Abstract
Aspects of 47 preschoolers'emotional competence—their patterns of emotional expressiveness and reactions to others' emotion displays—were observed in two settings, with mother and with peers, and their general social competence was rated by their preschool teachers. Intrapersonal and interpersonal (i.e., socialization correlates of children's emotional competence were identified, and a causal model incorporating direct and indirect influences on social competence was evaluated. Maternal patterns of expressiveness, reactions to children's emotion displays, and self-reported affective environment were associated with children's emotional competence in the preschool. Children's emotional competence with mother predicted their emotional competence in the preschool somewhat less strongly, suggesting that emotional competence may differ according to the interpersonal relationship studied. Taken as a whole, findings reassert the importance of the domain of emotional expression to the development of social competence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrett, K. C., & Campos, J. J. (1987). Perspectives on emotional development II: A functionalist approach to emotions. In J. D. Osofsky (Ed.),Handbook of infant development (2nd ed., pp. 555–578). New York: Wiley.
Barrett, K. C. (1993). The development of nonverbal communication of emotion: A functionalist perspective.Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 17 145–169.
Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority.Developmental Psychology Monographs, 4 (1, Pt. 2).
Baumrind, D. (1968).Manual for the preschool behavior Q-sort. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.
Behar, L., & Stringfield, S. (1974). A behavior rating scale for the preschool child.Developmental Psychology, 10 601–610.
Cassidy, J., Parke, R. D., Butkovsky, L., & Braungart, J. M. (1992). Family-peer connections: The roles of emotional expressiveness within the family and children's understanding of emotions.Child Development, 63 603–618.
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales.Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20 37–46.
Cummings, E. M., & Cummings, J. S. (1988). A process-oriented approach to children's coping with adult's angry behavior.Developmental Review, 8 296–321.
Cummings, E. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (1981). Young children's responses to expressions of anger and affection by others in the family.Child Development, 52 1274–1282.
Custrini, R. J., & Feldman, R. S. (1989). Children's social competence and nonverbal encoding and decoding of emotion.Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 18 336–342.
Denham, S. A. (1986). Social cognition, prosocial behavior, and emotion in preschoolers: Contextual validation.Child Development, 57 194–201.
Denham, S. A. (1989). Maternal affect and toddlers' social-emotional competence.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 59 368–376.
Denham, S. A. (1993). Maternal emotional responsiveness and toddlers' social-emotional competence.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34 715–728.
Denham, S. A., & Grout, L. (1992). Mothers' emotional expressiveness and coping: Relations with preschoolers' social-emotional competence.Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 118 75–101.
Denham, S. A., McKinley, M., Couchoud, E. A., & Holt, R. (1990). Emotional and behavioral predictors of peer status in young preschoolers.Child Development, 61 1145–1152.
Dunn, J. (in press).Beyond attachment. Pacific Heights, CA: Sage Publications.
Dunn, J., & Munn, P. (1985). Becoming a family member: Family conflict and the development of social understanding in the second year.Child Development, 56 480–492.
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Carlo, G., Troyer, D., Speer, A. L., Karbon, M., & Switzer, G. (1992). The relations of maternal practices and characteristics to children's vicarious emotional responsiveness.Child Development, 63 583–602.
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1982). Felt, false, and miserable smiles.Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 6 238–252
Feldman, R. S., Philippot, P., & Custrini, R. J. (1991). Social competence and nonverbal behavior. In R. S. Feldman & B. Rimé (Eds.),Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 329–350). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gottman, J. (1980). Consistency of nonverbal affect and affective reciprocity in marital interaction.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48 711–717.
Halberstadt, A. G. (1986). Family socialization of emotion expression and nonverbal communication styles and skills.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 827–836.
Halberstadt, A. G. (1991a). Maternal expression and emotion: socialization of children's expressiveness. In J. P. Tangney & S. A. Denham (Chairs),Socialization of emotion in the family. Symposium at the biennial meetings of the Society of Research in Child Development, Seattle.
Halberstadt, A. G. (1991b). Towards an ecology of expressiveness: Family expressiveness in particular and a model in general. In R. S. Feldman & B. Rimé (Eds.),Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 106–160). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hoffman, M. L. (1982). Development of prosocial motivation: Empathy and guilt. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.),The development of prosocial behavior (pp. 281–314). New York: Academic.
Izard, C. E. (1991).The psychology of emotions. New York: Plenum.
Izard, C. E., Dougherty, F. E., Bloxom, B. M., & Kotsch, W. E. (1974).The Differential Emotions Scale: A method of measuring the subjective experience of discrete emotions. Unpublished manuscript, University of Delaware.
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (1981).LISREL V: User's guide. Chicago: National Educational Resources.
Kopp, C. B. (1989). Regulation of distress and negative emotions: A developmental view.Developmental Psychology, 25, 343–354.
Malatesta, C. Z., Culver, C., Tesman, J. R., & Shepard, B. (1980). The development of emotional expression during the first two years of life.Society for Research in Child Development Monographs, 54, Serial No 219, Nos. 1–2.
Malatesta, C. Z., & Haviland, J. M. (1982). Learning display rules: The socialization of emotion expression in infancy.Child Development, 53, 991–1003.
Malatesta-Magai, C. (1989). The role of emotions in the development and organization of personality. In Ross Thompson (Ed.),Nebraska symposium: Socioemotional development (pp. 203–224). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.
Miller, P. J., & Sperry, L. (1987). The socialization of anger and aggression.Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33, 1–31.
Patterson, M. L. (1991). A functional approach to nonverbal exchange. In R. S. Feldman & B. Rimé (Eds.),Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 458–495). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Radke-Yarrow, M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Chapman, M. (1983). Children's prosocial dispositions and behavior. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.),Handbook of Child Psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and development (4th ed., pp. 469–546). New York: Wiley.
Rubin, K. H., & Clark, M. L. (1983). Preschool teachers' ratings of behavioral problems: Observational, sociometric, and social-cognitive correlates.Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 11, 273–286.
Rushton, J. P., Brainerd, C. J., & Pressley, M. (1983). Behavioral development and construct validity: The principle of aggregation.Psychological Bulletin, 94, 18–38.
Saarni, C. (1989). Emotional competence. In Ross Thompson (Ed.),Nebraska symposium: Socioemotional development (pp. 115–161). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.
Sackett, G. P. (1979). The lag-sequential analysis of contingency and cyclicity in behavior interaction research. In J. Osofsky (Ed.),Handbook of infant development (pp. 623–649). New York: Wiley.
Sackett, G. P. (1987). Analysis of sequential social interaction data: Some issues, recent developments, and a causal inference model. In J. D. Osofsky (Ed.),Handbook of infant development (2nd ed., pp. 855–878). New York: Wiley.
Sroufe, L. A., Schork, E., Motti, F., Lawroski, N., & LaFreniere, P. (1984). The role of affect in social competence. In C. E. Izard, J. Kagan, & R. B. Zajonc (Eds.),Emotions, cognition, and behavior (pp. 289–319). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Strayer, J. (1980). A naturalistic study of empathic behaviors and their relations to affective states and perspective-taking skills in preschool children.Child Development, 51, 815–822.
Thompson, R. A. (1989). Emotion and self regulation. In Ross Thompson (Ed.),Nebraska symposium: Socioemotional development (pp. 347–467). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.
Tomkins, S. S. (1963).Affect, imagery, and consciousness, Vols. I and II. New York: Springer.
Tomkins, S. S. (1991).Affect, imagery, and consciousness, Vol. III. The negative affects: Anger and fear. New York: Springer.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Radke-Yarrow, M., & King, R. (1979). Child rearing and children's prosocial initiations toward victims of distress.Child Development, 50, 319–330.
Additional information
Reprint requests can be sent to the author, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030. Grateful acknowledgment goes to the mothers and children who so clearly expressed and reacted to emotions; thanks also are due to Christine Alban, Joanne Ayyash, Michael Casey, Elizabeth Couchoud, Huynh Dung, Merlina Hemingway, Soueang Lay, Vanna Nguyen, Emilianne Slayden and Kimberly Sproul, as well as the director and teachers of the Project for the Study of Young Children. An earlier version of this material was presented at the 1991 Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA. University support from Grants #2-10150, 2-10176 and 2-10073 also made the research possible.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Denham, S.A., Grout, L. Socialization of emotion: Pathway to preschoolers' emotional and social competence. J Nonverbal Behav 17, 205–227 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986120
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986120