Erin Way

Preschoolers' emotion knowledge: self-regulatory foundations, and predictions of early school success.

Preschoolers (N=322 in preschool, 100 in kindergarten) were assessed longitudinally to examine the self-regulatory roots of emotion knowledge (labelling and situation) and the contributions of emotion knowledge to early school adjustment (i.e., including social, motivational, and behavioural 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.

“I Know How You Feel”: Preschoolers’ emotion knowledge contributes to early school success

Differences in emotion knowledge by children’s age, gender, and socioeconomic risk status, as well as associations of emotion knowledge with executive control, social competence, and early classroom adjustment, were investigated. On emotion knowledge, 4- and 5-year-olds scored higher than 3-year-olds, with girls showing this effect more strongly. Socioeconomic risk status and emotion knowledge were negatively related. Furthermore, executive control was found to contribute to variance in emotion knowledge. Even with age, gender, socioeconomic risk status, and executive control covaried, emotion knowledge contributed to variance in social competence. Given these covariates, it contributed only indirectly to classroom adjustment, via its contribution to social competence. Implications are discussed for practice and policy attention to emotion knowledge within social–emotional curricula and assessment, targeting the period between ages 3 and 4 years, as well as children living in poverty.

Social and emotional information processing in preschoolers: Indicator of early school success?

To better connect emotional development and social cognition literatures, in this study, the intersection of preschoolers’ emotion and behaviour response choices to hypothetical peer conflicts was examined among 305 4½-year-olds in private childcare and Head Start. Latent class analyses identified five subgroups of children with connections between their emotion and behaviour response choices (happy/passive, sad/socially competent, angry/passive, angry/aggressive, and sad/passive). Subgroup membership differed across genders and economic risk statuses and was also a predictor of early school success (i.e. social competence, classroom adjustment, and academic readiness). Overall, even after accounting for the associations between known predictors of young childrens behaviour and school success (i.e. gender and socioeconomic status), membership in the subgroups in preschool was uniquely predictive of both concurrent and later social competencies, classroom adjustment, and academic readiness. Furthermore, preschool social competence partially mediated contributions of subgroup membership in kindergarten classroom adjustment. These findings are discussed in relation to existing social information processing and emotional development literatures, including potential implications for understanding young childrens early school success.

“How Would You Feel? What Would You Do?” Development and Underpinnings of Preschoolers’ Social Information Processing

Young children’s social information processing (SIP) encompasses a series of steps by which they make sense of encounters with other persons; cognitive and emotional aspects of SIP often predict adjustment in school settings. More attention is needed, however, to the development of preschoolers’ SIP and its potential foundations. To this end, a new preschool SIP measure, the Challenging Situations Task (CST), was utilized; preschoolers’ (N = 316) self-reported emotional and behavioral responses to hypothetical peer provocation situations on the CST were assessed longitudinally, along with aspects of their self-regulation and emotion knowledge. Age and developmental differences in CST responses were examined. Next, contributions of executive control and emotion knowledge to CST responses were analyzed. Age differences in emotion and behavior choices showed that younger preschoolers were more prone to choose happy responses, whereas older preschoolers chose more adaptive behavior responses. Self-regulation and emotion knowledge were associated with emotion and behavior responses concurrently and across time. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Guided Participation in a Cooking Activity over Time

In order to examine changes in maternal guidance over time, fourteen mothers and their preschoolers participated in a baking activity on two occasions over the course of one year. Maternal scaffolding and guidance, as well as parent and child engagement in the task, were assessed both times. Both scaffolding and guidance decreased at the second observation, supporting the premise that parental support is lessened as the childs experience and abilities increase. Results thus provided support for the zone of proximal development hypothesis. Childrens engagement in the cooking activity was positively associated with parental guidance, though negatively associated with high amounts of scaffolding, or direct intervention. Parental guidance may have been associated with the childs greater participation and involvement in the on-going activity, whereas higher levels of scaffolding reflected more parental control of the activity. Finally, when asked how they normally provide help to their child in various contexts, mothers mentioned the importance of positive encouragement, verbal instruction, asking questions, and modeling appropriate behaviors.