The longitudinal relationship between emotion awareness and internalising symptoms during late childhood

Emotion Knowledge, Loneliness, Negative Social Experiences, and Internalizing Symptoms Among Low-Income Preschoolers

Children with poor emotion knowledge (EK) skills are at risk for externalizing problems; less is known about early internalizing behavior. We examined multiple facets of EK and social-emotional experiences relevant for internalizing difficulties, including loneliness, victimization, and peer rejection, in Head Start preschoolers (N = 134; M = 60 months). Results based on multiple informants suggest that facets of EK are differentially related to negative social-emotional experiences and internalizing behavior and that sex plays a moderating role. Behavioral EK was associated with self-reported loneliness, victimization/rejection, and parent-reported internalizing symptoms. Emotion recognition and expressive emotion knowledge were related to self-reported loneliness, and emotion situation knowledge was related to parent-reported internalizing symptoms and negative peer nominations. Sex moderated many of these associations, suggesting that EK may operate differently for girls versus boys in the preschool social context. Results are discussed with regard to the role of EK for social development and intervention implications.

Preliminary findings on associations between moral emotions and social behavior in young children with normal hearing and with cochlear implants

Moral emotions such as shame, guilt and pride are the result of an evaluation of the own behavior as (morally) right or wrong. The capacity to experience moral emotions is thought to be an important driving force behind socially appropriate behavior. The relationship between moral emotions and social behavior in young children has not been studied extensively in normally hearing (NH) children, let alone in those with a hearing impairment. This study compared young children with hearing impairments who have a cochlear implant (CI) to NH peers regarding the extent to which they display moral emotions, and how this relates to their social functioning and language skills. Responses of 184 NH children and 60 children with CI (14-61 months old) to shame-/guilt- and pride-inducing events were observed. Parents reported on their children's social competence and externalizing behavior, and experimenters observed children's cooperative behavior. To examine the role of communication in the development of moral emotions and social behavior, children's language skills were assessed. Results show that children with CI displayed moral emotions to a lesser degree than NH children. An association between moral emotions and social functioning was found in the NH group, but not in the CI group. General language skills were unrelated to moral emotions in the CI group, yet emotion vocabulary was related to social functioning in both groups of children. We conclude that facilitating emotion language skills has the potential to promote children's social functioning, and could contribute to a decrease in behavioral problems in children with CI specifically. Future studies should examine in greater detail which factors are associated with the development of moral emotions, particularly in children with CI. Some possible directions for future research are discussed.

The role of emotion awareness and mood: somatic complaints and social adjustment in late childhood

Emotion awareness is a key concept related to different child adjustment outcomes. This relationship, influenced by mood, has been found in the preadolescent and adolescent population for somatic complaints. However, little is known in the case of younger children and when other adjustment outcomes are included. The objective of this work is to analyze the contribution of emotion awareness and mood upon different adjustment outcomes (somatic complaints, maladjustment, and peer sociometric status), in children aged 8-12 years old. Self-reported questionnaires and peer-nomination scales were administered to 1423 children (mean age = 9.8 years old). Results support the influence of emotion awareness reinforced by mood, not only upon somatic complaints, but also upon new indicators of personal and social maladjustment, within an age bracket that has not been considered previously. These results stress the importance of emotional abilities and the corresponding affective moods in children's daily life.

[Somatic complaints, emotional awareness and maladjustment in schoolchildren]

INTRODUCTION

Somatic complaints are common in childhood. Research has shown their relationship with emotional awareness and maladjustment. The study had three objectives: 1) to analyze the prevalence of somatic complaints; 2) To explore the relationships between the variables evaluated: somatic complaints, differentiating emotions, verbal sharing of emotions, not hiding emotions, body awareness, attending to others' emotions, analysis of emotions, and personal, social, family, and school maladjustments; and 3) To identify predictors of somatic complaints.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study included a total of 1,134 randomly selected schoolchildren of both sexes between 10-12 years old (M=10.99; SD=0.88). The Somatic Complaint List, Emotional Awareness Questionnaire, and Self-reported Multifactor Test of Childhood Adaptation were used to gather information.

RESULTS

The results showed that the prevalence of somatic complaints was 90.2%, with fatigue, headache and stomachache being the most frequently. Dizziness and headache were more common in girls, and the frequency of complaints decreases with age. Somatic complaints are negatively related to emotional awareness, and positively related to maladjustment. The variables that contribute the most to the prediction of somatic complaints are personal maladjustment (25.1%) and differentiating emotions (2.5%).

CONCLUSIONS

The study shows that personal maladjustment is the best predictor of somatic complaints; the more emotional awareness and better adapted the child, the fewer somatic complaints they lodge. Childhood is a stage with significant physical discomfort.

[Development of the Japanese version of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire for junior high school students]

This study reports about the development of the Japanese version of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire for junior high school students. Emotion Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ; Rieffe, Oosterveld, Miers, Meerum Terwogt, & Ly, 2008) for children and adolescents aims not only to monitor and differentiate emotions but also to measure attitudes about emotions. It consists of six factors: differentiating emotions, verbal sharing of emotions, not hiding emotion, bodily awareness, attending to others' emotion, analyses of emotions. To examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the EAQ, junior high school students (7th to 9th grades) were requested to complete the questionnaires (n = 535 in time 1, n = 537 in time 2, n = 330 in time 3). The results showed that the Japanese version of the EAQ had almost the same six-factor structure as the original one. It also had moderate internal consistency and test-retest reliability (three weeks). The validity of the scale was examined in relation to emotional intelligence, social anxiety, depression, psychological stress responses, evaluation of emotions, self esteem and sense of authenticity. The results confirmed that the Japanese version of the EAQ had good validity.

Identity status and emotion regulation in adolescence and early adulthood

The article presents the results of a study investigating the links between emotion regulation and identity. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the two variables. On the basis of neo-eriksonian theories, an attempt to specify the role of emotion regulation in the process of identity formation was made. The study involved 849 people (544 women, 304 men) aged 14-25. The participants attended six types of schools: lower secondary school, basic vocational school, technical upper secondary school, general upper secondary school, post-secondary school, and university. The research was conducted with the use of two questionnaires: Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS). The analysis of the results points to a partial confirmation of the assumed hypotheses about the differences between people with different identity statuses in respect of the six investigated dimensions of emotion regulation. Also, the hypotheses about the links between the dimensions of emotion regulation and dimensions of identity in the subgroups with different identity statuses were partially confirmed.

Awareness and regulation of emotions in deaf children

In this study, deaf children's understanding of their own emotions was compared with that of hearing peers. Twenty-six deaf children (mean age 11 years) and 26 hearing children, matched for age and gender, were presented with various tasks that tap into their emotion awareness and regulation (coping) regarding the four basic emotions (happiness, anger, sadness, and fear). The findings suggest that deaf children have no difficulties in identifying their own basic emotions and the elicitors, or multiple emotions of opposite valence (happy and sad). Yet, they did show an impaired capacity to differentiate between their own emotions within the negative spectrum, which suggests a more generic evaluation of the situation. Deaf children's emotion regulation strategies showed a strong preference for approaching the situation at hand, but almost no deaf child reported the use of an avoidant tactic in order to diminish the negative impact of the situation. Overall, deaf children's emotion regulation strategies seemed less effective than those of their hearing peers. The implications for deaf children's emotional development are discussed.