social preference was related to defending behavior in children with a close relationship with the teacher. Results are discussed highlighting the importance of the quality of teacher–child relationship and the relevance of intervention programs aimed at promoting social wellbeing in preschool.     

Affective Qualities of Sibling Disputes, Mothers' Conflict Attitudes, and Children's Theory of Mind Development

Preschoolers' theory of mind (ToM) was examined in relation to emotional features of their conflicts with siblings, using mothers as privileged informants. Fifty-four children aged 3 to 5 years and their 54 mothers took part. Children were given 10 standard false belief tasks and a standardized language test. Mothers completed questionnaires, rated vignettes, and kept a conflict diary to provide detailed data on siblings' conflicts, mothers' conflict attitudes, and mothers' use of mental state language to talk about children's disputes. Results revealed that children's ToM scores were significantly correlated with affective dimensions of their sibling disputes, including more frequent expression of positive emotion while disagreeing and less post-conflict distress. Logistic regression showed these associations were independent of age and verbal ability. Mothers' conflict attitudes were significantly correlated with the affective outcome of their children's disputes but not with the preschooler's level of ToM understanding. Findings are discussed in relation to possible reciprocal influences between ToM development and the growth of affectively positive and constructive conflict resolution skills.     

The Relation Between Emotion Production Behavior and Preschool Social Behavior: In the Eye of the Beholder

Two questions were examined with a sample of preschool children: (a) What is the relation between emotion production behavior and classroom social behavior?; and (b) Does familiarity with a child affect the perception of emotion expressions and the relations between emotion expressions and social behavior? Two theoretical perspectives on the ‘eye of the beholder’ (familiarity) were evaluated: reputation bias and generalized effects. Sixty‐eight (55% female) children were photographed posing emotion expressions (e.g., happy, sad, and angry). Expressions were rated by classmates, peer strangers, and adults. Classmates and teachers evaluated social behavior. Analyses indicated that children who were more negative and dependent had angry production biases and were likely to display happy expressions instead of sad. Results support the reputation bias and generalized familiarity theories.