Children's Emotion Research Articles

Parental linguistic content and distancing predict beliefs about emotion and child emotion regulation

ABSTRACT Employing a constructionist framework of emotion, this study examines whether parental language during emotion belief discussions predicts parents’ self-reported beliefs about emotion and child emotion regulation (ER). 102 parents of children ages 8 through 12 participated in focus groups about emotion beliefs, and nine months later, completed questionnaires on their emotion beliefs and child ER. Focus group content was analyzed for positive and negative emotion talk, cognitive process talk, and an established linguistic marker of psychological distancing. Parents’ positive emotion talk and parental linguistic distancing when discussing their child’s (but not their own) emotion experiences positively predicted beliefs about children’s emotional capabilities. Finally, negative emotion talk negatively predicted parental beliefs about children’s capacity to control their own emotions and the value of anger expression as well as child ER. Current findings contribute to our understanding of how parental communication patterns about emotions may influence emotion beliefs and child emotion development.

The Mediating Effect of Emotion Regulation Between Intensive Parenting Attitudes and Parental Anger

Previous research has yielded mixed results about the relationships between intensive parenting attitudes and parental emotions. Further, very few studies have investigated the indirect effects of intensive parenting attitudes on parental anger through parental emotion regulation. In this study, we aim to understand the direct and indirect relationships among these variables, particularly focusing on essentialism and fulfillment and orientation to a child's emotions and emotional lack of control. Results from 654 parents with diverse racial backgrounds indicated that essentialism and fulfillment were significant predictors of parents' use of two dimensions of emotion regulation and that both dimensions were significant predictors of parental anger expression. While emotional lack of control was a significant predictor of parental anger experience, orientation was not. Mediation analyses showed that orientation was a positive mediating emotion regulation between essentialism and anger expression but a negative mediating emotion regulation between fulfillment and anger expression. Emotional lack of control was a positive mediating emotion regulation between essentialism and two anger dimensions but a negative mediating emotion regulation between fulfillment and two anger dimensions. We discussed all these results under the counseling context of helping parents regulate their anger.

Parental depression moderates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and the recognition of children expressions of emotions.

Sensitivity plays a crucial role in parenting as it involves the ability to perceive and respond appropriately to children's signals. Childhood maltreatment and depression can negatively impact adults' ability to recognize emotions, but it is unclear which of these factors has a greater impact or how they interact. This knowledge is central to developing efficient, targeted interventions. This paper examines the interaction between parents' depressive symptoms and childhood maltreatment and its influence on their ability to recognize the five basic emotions (happiness, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust) in children's faces. The sample consisted of 52 parents. Depressive symptoms were measured by the depression subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18), and maltreatment history was assessed by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Children's emotional stimuli were morphed images created using The Child Affective Facial Expression (CAFE) database. Our findings indicate that depressive symptoms moderate the relationship between parents' history of childhood maltreatment and emotion recognition skills. Parents with higher depressive symptoms had lower emotion recognition accuracy when they had not experienced maltreatment. When childhood maltreatment was severe, emotion recognition skills were more consistent across all levels of depression. The relationship between depression and emotion recognition was primarily linked to recognizing sadness in children's faces. These findings highlight how different experiences can affect parental abilities in emotion recognition and emphasize the need for interventions tailored to individual profiles to improve their effectiveness.

Preschool teachers' assessments of behavioural problems, impact on daily life, and engagement in children with neurodevelopmental symptoms: A Swedish comparative, intervention study

AbstractThe interprofessional, interagency model PLUSS offers education for preschool teachers on how to detect and support preschool children with neurodevelopmental symptoms. A total of 119 preschool teachers used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess behavioural problems and the Children's Engagement Questionnaire (CEQ) to evaluate engagement and social interaction in 119 preschool children, before and after their PLUSS education. After education, the preschool teachers rated fewer behavioural problems (total SDQ p < .001) and increased engagement and social interactions (CEQ p < .001). In conclusion, the PLUSS preschool teachers' education and screening with the SDQ and the CEQ facilitate assessment of behavioural problems, engagement and social interaction in preschool children. Increased understanding of neurodevelopmental symptoms seems to influence how preschool teachers manage a child's behaviour, which indirectly changes the child's engagement and social interactions for the better. The preschool teachers expressed perceived needs, especially to learn how to deal with a child's emotions and behavioural regulation, and their interactions with other children.

Islamic Religious Education for Children with Social Emotional Barriers

Some experts in the United Kingdom mention that the homeless are children who have emotional disorders. In this research discussed how a person's self-identity inhibits the development of his emotions. There are three aspects that need to be explored related to one that is inherent in a person and his environment. These three aspects are ego, an identity that shows its existence in the outside world. and social identity in the solidarity of a person in line with the ideals of a group. As for the research related to the homeless how a homeless person or adolescent can carry out his duties as a person and social, of course this is related to the identity and social of homeless adolescents. The child's self-identity is formed through the development of stable and good emotions and social. Of course, the environment also greatly affects the process. The development of children's emotions and social in forming self-identity together also forms a good understanding of children's lives. Therefore, the need for religious education to form an understanding of life that will be realized in the behaviour of children. The results of this study showed that there is a change in behaviour and emotions in children with disabilities with the granting of religious guidance to children with disabilities.

Predicting preschool moral development with school climate: Fuzzy Delphi approach

Education is vital for a person’s development, especially from an Islamic perspective, where the first goal is to foster a servant attitude, talent, personality, and outlook on life. Preschool education is crucial in nurturing a child's nature, emotions, and cognitive and social skills in the first five years. However, the significance of a good school environment, particularly in moral formation, varies among institutions. Therefore, this article aims to build consensus among experts on the role of school environment and classroom management in preschoolers’ moral development. Eleven-panel members validated the survey instrument with items and analyzed it using the Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). According to the study, the experts agree that the physical school environment and classroom management are essential for promoting healthy moral development. Expert consensus was obtained on 19 out of 20 items in the physical school environment and classroom management dimension with an expert agreement level greater than 75% with an average (d) value less than 0.2. The undeniable consensus is that the school environment and classroom management play a crucial role in fostering the moral development of preschool children.

Unpacking maternal minimization responses to children's negative emotions: "Person-oriented" versus "emotion-oriented".

This research aimed to distinguish person minimization from emotion minimization in Chinese families with adolescent children. In Study 1, a scale was developed to assess two types of minimization through expert evaluations (Mage = 35.05 years, 89.47% females) and factor analyses of mothers' reported minimization (n = 417, Mage = 42.73 years). Study 2 showed that person minimization related to adolescents' (n = 412, Mage = 13.91 years, 44.11% females) and mothers' socioemotional dysfunction and mothers' (n = 412, Mage = 41.17 years) nonsupportive responses; emotion minimization correlated with adolescents' and mothers' cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and mothers' supportive responses. In Study 3, an experimental design was used, dividing adolescents into two groups: one group (n = 137, Mage = 12.64 years, 55.33% females) evaluating emotion minimization and the other group (n = 123, Mage = 12.74 years, 52.26% females) evaluating person minimization. The results showed that adolescents rated emotion minimization more positively than person minimization. Study 4 (n = 200, Mage = 13.85, 34.50% females) showed reciprocal relations between problematic communication patterns of adolescents' emotional distress and person minimization over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Mindless to Mindful Parenting? Videofeedback-Enhanced Psychotherapy for Violence-Exposed Mothers and Their Young Children.

This article presents a frequent dilemma of treatment-seeking mothers suffering from complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that is related to exposure to maltreatment and other forms of interpersonal violence. Namely, that complex PTSD symptoms, including dissociative states in mothers that are triggered by normative child emotion dysregulation, aggression, and distress during early childhood, hinder the development of a productive psychotherapeutic process in more traditional psychodynamic psychotherapies for mothers and children. The article thus presents clinician-assisted videofeedback exposure (CAVE) that characterizes a recently manualized brief psychotherapy for this population, called CAVE-approach therapy (CAVEAT). CAVEAT can be used on its own or to preface a deeper process using child-parent psychotherapy or other non-videofeedback-enhanced psychodynamic models. A clinical illustration is provided.

Continuous chains: childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence victimization among displaced women in a war context

BackgroundChildhood victimization has been associated with long-term psychological effects and an increased risk of being victimized in later life. Previous research has primarily focused on sexual abuse during childhood, and a wide range of consequences have been identified. However, a significant gap remains in our understanding of the complex interaction between different forms of childhood abuse and violence in later life, particularly in the context of broader social stressors such as armed conflict and displacement.MethodsThis study examines the association between exposure to different types of childhood maltreatment in the context of family and intimate partner violence (IPV) among displaced women living in refugee camps in northern Iraq. Structured interviews were conducted by trained female psychologists with 332 women aged between 20 and 62 years.ResultsResults indicated that over one-third of the participating women reported experiencing at least one occurrence of IPV by their husbands within the past year. In addition, participants reported experiences of different types of maltreatment (physical, emotional, and sexual violence and physical and emotional neglect) perpetrated by family members in their childhood. While all forms of childhood maltreatment showed an association with IPV within the past year, only emotional childhood maltreatment was found to be a significant predictor of IPV in a multivariate analysis.ConclusionThe study highlights the ongoing impact of child maltreatment and its contribution to increased vulnerability to IPV victimization in later life. In addition, this study describes the specific cultural and contextual elements that contribute to IPV in refugee camps.

Interactive effects of parental support and psychological control on children's emotion regulation.

Parents engage in a variety of behaviors that have important impacts on children's psychosocial functioning, including their ability to effectively regulate emotions. Parental support includes behaviors that convey warmth, love, and acceptance, whereas parental psychological control includes shaming, guilt induction, and love withdrawal. Although the unique effects of these parenting behaviors are most often examined in the literature, it is possible that they may interact with one another to influence child outcomes. The goal of the present study was to examine whether parental psychological control moderated the effect of parental support on children's emotion (dys)regulation over a 6-month period. Participants included 284 third- through fifth-grade students (51.8% boys; 51.1% Hispanic/Latinx) as well as their homeroom teachers. Children completed self-report measures of parental support, psychological control, and emotion (dys)regulation during the fall and spring semesters of an academic year. Teachers also completed measures of emotion (dys)regulation at each time point. Results indicated that parental psychological control moderated the association between parental support and self-reported emotion regulation over time. Specifically, parental support predicted increases in emotion regulation over time among youth reporting lower levels of psychological control; at higher levels, however, parental support was not associated with emotion regulation. Furthermore, psychological control uniquely predicted increases in child-reported emotion dysregulation, whereas parental support predicted decreases in teacher-reported emotion dysregulation. Findings from this study suggest that psychological control may serve as an important target for future parenting interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Influence of Family Nurturing Environment on Children's Emotions and Behaviors

This paper explores the impact of family upbringing environment on children's emotions and behaviors, and analyzes its theoretical framework and research findings. Firstly, we delve into the concept of family upbringing environment, including factors such as family atmosphere, parenting styles, and family support systems. Subsequently, we systematically review relevant literature, discussing the mechanisms through which different family upbringing environments influence children's emotions and behaviors. We find that warm and supportive family environments typically promote healthy emotional development in children and contribute to the formation of positive behavioral patterns; conversely, hostile and indifferent family environments may lead to emotional problems and behavioral abnormalities in children. Further analysis indicates that the influence of family upbringing environment on children extends beyond emotions and behaviors, profoundly impacting their psychosocial development. Finally, this paper proposes suggestions for future research, aiming to deepen understanding of the comprehensive impact of family upbringing environment on children and provide more effective intervention strategies for promoting children's healthy development.

Temporal dynamics and neural variabilities underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children

This study investigated the neural dynamics underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded from 50 autistic and 46 non-autistic children during an emotional Go/Nogo task. Based on single-trial ERP analyses, autistic children, compared to their non-autistic peers, showed a larger Nogo-N170 for angry faces and an increased Nogo-N170 amplitude variation for happy faces during early visual perception. They also displayed a smaller N200 for all faces and a diminished Nogo-N200 amplitude variation for happy and neutral faces during inhibition monitoring and preparation. During the late stage, autistic children showed a larger posterior-Go-P300 for angry faces and an augmented posterior-Nogo-P300 for happy and neutral faces. These findings clarify the differences in neural processing of emotional stimuli and inhibition between Chinese autistic and non-autistic children, highlighting the importance of considering these dynamics when designing intervention to improve emotion regulation in autistic children.

Maternal Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment and Emotion Dysregulation in Chinese Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) have a higher-than-normative possibility of being maltreated by their parents. Research has rarely examined the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment from parents to their children with ODD. This study examined the potential mediating roles of maternal and child emotion dysregulation in the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment from Chinese mothers to their children with ODD, as well as the potential sex difference. A sample of 155 children with ODD ( Mage = 9.56, SD = 1.59; 27.4% girls) and their mothers ( Mage = 36.58, SD = 4.21) was involved. Maternal history of childhood maltreatment, emotion dysregulation, and current physical and emotional abuse were reported by mothers, while child emotion dysregulation was reported by mothers, teachers, and children. The results showed that both maternal and child emotion dysregulation related to the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment, in which only child emotion dysregulation worked as the mediator. And, no sex difference was found. The results are suggestive of the greater significance of child emotion dysregulation than maternal in the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment from Chinese mothers to their children with ODD.

The Adverse Effects of Family Serials and Movies on the Emotions of Middle Childhood

The impact of movies and television on children has been a highly debated topic for years on end. These mediums have demonstrated positive effects on children, encompassing aspects like awareness, knowledge, values, and etiquette. But it can't be denied that with every positive there exists equally negative effects. The negative impacts of movies and television have been looked at by professionals over the course of years and varying results have been obtained. The impact of these media varies depending on the target audience, shaped by internal and external factors like personality, environment, childhood experiences, trauma, and the perception of values and morals. This paper is intended to find out the adverse effect of family serials an movie on the emotions of Middle Childhood. The findings reveals that the content, dialogue and the themes of most of the Family serials and movies result in adverse effect of the students at various age level.

Observing prosociality and talent: the emotional characteristics and behavioral outcomes of elevation and admiration in 6.5- to 8.5-year-old children

Helping and seeing others being helped elicits positive emotions in young children but little is known about the nature of these emotions, especially in middle childhood. Here we examined the specific emotional characteristics and behavioral outcomes of two closely related other-praising moral emotions: elevation and admiration. We exposed 182 6.5- to 8.5-year-old children living in New Zealand, to an elevation- and admiration-inducing video clip. Afterwards children’s emotion experiences and prosocial behaviour was measured. Findings revealed higher levels of happiness, care, and warmth after seeing prosociality in others (elevation condition) and higher levels of upliftment after seeing talent in others (admiration condition). We found no differences in prosocial behavior between the elevation and admiration conditions. This is the first study to assess elevation in childhood and offers a novel paradigm to investigate the role of moral emotions as potential motivators underlying helping.

Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial of the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions Intervention for Highly Dependent Adult Children

Adults who do not work, pursue higher education, or live independently from their parents despite the absence of a diagnosed physical, neurodevelopmental, or intellectual disability are often referred to as having ‘failure to launch’ (FTL). This preliminary randomized controlled trial evaluated a new parent-based intervention for FTL: Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions for FTL (SPACE-FTL). Parents of adults with FTL were assigned to SPACE-FTL or a waitlist. Primary outcomes included feasibility, acceptability, treatment satisfaction, and the change in FTL status and symptoms. Secondary and exploratory assessments included parental burden, family accommodation, cost-of-illness, and the adult child’s anxiety and depression symptom severity. Trial completers’ satisfaction score was 28 (87.5% of the maximal score). Post-treatment, FTL was absent in 60% of cases; no change was noted in the waitlist. Symptom severity, parental burden, and family accommodation were significantly reduced. The study provides preliminary evidence that SPACE-FTL can address FTL.

Socioeconomic factors, sleep timing and duration, and amygdala resting-state functional connectivity in children.

Reduced sleep health has been consistently linked with increased negative emotion in children. While sleep characteristics have been associated with neural function in adults and adolescents, much less is known about these associations in children while considering socioeconomic context. In this study, we examined the associations among socioeconomic factors, sleep duration and timing, and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the amygdala in children. Participants were typically-developing 5- to 9-year-olds from socioeconomically diverse families (61% female; N = 94). Parents reported on children's weekday and weekend bedtimes and wake-up times, which were used to compute sleep duration and midpoint. Analyses focused on amygdala-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) connectivity followed by amygdala-whole brain connectivity. Lower family income-to-needs ratio and parental education were significantly associated with later weekday and weekend sleep timing and shorter weekday sleep duration. Shorter weekday sleep duration was associated with decreased amygdala-ACC and amygdala-insula connectivity. Later weekend sleep midpoint was associated with decreased amygdala-paracingulate cortex and amygdala-postcentral gyrus connectivity. Socioeconomic factors were indirectly associated with connectivity in these circuits via sleep duration and timing. These results suggest that socioeconomic disadvantage may interfere with both sleep duration and timing, in turn possibly altering amygdala connectivity in emotion processing and regulation circuits in children. Effective strategies supporting family economic conditions may have benefits for sleep health and brain development in children.

Effect of partner presence on emotion regulation during parent-child interactions.

Having people around, especially if they provide social support, often leads to positive outcomes both physically and mentally. Mere social presence is especially beneficial when it comes from a loved one or romantic partner. In these studies, we aim to expand the understanding of how the presence of one's romantic partner affects emotion regulation in parental situations. Specifically, we examined how partner presence influences the parent's emotional intensity, emotion regulation, and interpretation of their child's emotion regulation. We examined these questions in parents of both non-autistic children (Study 1) as well as autistic children (Study 2), which we hypothesize leads to more intense emotional interactions. The parents of autistic children were better able to regulate their emotions when their partners were present compared to when they were absent. Furthermore, in both studies, parents' ratings of their children's ability to regulate their emotions were higher when their parent's partner was present compared to when the partner was absent. However, in both studies, we found no significant difference in the parents' emotional intensity when their partners were present compared to when their partners were absent during the emotionally charged interaction with their child. Our findings help highlight the impact of partner presence on parent and child emotion regulation.

Exploring the Relationship between Turkish Mothers' Parenting and Psychological Well-Being in Early Childhood: The Role of Child Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation.

Although the importance of psychological well-being in early childhood is emphasized, the number of studies conducted with children and adolescents in this field is less than those carried out with adults. The present study aimed to explore the role of child emotion regulation in the relationship between parenting and psychological well-being among a sample of Turkish preschoolers aged 5-6. It further examines the mediating role of emotion regulation. The sample consisted of 416 mothers with children aged 5-6 (Mage = 5.38, SD = 0.48; 50% girls-boys). We collected the data using the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS), the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC), and the Psychological Well-Being Scale for Children (PWBS-C). The findings revealed significant relationships among parenting practices (positive/negative), the child's emotion regulation/dysregulation, and the child's psychological well-being. Moreover, the findings revealed that positive parenting, directly and indirectly, affects children's psychological well-being through children's emotion regulation. On the other hand, findings disclosed that negative parenting has both a direct and indirect impact on children's psychological well-being through children's emotion regulation. Overall, the study may shed light on a possible process in which positive parenting boosts a child's emotional regulation and psychological well-being among preschoolers.

Evaluation of the relationship between childhood traumas and emotion regulation skills in terms of adult obesity

This study aims to reveal the relationship between childhood traumas and emotion regulation skills of obese and non-obese individuals. The research is a comparative-descriptive and correlational study. The obese group included 52 people with a BMI ≥ 30, and the non-obese group included 58 people with a BMI ≤ 25 kg/m2. Information Form, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ERSQ) were used in the study data. The rates of total childhood trauma and physical neglect were significantly higher in obese individuals (53.8 % vs. 32.8 %; 50 % vs. 22.4 %, respectively) than in non-obese individuals. Obese individuals were found to have lower emotion regulation skills. While a significant inverse relationship was found between childhood trauma and emotion regulation skills total and sub-dimension scores in obese individuals, no significant relationship was found in non-obese individuals. Psychiatric-mental health nurses can play an active role in the prevention and treatment of obesity by providing emotion regulation training to individuals in their roles as counselors and educators.