Preschoolers’ emotion knowledge: Self-regulatory foundations, and predictions of early school success

Abstract

Preschoolers (N= 322 in preschool, 100 in kindergarten) were assessed longitudinally to examine the self-regulatory roots of emotion knowledge (labeling and situation) and the contributions of emotion knowledge to early school adjustment (i.e., including social, motivational, and behavioral indices), as well as moderation by age, gender, and risk. Age, gender, and risk differences in emotion knowledge were also examined. Emotion knowledge skills were found to be more advanced in older children and those not at economic risk, and in those with higher levels of self-regulation. Overall, the results support the role of emotion knowledge in early school adjustment and academic success even with gender, age, and risk covaried, especially for boys, older preschoolers, and those at economic risk.

Emotion understanding in preschool children

“…Contrary to their expectations, the strongest correlation among the four factors was found between emotion understanding and EFs, that is, across emotional and cognitive domains. Blankson et al (2012) provided three interpretations for their findings, which are consistent with those of Denham et al (2012). First, they hypothesized that throughout development and during emotion-learning events, children who are better able to hold information in their short-term awareness and able to inhibit dominant in favor of subdominant information will be better at regulating their attention in emotion-learning events.…”

“…Children that are more successful at understanding emotional cues are more likely to develop appropriate social skills and prosocial responses to peers and to form positive interpersonal relationships that foster adaptation to social situations (de Rosnay, Harris, & Pons, 2008;Harris, 2006). For example, preschoolers' ability to recognize and understand others' emotions has been linked to their social competence (Trentacosta & Fine, 2010); peer acceptance, popularity and leadership (Harris, 2008); diminished aggressive behaviors (Denham et al, 2002); fewer externalizing and internalizing problems (Trentacosta & Fine, 2010); school readiness and early academic competences (Denham et al, 2012;Garner & Waajid, 2008;Leerkes, Paradise, O'Brien, Calkins, & Lange, 2008). Even though children's understanding of emotion improves with age, early individual differences in the overall level of such understanding persist across development (Pons & Harris, 2005).…”

Social skills in preschool children with unilateral and mild bilateral hearing loss

“…Such knowledge allows us to understand social processes and is thus an important prerequisite for psychosocial and cognitive development (Denham et al, 2012;Rieffe & De Rooij, 2012;Rosnay, Harris, & Pons, 2008). Some research indicates that children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) have delays in emotion understanding, such as emotion attribution from situational cues (Gray, Hosie, Russell, Scott, & Hunter, 2007) and understanding causes of emotions (Rieffe, Terwogt, & Smit, 2003), whereas findings are more mixed regarding emotion recognition .…”

The development of emotion understanding at the preschool childhood: a psychological perspective

“…Следовательно, динамически изменяюща-яся осведомленность детей о разнообразных эмоциях в период дошкольно-го обучения может повлиять на их дальнейший школьный успех через по-строение структуры знаний об эмоциях [56].…”

“…Следовательно, дети с низким уровнем развития внимания и поведен-ческого ингибиторного контроля, рабочей памяти и способности подавлять доминантные реакции могут неправильно воспринимать эмоциональные выражения и пропускать ключевую информацию об эмоциональной ситу-ации. Дошкольники, имеющие низкий уровень сформированности обоих аспектов саморегуляции, могут спровоцировать негативные эмоциональ-ные реакции со стороны окружающих, что в свою очередь нарушит про-цесс усвоения ими нормативных знаний об эмоциональной ситуации [56].…”