Emotion Talk in Preschool Same-Sex Friendship Groups: Fluidity over Time and Context

Abstract

Recent research suggests that through the medium of "emotion talk," American, middle-class parents socialize daughters to express emotion more and to focus on sadness and socialize sons to express emotion less and to focus on anger. However, little is known about peer emotion socialization. The present study utilizes a notion of "emotion talk" expanded from previous studies and follows its use among preschool peers using a longitudinal design. Two friendships groups in a mixed-age preschool classroom of 3-and 4-year-old children at a university-based children's center were identified and videotaped in different contexts at different time points in the academic year. The boys' friendship group evolved norms over time against the expression of scaredness simultaneously with norms downgrading girl characteristics. Both the boys' and girls' friendship groups showed contextual fluidity in the expression of emotion and emotion talk that argue against an essentialist model of emotion socialization and development. This study's findings of contextual fluidity in emotion talk suggest policy implications for the promotion of gender equity. Mixed-age classrooms that provide children with a range of opportunities to engage in activities that cross gender boundaries may minimize gender polarization and maximize gender equity.