ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of different types of negative emotion and regulation and control to 55- to 97-month-olds' internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Parents and teachers provided information on children's (N = 214) adjustment, dispositional regulation and control, and emotion, and children's regulation was observed during several behavioral tasks. Internalizing was defined in two ways: as social withdrawal (to avoid overlap of items with measures of emotionality) or, more broadly, as anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic complaints. In general, children with externalizing problems, compared with children with internalizing problems and nondisordered children, were more prone to anger, impulsivity, and low regulation. Children with internalizing symptoms were prone to sadness, low attentional regulation, and low impulsivity. Relations between internalizing problems and emotionality were more frequent when the entire internalizing scale was used. Findings suggest that emotion and regulation are associated with adjustment in systematic ways and that there is an important difference between effortful control and less voluntary modes of control.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Emotions , Internal-External Control , Adaptation, Psychological , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Personality Assessment , TemperamentABSTRACT
The relations between mothers' expressed positive and negative emotion and 55-79-month-olds' (76% European American) regulation, social competence, and adjustment were examined. Structural equation modeling was used to test the plausibility of the hypothesis that the effects of maternal expression of emotion on children's adjustment and social competence are mediated through children's dispositional regulation. Mothers' expressed emotions were assessed during interactions with their children and with maternal reports of emotions expressed in the family. Children's regulation, externalizing and internalizing problems. and social competence were rated by parents and teachers, and children's persistence was surreptitiously observed. There were unique effects of positive and negative maternal expressed emotion on children's regulation. and the relations of maternal expressed emotion to children's externalizing problem behaviors and social competence were mediated through children's regulation. Alternative models of causation were tested; a child-directed model in which maternal expressivity mediated the effects of child regulation on child outcomes did not fit the data as well.
Subject(s)
Affect , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Mother-Child Relations , Mothers/psychology , Social Perception , Age Factors , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Sex FactorsABSTRACT
The relations of parents' warmth, emotional expressivity, and discussion of emotion to 2nd-5th graders' regulation of emotional expressivity, externalizing problem behaviors, and expressivity were examined. Parents' and children's facial expressions to evocative slides were observed, as was parents' discussion of the slides, and parents and teachers provided information on children's regulation of expressivity and problem behavior. Analyses supported the hypothesis that the effect of parental variables on children's problem behavior was at least partly indirect through their children's regulation of emotion. Children's low negative (versus positive) facial expressivity to negative slides was associated with problem behavior for boys. A reversed model did not support the possibility that children's functioning had causal effects on parenting. The findings suggest that parents' emotion-related behaviors are linked to children's regulation of expressivity and externalizing behaviors.
Subject(s)
Affect , Facial Expression , Parent-Child Relations , Parents/psychology , Socialization , Child , Child Behavior , Female , Humans , Male , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of individual differences in negative emotionality in the relations of behavioral and attentional (emotional) regulation to externalizing problem behaviors. Teachers' and one parent's reports of children's regulation (attentional and behavioral), emotionality, and problem behavior were obtained when children were in kindergarten to grade 3 and two years later (N = 169; 146 in major analyses); children's behavioral regulation also was assessed with a measure of persistence. According to the best fitting structural equation model, at two ages behavioral dysregulation predicted externalizing behavior problems for children both high and low in negative emotionality, whereas prediction of problem behavior from attentional control was significant only for children prone to negative emotionality. There were unique, additive effects of behavioral and attentional regulation for predicting problem behavior as well as moderating effects of negative emotionality for attentional regulation.
Subject(s)
Attention , Child Behavior Disorders/etiology , Emotions , Impulsive Behavior , Internal-External Control , Negativism , Age Factors , Child , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Humans , Male , Models, Psychological , Predictive Value of Tests , Prospective Studies , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Individual differences in emotionality and regulation are central to conceptions of temperament and personality. In this article, conceptions of emotionality and regulation and ways in which they predict social functioning are examined. Linear (including additive) and nonlinear effects are reviewed. In addition, data on mediational and moderational relations from a longitudinal study are presented. The effects of attention regulation on social functioning were mediated by resiliency, and this relation was moderated by negative emotionality at the first, but not second, assessment. Negative emotionality moderated the relation of behavior regulation to socially appropriate/prosocial behavior. These results highlight the importance of examining different types of regulation and the ways in which dispositional characteristics interact in predicting social outcomes.
Subject(s)
Emotions , Individuality , Personality Development , Social Adjustment , Temperament , Child , Child, Preschool , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Models, Psychological , Sampling StudiesABSTRACT
Relations between self-reported parental reactions to children's negative emotions (PNRs) and children's socially appropriate/problem behavior and negative emotionality were examined longitudinally. Evidence was consistent with the conclusion that relations between children's externalizing (but not internalizing) emotion and parental punitive reactions to children's negative emotions are bidirectional. Reports of PNRs generally were correlated with low quality of social functioning. In structural models, mother-reported problem behavior at ages 10-12 was at least marginally predicted from mother-reported problem behavior, children's regulation, and parental punitive or distress reactions. Moreover, parental distress and punitive reactions at ages 6-8 predicted reports of children's regulation at ages 8-10, and regulation predicted parental punitive reactions at ages 10-12. Father reports of problem behavior at ages 10-12 were predicted by earlier problem behavior and parental distress or punitive reactions; some of the relations between regulation and parental reactions were similar to those in the models for mother-reported problem behavior. Parental perceptions of their reactions were substantially correlated over 6 years. Some nonsupportive reactions declined in the early to mid-school years, but all increased into late childhood/early adolescence.
Subject(s)
Child Development , Child Rearing , Emotions/physiology , Parents/psychology , Socialization , Age Factors , Chi-Square Distribution , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/etiology , Family Health , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Models, Psychological , Multivariate Analysis , Neurotic Disorders/etiology , Parent-Child Relations , Rejection, Psychology , Sex Factors , Social Behavior , Temperament/physiologyABSTRACT
The issue of whether there is consistency in prosocial dispositions was examined with a longitudinal data set extending from ages 4 to 5 years into early adulthood (N = 32). Spontaneous prosocial behaviors observed in the preschool classroom predicted actual prosocial behavior, other- and self-reported prosocial behavior, self-reported sympathy, and perspective taking in childhood to early adulthood. Prosocial behaviors that were not expected to reflect an other-orientation (i.e., low cost helping and compliant prosocial behavior) generally did not predict later prosocial behavior or sympathy. Sympathy appeared to partially mediate the relation of early spontaneous sharing to later prosocial dispositions. The results support the view that there are stable individual differences in prosocial responding that have their origins in early childhood.
Subject(s)
Interpersonal Relations , Personality Development , Socialization , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Cohort Studies , Female , Humans , Individuality , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
The relation of 8- to 10-year-olds' teacher-reported dispositional sympathy to regulation and emotionality was examined with a longitudinal sample. In general, sympathy was correlated with adults' reports of regulation and low negative emotionality contemporaneously and, to some degree, 2 and 4 years prior. General emotional intensity interacted with some aspects of regulation in predicting sympathy; for example, attention focusing predicted sympathy but only for children low in general emotional intensity. In general, the pattern of correlations changed little from age 6-8 to age 8-10 years, although parent-reported negative emotionality was more highly negatively related to sympathy at the older age. Dispositional sympathy was associated with verbal or physiological markers of sympathy in a laboratory setting.
Subject(s)
Character , Emotions , Empathy , Personality Development , Arousal , Attention , Child , Female , Humans , Individuality , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Social PerceptionABSTRACT
The relations of teachers' and parents' reports of children's shyness (i.e., social inhibition) at ages 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 years to dispositional regulation, emotionality, and coping were examined. Shyness was positively related to internalizing negative emotion, coping by doing nothing, and, for parent-rated shyness, behavioral inhibition/nonimpulsivity, attention focusing, and avoidant coping; it was negatively related to positive emotionality, instrumental coping, seeking support from teachers (at younger ages), and for teacher-rated shyness, attentional control. Often prediction held over several years and/or across reporters. Parent-reported internalizing negative emotion at age 4-6 predicted shyness at ages 6-8 and 8-10, but primarily for children low in attention shifting. Teacher-rated shyness was related to low social status; parent-rated shyness correlated with boys' adult-rated social status at age 4-6 and with style of social interaction, particularly for girls. The relation between parent- and teacher-reported shyness decreased with age. The overall pattern of findings was partially consistent with the conclusion that parent-rated shyness reflected primarily social wariness with unfamiliar people (i.e., temperamental shyness), whereas teacher-rated shyness tapped social inhibition due to social evaluative concerns.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Emotions , Personality Development , Shyness , Child , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Peer Group , Personality Assessment , Social Environment , Social Perception , Sociometric TechniquesABSTRACT
Relations of regulation and emotionality to social functioning were examined for 77 children followed from early to middle school age. Parents and teachers reported on children's social behavior, emotionality, and regulation, and children engaged in analogue peer conflict situations (i.e., with puppets). High-quality social functioning was predicted by high regulation and low levels of nonconstructive coping, negative emotionality, and general emotional intensity. Prediction often was obtained across reporters and time, although prediction was strongest within context (home versus school). Moreover, measures of regulation and emotionality frequently contributed unique variance to the prediction of social functioning. Contemporaneous correlations at age 8-10 were similar to those obtained at age 6-8, and prediction of later social functioning from emotionality and regulation at age 4-6 was similar at ages 6-8 and 8-10.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Child Behavior , Emotions , Psychology, Child , Social Behavior , Agonistic Behavior , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Negativism , Parents/psychology , Peer Group , Predictive Value of Tests , Schools , Time FactorsABSTRACT
The hypothesis that gender differences in children's adjustment is partially influenced by differences in temperament and interactions with same-sex peers was examined. Fifty-seven predominantly White, middle-class preschoolers (29 boys and 28 girls, M age = 54.5 months) participated. Measures were taken of children's arousability, problem behaviors, and tendencies to play with same-sex peers. A semester later, children's peer status was assessed. Analyses revealed that arousability and same-sex peer play interacted to predict problem behaviors. For boys high in arousability, play with same-sex peers increased problem behaviors. In contrast, arousable girls who played with other girls were relatively unlikely to show problem behaviors. Moreover, the interaction of arousability and same-sex peer play predicted boys' (but not girls') peer status, and this relation was partially mediated by problem behaviors. The role of gender-related processes is discussed.
Subject(s)
Arousal , Gender Identity , Play and Playthings , Social Adjustment , Temperament , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Peer Group , Personality Assessment , SocializationABSTRACT
The relations of regulation and emotionality to elementary school children's social functioning were examined. Teachers and peers reported on children's social functioning; 1 parent and teacher rated children on various measures of regulation, resiliency, and emotionality; and a behavioral index of regulation was obtained. The effects of individual differences in attentional regulation on social status and socially appropriate behavior were mediated by resiliency, and dispositional negative emotionality moderated the positive relation between attentional control and resiliency (with this path being stronger for children high in negative emotionality). The effects of behavioral regulation were not mediated by resiliency; however, the relation of behavioral regulation to socially appropriate behavior (but not social status) was moderated by negative emotionality, with effects being significant and higher for children high in negative emotionality.
