Using Visual Representations to Demonstrate Complexity in Mixed Emotional Development Across Childhood

Previous studies have shown a developmental trend in mixed emotional understanding. As children develop throughout childhood, they begin to recognise simultaneity of positive and negative emotions. However, previous studies have limited ecological validity as they assessed emotion choice using only a single positive and single negative emotion. Therefore, the present study aims to broaden the understanding of mixed emotional development by allowing a wider emotion choice. Mixed emotions were measured using the analogue emotions scale (AES) which allows both intensity of the emotional responses and time to be captured. In the present study, 211 children aged 4–10 were divided into one of three protagonist conditions (self, peer and adult) and read a vignette about the protagonist moving house. Choosing from seven emotions (happy, calm, surprise, sad, worry, fear and anger), they plotted the intensity and duration of each emotion they thought was represented in the vignette. The present study replicated the developmental trend that younger children are more likely than older children to choose a single emotion, and older children are more likely to perceive more simultaneity of emotion than younger children. This trend was demonstrated in the number of emotions chosen, and also the complexity of the AES pattern plotted. Additionally, the present study extended previous research by demonstrating that by broadening the emotion choice, the emotion interaction is more complex than previous studies were able to show.

Influence of Group Identification on Malicious and Benign Envy: A Cross-Sectional Developmental Study

Envy is the result of a social comparison that shows us a negative image of ourselves. The present study addresses the effect of the context of group comparison and group identification on children's expression of this emotion. Through different stories, participants aged between 6 and 11 years were exposed to four contexts of upward social comparison in which they had to adopt the role of the disadvantaged character. From their emotional responses and their decisions in a resource allocation task, three response profiles were created: malicious envy, benign envy, and non-envy. Although we found important differences between verbal and behavioral responses, the results showed greater envy, both malicious and benign, when the envied was an out-group. On the other hand, when the envied belonged to the in-group and competed with a member of the out-group, malicious but not benign envy practically disappeared. With age, envious responses decreased, and non-envious responses increased. The role of social identity in the promotion and inhibition of envy is discussed, as well as the acquisition of emotional display rules in the benign envy and non-envy profiles.

An Animal-Assisted Education Intervention with Dogs to Promote Emotion Comprehension in Primary School Children-The Federico II Model of Healthcare Zooanthropology

Emotion comprehension (EC) is a crucial competence for children, as it determines the quality of peer interactions. This study assessed the efficacy of an animal-assisted education (AAE) intervention with dogs based on the Federico II Model of Healthcare Zooanthropology (FMHZ) to promote EC in a group of primary school children. One hundred and four children (48 females) aged 6-7 years took part in the study, of whom 63 participated in the AAE intervention (i.e., experimental group) and 41 did not (i.e., control group). The intervention was deployed in a school setting through a group format and consisted of five bimonthly sessions. EC was assessed pre- and post-intervention, and at a 3-month follow-up. Student's t-test and mixed-model ANOVA were performed to analyze the effect of the intervention on EC. EC significantly improved in children of the experimental group compared to the control group. Significant time effects from pre- to post-intervention, post-intervention to follow-up, and pre-intervention to follow-up assessment were found in the experimental group only. AAE based on FMHZ was effective in improving EC in children.

Does private education make nicer people? The influence of school type on social-emotional development

In a longitudinal sample from Britain, we tested if attending private, fee-charging schools rather than non-selective state schools benefitted children's social-emotional development. State (N = 2,413) and private school children (N = 269) showed no differences in well-being across adolescence, but private school children reported fewer behaviour problems and greater peer victimisation over time than state schoolers. These results were independent of schools' selection criteria, including family background, and prior academic and cognitive performance. At age 21, private and state school students differed marginally in social-emotional behaviours, such as self-control, volunteering, sexual conduct, and substance use. After considering schools' selection criteria, only risk taking and age at having the first alcoholic drink differed between private and state school children, with the privately educated ones being less risk averse and drinking at younger ages than those attending state school. Our results suggest that private education adds little positive value to children's social-emotional development.

Negative parental emotional environment increases the association between childhood behavioral problems and impaired recognition of negative facial expressions

Impaired facial emotion recognition is a transdiagnostic risk factor for a range of psychiatric disorders. Childhood behavioral difficulties and parental emotional environment have been independently associated with impaired emotion recognition; however, no study has examined the contribution of these factors in conjunction. We measured recognition of negative (sad, fear, anger), neutral, and happy facial expressions in 135 children aged 5-7 years referred by their teachers for behavioral problems. Parental emotional environment was assessed for parental expressed emotion (EE) - characterized by negative comments, reduced positive comments, low warmth, and negativity towards their child - using the 5-minute speech sample. Child behavioral problems were measured using the teacher-informant Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Child behavioral problems and parental EE were independently associated with impaired recognition of negative facial expressions specifically. An interactive effect revealed that the combination of both factors was associated with the greatest risk for impaired recognition of negative faces, and in particular sad facial expressions. No relationships emerged for the identification of happy facial expressions. This study furthers our understanding of multidimensional processes associated with the development of facial emotion recognition and supports the importance of early interventions that target this domain.

The impact of emotional development in people with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual developmental disability

BACKGROUND

Intellectual developmental disabilities (IDDs) and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are developmental conditions, which may also be associated with impairments in emotional development (ED). ED can be assessed using the Scale of Emotional Development - Short (SED-S), a five-stage model consisting of eight domains, which allows to study the relationship between ASD and ED in people with IDD.

METHODS

In this retrospective study, the level of ED was compared in 327 adults with IDD with [n = 83; mean age 38.3 years; level of IDD: mild (6), moderate (21), severe (45) and profound (11)] and without [n = 244, mean age 36.9 years; level of IDD: mild (67), moderate (73), severe (68) and profound (36)] ASD. The discriminative ability of the SED-S was determined by a regression in a training and a validation sample.

RESULTS

The level of ED correlated with the severity of IDD (r_s  = -.654) and the presence of ASD (r_s  = -.316). People with additional ASD showed lower levels of ED compared with those with IDD only (mean reference ages 7-18 vs 19-36 months). The developmental profiles were equally balanced in ASD and IDD-only. A regression analysis revealed three domains ('Relating-to-Peers', 'Differentiating-Emotions', and 'Regulating-Affect') to be useful for ASD assignment (AUC > 0.70, sensitivity 0.76-0.80, specificity 0.62-0.63).

CONCLUSIONS

In people with IDD, additional ASD was associated with delays in ED, which may be considered in diagnostics, treatment and care.

Making Sense of Infants' Differential Responses to Incongruity

Infants show strikingly different reactions to incongruity: looking (Baillargeon, 1998) or smiling (Mireault & Reddy, 2016). The former occurs in response to magical events and the latter to humorous events. We argue that these reactions depend largely on the respective experimental methodologies employed, including the popular Violation of Expectation (VOE) paradigm. Although both types of studies involve infants' reactions to incongruity, their literatures have yet to confront each other and researchers in each domain are drawing strikingly different conclusions regarding infants' understanding of the world. Here, we argue that infants are sensitive to and constrained by several contextual differences in the methodologies employed by incongruity researchers that afford one or the other reaction. We apply De Jaegher & Di Paolo's (2007) Participatory Sense Making framework to further understand what infants are sensitive to in these paradigms. Understanding infants' reactions to incongruity (i.e., VOE) is necessary to clear up claims regarding the sophisticatication of their knowledge of physical and social phenomena. Attention to several simple methodological details is recommended.

Dynamic Advances in Emotion Processing: Differential Attention towards the Critical Features of Dynamic Emotional Expressions in 7-Month-Old Infants

Infants' visual processing of emotion undergoes significant development across the first year of life, yet our knowledge regarding the mechanisms underlying these advances is limited. Additionally, infant emotion processing is commonly examined using static faces, which do not accurately depict real-world emotional displays. The goal of this study was to characterize 7-month-olds' visual scanning strategies when passively viewing dynamic emotional expressions to examine whether infants modify their scanning patterns depending on the emotion. Eye-tracking measures revealed differential attention towards the critical features (eyes, mouth) of expressions. The eyes captured the greatest attention for angry and neutral faces, and the mouth captured the greatest attention for happy faces. A time-course analysis further elucidated at what point during the trial differential scanning patterns emerged. The current results suggest that 7-month-olds are sensitive to the critical features of emotional expressions and scan them differently depending on the emotion. The scanning patterns presented in this study may serve as a link to understanding how infants begin to differentiate between expressions in the context of emotion recognition.

Effects of Age and Gender in Emotion Regulation of Children and Adolescents

Emotional regulation, understood as the skills and strategies needed to influence and/or modify the emotional experiences, has a very remarkable implication within numerous emotional and behavioral disorders in childhood and adolescence. In recent years there has been a significant increase in research on emotional regulation, however, the results are still divergent in terms of differences in emotional regulation in relation to age and gender. This study aimed to assess emotional regulation in adolescents in relation to their age and gender. Two hundred and fifty-four adolescents from eight schools in the Valencian Community and aged between 9 and 16 years participated in the study. The adolescents completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the FEEL-KJ questionnaire. We analyzed the differences in emotional regulation strategies and a latent emotional regulation variable in two age groups (9-12 years and 13-16 years) and by gender. The results suggested that children and pre-adolescents in the 9-12 year group obtained lower scores in the emotional regulation strategies than the 13-16 year group. Girls reported higher scores on the use of emotional regulation strategies when experiencing sadness, anxiety and anger than boys, and on the overall average of regulation according to these specific emotions. Age, but not gender, had a major effect on scores for the latent variable of emotion regulation. An interaction effect between age and gender was identified in the latent emotion regulation scores. Girls tended to have higher scores than boys when they were younger and lower scores than boys when they were older. These results could be relevant for designing prevention and intervention programs for adolescents and at different ages.

Standardizing the assessment of emotional development in adults with intellectual and developmental disability

OBJECTIVE

The Scale of Emotional Development-Short (SED-S) is an instrument to assess the level of emotional development (ED) in people with intellectual and developmental disability. Index cases are developed as a didactic tool to standardize the application of the scale.

METHOD

In a stepwise process, a European working group from six countries developed five index cases, one for each level of ED. All cases were first scored by 20 raters using the SED-S and then rephrased to reduce inter-rater variations (SD > 0.5).

RESULTS

All five index cases yielded overall ratings that matched the intended level of ED. Across the range of ED, Regulating Affect needed rephrasing most to ensure a distinct description within each level of ED.

CONCLUSIONS

The tri-lingual, cross-cultural evolution of five index cases contributes to a standardized application of the SED-S and can serve as training material to improve the inter-rater reliability of the SED-S across different cultures and languages.

Comparing negative emotion differentiation in young and older individuals: A picture-based study

Life span theories suggest that emotional experiences become more complex (i.e., nuanced and differentiated) with age. Theoretically, the cause of this increased complexity has been proposed to be age-related changes in life contexts such as goals and daily stressors. Consequently, age may not affect emotional complexity in settings where the influence of age-specific life contexts is reduced. However, this hypothesis has yet to be explored. In the present study, we investigated one aspect of emotional complexity, namely emotion differentiation. Extending previous research, we assessed age-group differences in negative emotion differentiation between young and older adults in a controlled experimental setting. A sample of 114 young and 132 older adults rated their emotional response to 34 negative pictures according to intensity of four negative emotions. Based on these ratings, two indicators of emotion differentiation were calculated. The results revealed no significant age-group differences in negative emotion differentiation. The findings indicate stability in negative emotion differentiation with increasing age when the influence of life context is reduced. The findings are consistent with life span theories suggesting that developmental changes in emotional complexity occur largely as a result of age-related changes in life contexts rather than more stable age-related changes in individual characteristics.

Developing an Understanding of Emotion Categories: Lessons from Objects

How and when infants and young children begin to develop emotion categories is not yet well understood. Research has largely treated the learning problem as one of identifying perceptual similarities among exemplars (typically posed, stereotyped facial configurations). However, recent meta-analyses and reviews converge to suggest that emotion categories are abstract, involving high-dimensional and situationally variable instances. In this paper we consult research on the development of abstract object categorization to guide hypotheses about how infants might learn abstract emotion categories because the two domains present infants with similar learning challenges. In particular, we consider how a developmental cascades framework offers opportunities to understand how and when young children develop emotion categories.

Distinct and similar patterns of emotional development in adolescents and young adults

Adolescence is a developmental period of increased sensitivity to social emotional cues, but it is less known whether young adults demonstrate similar social emotional sensitivity. The current study tested variation in reaction times to emotional face cues during different phases of emotional development. Ex‐Gaussian parameters mu, sigma, and tau were computed, in addition to mean, median and standard deviation (SD) in reaction times (RT) during an emotional go/nogo‐paradigm with fearful, happy, and calm facial expressions in 377 participants, 6–30 years of age. Across development, mean RT showed slowing to fearful facial expressions relative to both calm and happy facial cues, but mu revealed that this pattern was specific to adolescence. In young adulthood, increased variability to fearful expressions relative to both happy and calm ones was captured by SD and tau. The findings that adolescents had longer response latencies to fearful faces, whereas young adults demonstrated greater response variability to fearful faces, together reflect how social emotional processing continues to evolve from adolescence into early adulthood. The findings suggest that young adulthood is also a vulnerable period for processing social emotional cues that ultimately may be important to better understand why different psychopathologies emerge in early adulthood.

The Correlation between Caregivers' Characteristics and Emotional Development of Pre-School Children in Depok, Indonesia

This study aimed to identify the correlation between emotional developments in pre-school children and the caregivers' characteristics. This study employed cross sectional design with cluster sampling technique and involved 206 respondents. The inclusion criteria were mothers of a child aged 3-6 years old and willing to participate in the study. The result showed 42.7% children exhibited deviation in emotional development. There was a significant relationship of mother's education and emotional development in children (p = 0.024; α = 0.05). Children of unemployed mothers had higher percentage of emotional deviation compared to working mother, although it was not significantly different (p = 0.387; α = 0.05). There was no significant correlation between caregivers and emotional development in children (p = 0.102; α = 0.05), child's age and emotional development (p = 0.183; α = 0.05), and child's gender and emotional development (p = 0.206; α = 0.05). Based on these findings, the stimulation of emotional development should be integrated into the curriculum for pre-school children in order to optimize their development.

Case-contrast study about parent-infant interaction in a Brazilian sample of siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders

Siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present greater susceptibility to developmental problems, in comparison with siblings of typically developing children. The greater prevalence of mental health disorders among parents of children with ASD increases younger siblings' vulnerability to emotional problems. The aim of this study is to compare the interaction between carers and babies aged 2 to 26 months (M = 11.7, SD = 6.9) who are siblings of children with ASD (ASD dyads) with the interaction of dyads of siblings of typically developing children (TD dyads). The protocol of Clinical Indicators of Risk for Child Development and the Coding Interactive Behaviour measures were used to evaluate interaction. ASD dyads presented higher scores of constriction in their interaction, P = .024, with babies presenting higher scores of withdrawal behavior, P = .003, and carers presenting higher scores of depressive mood, P = .008, when compared to TD dyads. The ASD dyads have interactive impairments more frequently than do the TD dyads.

Heterogeneity in Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Functioning in Adolescents With On-Track and Delayed School Progression

Adolescence is characterized by considerable changes in cognitive and socio-emotional skills. There are considerable differences between adolescents with regards to the development of these skills. However, most studies examine adolescents' average functioning, without taking into account this heterogeneity. The current study applies network analysis in order to examine heterogeneity of cognitive and socio-emotional functioning in adolescents on-track or delayed in their school progression. Data was collected at two time-points for on-track (n = 320) and delayed (n = 69) adolescents (Mage = 13.30 years, SDage = 0.77). Repeated measures ANOVA showed no significant differences between the groups in cognitive and socio-emotional functioning (p's > 0.05). Network analysis revealed that executive functions play a key role in the network of cognitive, social, and emotional functioning. This is especially the case in the delayed group where executive functions are even more central, both at T1 (inhibition and shifting) and T2 (shifting). Subsequent community analysis revealed three profiles in both groups: a well-adapted and well-balanced group, a group with high levels of need for arousal and risk-taking, and a group with regulation problems. Compared to on-track adolescents, delayed adolescents showed even higher levels of risk-taking in the second profile and higher levels of executive function problems in the third profile at T1. These differences were leveled out at T2, indicating adolescents in the delayed group catch up with their peers. This study highlights the intricate balance between cognitive, social and emotional functioning in adolescents in relation to school performance and provides preliminary evidence of the importance of taking individual differences within groups into account.

Recognition of Facial Emotional Expressions Among Italian Pre-adolescents, and Their Affective Reactions

The recognition of emotional facial expressions is a central aspect for an effective interpersonal communication. This study aims to investigate whether changes occur in emotion recognition ability and in the affective reactions (self-assessed by participants through valence and arousal ratings) associated with the viewing of basic facial expressions during preadolescence (n = 396, 206 girls, aged 11-14 years, Mage = 12.73, DS = 0.91). Our results confirmed that happiness is the best recognized emotion during preadolescence. However, a significant decrease in recognition accuracy across age emerged for fear expressions. Moreover, participants' affective reactions elicited by the vision of happy facial expressions resulted to be the most pleasant and arousing compared to the other emotional expressions. On the contrary, the viewing of sadness was associated with the most negative affective reactions. Our results also revealed a developmental change in participants' affective reactions to the stimuli. Implications are discussed by taking into account the role of emotion recognition as one of the main factors involved in emotional development.

The Associations of Greek and Religious Organization Participation with College Students' Social Well-Being and Purpose

Two online-survey studies examined the associations of Greek (i.e., sorority and fraternity) and religious (i.e., church or campus ministry) organization participation with college students' social well-being and sense of purpose. In study 1 (N = 281), religious organization membership (versus no membership) was associated with connectedness and purpose, but for Greek organizations the associations held only with respect to level of organization involvement. In study 2 (N = 426), Greek and religious organization membership were both associated with most social well-being and purpose indicators, but only Greek membership was linked to lower loneliness. As in study 1, level of involvement in Greek, but not religious, organizations was linked to social well-being. Hypothesized moderators of the associations between organization membership and the purpose and social well-being variables were not supported. We discuss implications for professionals who work with college students to promote well-being, and we present future research ideas.

Profiling children's emotion regulation behaviours

Callear, Harvey, and Bimler (2016, International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41, 456) organized children's emotion regulation behaviours into a coherent structure. However, further investigation is needed to identify core patterns of these emotion regulation behaviours. To identify clusters and prototypal constellations of emotion regulation behaviours, the 85 behavioural items comprising the Children's Emotion Regulation Inventory (ChERI) were ranked by 151 parents in order of applicability, using an ordinal sorting procedure (Method of Successive Sorts). Responses were aggregated in empirical scales, for classification of the cases using hierarchical and k-means clustering. The scales were based on nine key 'hotspots' of children's emotion regulation behaviours, interpreted as Outward Engagement, Inward or Somatic Focus, Disengagement, Disruptive, Impulsive/Labile, Social Connectedness/Compliance, Generating Closeness/Intimacy, Establishing Order and Generating Disorder. Five summary styles of children's emotion regulation emerged and are characterized on those scales. These hotspots and styles provide guidance to clinicians, parents, teachers, and other invested adults to assess and support children's emotional development. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Measurements of children's emotion regulation predominantly focus on internal processes and/or isolated expressions of emotion regulation behaviours. Research detailing anger and anxiety emotion regulation styles exists (e.g., Carthy, Horesh, Apter, & Gross, 2010, Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 23; Zalewski, Lengua, Wilson, Trancik, & Bazinet, 2011, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110, 141). Callear, Harvey, and Bimler (2016, International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41, 456) developed the Children's Emotion Regulation Inventory to identify children's observable emotion regulation strategies. What does this study add? Research does not investigate which clusters of children's emotion regulation behaviours are most commonly exhibited and nor does it investigate emotion regulation behavioural styles. Examines how children's emotion regulation behaviours co-occur. Identifies nine core clusters (groupings) of emotion regulation behaviours most commonly observed to be exhibited in children. Identifies five emotion regulation behavioural styles (common co-occurring patterns of emotion regulation behaviour clusters) in children.

Mothers, Intrinsic Math Motivation, Arithmetic Skills, and Math Anxiety in Elementary School

Math anxiety is influenced by environmental, cognitive, and personal factors. Yet, the concurrent relationships between these factors have not been examined. To this end, the current study investigated how the math anxiety of 30 sixth graders is affected by: (a) mother's math anxiety and maternal behaviors (environmental factors); (b) children's arithmetic skills (cognitive factors); and (c) intrinsic math motivation (personal factor). A rigorous assessment of children's math anxiety was made by using both explicit and implicit measures. The results indicated that accessible self-representations of math anxiety, as reflected by the explicit self-report questionnaire, were strongly affected by arithmetic skills. However, unconscious cognitive constructs of math anxiety, as reflected by the numerical dot-probe task, were strongly affected by environmental factors, such as maternal behaviors and mothers' attitudes toward math. Furthermore, the present study provided preliminary evidence of intergenerational transmission of math anxiety. The conclusions are that in order to better understand the etiology of math anxiety, multiple facets of parenting and children's skills should be taken into consideration. Implications for researchers, parents, and educators are discussed.

Social, cognitive, and physiological aspects of humour perception from 4 to 8 months: Two longitudinal studies

Infants laugh by 4 months, but whether they understand humour based on social or cognitive factors is unclear. We conducted two longitudinal studies of 4-, 6-, and 8-month-olds (N = 60), and 5-, 6-, and 7-month-olds (N = 53) to pinpoint the onset of independent humour perception and determine when social and cognitive factors are most salient. Infants were shown six events in randomized repeated-measures designs: two ordinary events and two absurd iterations of those events, with parents' affect manipulated (laugh or neutral) during the latter. Four-month-olds did not smile/laugh more at absurd events, but exhibited a significant heart rate deceleration. Five-month-olds independently appraised absurd events as humorous, smiling/laughing despite their parents' neutrality. Parent laughter did not influence infants of any age to smile more, but captured 4-month-olds' attention. Results suggest that 4-month-olds laugh in response to social cues, while 5-month-olds' can laugh in response to cognitive features. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? By 6 months, infants can independently appraise absurd events as humorous, but it is not known whether younger infants can. What does this study add? This study replicated the finding on younger infants, showing that 5-month-olds are similarly capable of independent humour appraisal. These studies also found that although 4-month-olds do not respond to absurd events with positive affect, they do exhibit a heart rate decrease that is unrelated to looking. These studies help delineate when social and cognitive factors contribute to infant humour perception.

Intergenerational Effects of Parents' Math Anxiety on Children's Math Achievement and Anxiety

A large field study of children in first and second grade explored how parents' anxiety about math relates to their children's math achievement. The goal of the study was to better understand why some students perform worse in math than others. We tested whether parents' math anxiety predicts their children's math achievement across the school year. We found that when parents are more math anxious, their children learn significantly less math over the school year and have more math anxiety by the school year's end-but only if math-anxious parents report providing frequent help with math homework. Notably, when parents reported helping with math homework less often, children's math achievement and attitudes were not related to parents' math anxiety. Parents' math anxiety did not predict children's reading achievement, which suggests that the effects of parents' math anxiety are specific to children's math achievement. These findings provide evidence of a mechanism for intergenerational transmission of low math achievement and high math anxiety.

Intergenerational Effects of Parents' Math Anxiety on Children's Math Achievement and Anxiety

A large field study of children in first and second grade explored how parents' anxiety about math relates to their children's math achievement. The goal of the study was to better understand why some students perform worse in math than others. We tested whether parents' math anxiety predicts their children's math achievement across the school year. We found that when parents are more math anxious, their children learn significantly less math over the school year and have more math anxiety by the school year's end-but only if math-anxious parents report providing frequent help with math homework. Notably, when parents reported helping with math homework less often, children's math achievement and attitudes were not related to parents' math anxiety. Parents' math anxiety did not predict children's reading achievement, which suggests that the effects of parents' math anxiety are specific to children's math achievement. These findings provide evidence of a mechanism for intergenerational transmission of low math achievement and high math anxiety.