Development of Emotions and Their Regulation

Abstract

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Characteristics of pretend play and their contributions to preschool children's emotion regulation

“…Because pretend play typically involves more social interaction than non-pretend play (Connolly & Doyle, 1984;de Lorimier et al, 1995), this may be the best space for children to develop ER skills. As noted earlier, the development of ER starts out largely as an external process where children rely heavily on the guidance of more-skilled others to learn how to respond in emotionally arousing situations (Holodynski & Friedlmeier, 2005). This aligns with Vygotsky's ideas.…”

“…ER involves monitoring one's emotional state and employing strategies to modify emotional experiences, typically in pursuit of a goal (Denham, 2006;Harrington et al, 2020). Children in preschool are beginning to regulate their emotions with less outside help (Holodynski & Friedlmeier, 2005), and studies have suggested that ER ability is associated with engagement in pretend play (e.g., Lindsey & Colwell, 2013). Despite these links, few causal conclusions can be drawn due to mixed results in intervention studies: some target ER-adjacent skills or provide immediate results that fade (Blair et al, 2018), and some benefit children only in specific, non-generalizable contexts (Moore & Russ, 2008).…”

“…According to Holodynski and Friedlmeier's (2005) internalization model, parents assist with almost all regulation during infancy and toddlerhood. Autonomy slowly increases until children reach adulthood, when they can more easily regulate their own emotions and reason about others' emotions.…”

“…Young children in preschool are still developing their ER skills, so they often benefit from external adult support in this area (Denham, 2006). However, Holodynski and Friedlmeier (2005) highlight the significant decreases in external adult support of ER and contrasting increases in intrapersonal regulation (more self-directed, internal ER) occurring during early childhood. This transition from external, assisted ER to internal, self-directed ER makes the preschool years a prime time for intervention, especially considering the ties between early ER and later social and academic achievement.…”

The role of emotional dysregulation in the association between family‐of‐origin conflict and romantic relationship maintenance

“…Theories of family systems (e.g., Bowen, 1978;Kerr & Bowen, 1988) and emotional self-regulation development (e.g., Morris et al, 2007) both posit that one's ability to regulate emotions is transmitted across generations in families. Although emotional self-regulation becomes more internal and automatic over time (Holodynski & Friedlmeier, 2005), children initially rely heavily on external support to regulate emotional responses (Thompson, 1994). Through these external regulation actions, and their own emotional displays, parents are creating a model for their child of what emotions are appropriate to express as well as how and in what contexts to express these emotions (Morris et al, 2007).…”