Malinda J. Colwell

Family conflict in divorced and non-divorced families: Potential consequences for boys’ friendship status and friendship quality

This study examined associations between family conflict and the quality of boys’ friendships in divorced and non-divorced families. Interviews and self-report measures were completed by 173 boys (Mage = 8.10; 92 Caucasian, 65 African American) and their parents from divorced and non-divorced families. Findings indicated that boys from divorced families had fewer friends, and lower quality friendships, than boys from non-divorced families. Marital conflict was associated with low levels of reasoning in mother-son and sibling-brother relationships in non-divorced families, and low levels of reasoning in father-son relationships in divorced families. Family conflict-resolution strategies mediated connections between marital conflict and the number of boys’ mutual friendships as well as boys’ friendship quality.

Emotion Framing: Does It Relate to Children's Emotion Knowledge and Social Behavior?.

This study examined the associations between maternal emotion framing and mother–child relationship quality and childrens emotional and social competence. Sixty‐one mothers and their preschool children (33 boys) completed dyadic and individual measures. Observations were made of mother–child synchrony and maternal emotion framing. Childrens emotion understanding and receptive vocabulary was assessed via individual interviews. Teachers reported on childrens social skills. Results show that maternal emotion framing, particularly mildly positive framing, significantly contributes to childrens emotion understanding. Children in higher quality relationships with their mothers had better emotion understanding. Therefore, support was found for the roles of relationship quality and maternal emotion framing in childrens emotional competence. Unexpectedly, fewer significant associations were found between maternal emotion framing, synchrony and childrens social competence. The implications of examining emotion framing and relationship quality as correlates of childrens emotional and social competence are discussed.

Pretend and Physical Play: Links to Preschoolers' Affective Social Competence

This study investigated different forms of pretend and physical play as predictors of preschool children’s affective social competence (ASC). Data were collected from 122 preschool children (57 boys, 65 girls; 86 European American, 9 African American, 17 Hispanic, and 10 other ethnicity) over a 2-year period. Children participated in emotion knowledge interviews, mothers rated children’s emotion regulation skill, and observations were conducted of children’s emotional expressiveness with peers in both Years 1 and 2. Naturalistic observations of children’s peer play behavior were conducted to assess the proportion of time children spend in pretend and physical play in Year 1. Analyses revealed that sociodramatic play predicted children’s emotional expressiveness, emotion knowledge, and emotion regulation 1 year later, after controlling for Year 1 ASC skills. Rough-and-tumble play predicted children’s emotional expressiveness and emotion regulation 1 year later, whereas exercise play predicted only emotion regulation. Some associations between sociodramatic play and rough-and-tumble play and children’s ASC were moderated by gender.

Relation between active mediation, exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and US preschoolers’ social and emotional development

Abstract This study explored the relationship between active mediation, exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and key indicators of preschoolers’ social and emotional development. One hundred and twenty-seven children aged 2–6 either watched or did not watch 10 episodes of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood over a two-week period. Results revealed that preschoolers who watched the program exhibited higher levels of empathy, self-efficacy, and emotion recognition when their regular TV-watching experiences are frequently accompanied by active mediation. This was especially true for younger preschoolers and preschoolers from low-income families. Implications for policy-makers, parents, producers of prosocial programming, and educators are discussed.

Maternal emotion framing and children’s social behavior: the role of children’s feelings and beliefs about peers

Children’s feelings and beliefs about peer relationships were examined as a possible mediator between mothers’ positive and negative emotional framing and children’s (n = 46) behavior with peers. Mothers’ emotion framing was assessed as they and their young children read a picture book depicting emotionally‐laden content, but no printed text. Feelings and beliefs about self and peers were assessed during a puppet interview focusing on beliefs about self and peers. Teachers rated children’s aggressive, competent and withdrawn behavior. Mothers’ emotion framing was significantly associated with children’s cognitive representations of self and peers (r = 0.35 and −0.44, both p < 0.01, for positive and negative emotional framing, respectively) and with withdrawn social behavior (r = −0.39 and 0.41, p < 0.01 for positive and negative framing, respectively). Findings suggest that children’s beliefs about self and peers may mediate the association between mothers’ emotion framing and children’s withdrawn behavior.

Whispers in the ear: preschool children's conceptualisation of secrets and confidants

In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three- to five-year olds (n = 17) in a university-sponsored preschool programme. Analyses using interpretive phenomenology indicated that preschool children view secrets with a sense of intimacy, and they reserve disclosure for a particular person, usually their best friend. There is a sense of ownership surrounding secrets for preschool children, and hence, secrets are regarded as something special to them. Furthermore, secrets are described as something that gives preschool children happiness and are often associated with games or pretend play. Finally, the analysis addresses childrens secret hiding places and the types of concepts preschool children consider as a secret.

Wrapped up in Covers: Preschoolers' Secrets and Secret Hiding Places.

In this qualitative study, interviews about childrens secret hiding places were conducted with 3–5-year-olds (n = 17) in a university sponsored preschool programme using art narratives. Since prior studies indicate that children understand the concept of a secret as early as five and that they associate secrets with hiding places, the purpose of this study was to look specifically at preschool childrens experiences within their secret spaces. Analyses using interpretive phenomenology indicated that preschool children view secret hiding places with a sense of complexity, and they reserve certain areas as off limits to everyone, even in terms of the knowledge that these places exist. Consistent with a sociocultural framework, hiding places appear to serve individual, relational, and collaborative purposes, and children show heightened agency when deciding the function of a particular place. Children also relate secrets with secret hiding places and describe both with excitement, imagination, and intimacy. Finally, childrens conceptualisations of secret hiding places are discussed in relation to the sociocultural perspective and the implications for childrens social and emotional development.

Evaluating the Ability of the PBS Children’s Show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood to Teach Skills to Two Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is a children’s television show incorporating many elements of video modeling, an intervention that can teach skills to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study evaluated the impact of watching Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood episodes on the accurate performance of trying new foods and stopping play politely with two five-year-old children with ASD. Both children showed improved performance of skills only following exposure to episodes of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, suggesting that watching episodes can help children with ASD learn specific skills.

Promoting preschoolers’ emotional competence through prosocial TV and mobile app use

ABSTRACT This study explored the relationship between preschoolers’ exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood television programming and its accompanying mobile app and preschoolers’ emotion knowledge and use of emotion regulation strategies. An experiment involving 121 parent-child dyads from 3 US metro areas found that children who played with the Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood app, and those who both played with the app and watched episodes of the program, employed the emotion regulation strategies taught by Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood media more frequently 1 month later than children in a control condition. Preschoolers (3- and 4-year-olds) also exhibited higher levels of emotion knowledge 1 month after playing with the app. In addition, watching Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood TV episodes in the home led to increases in parents’ provision of active mediation. Implications for families, educators, and producers of educational media content are discussed.

College Students’ Perceptions of Media Portrayals of Divorce

ABSTRACT This study takes an exploratory, qualitative approach to examine college students’ perceptions about divorce in the media. Findings suggest that participants perceived both positive and negative representations of divorced families in the media they consume, highlighting the complex nature of navigating and communicating through a divorce. Specifically, college students reported on aspects of the ex-spousal relationship, how children are affected, and the contrast between life pre- and postdivorce. An inductive theme analysis revealed several positive and negative media representations of divorce. Largely, college students perceive media messages about divorce to be accurate portrayals and impactful representations.