Skip to main content
PMC home page
NIHPA Author Manuscripts logoLink to NIHPA Author Manuscripts
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2006 Aug 4.
Published in final edited form as: Cogn Emot. 2005 Apr;19(3):375–396. doi: 10.1080/02699930441000201

Antecedents of emotion knowledge: Predictors of individual differences in young children

David S Bennett 1,✉, Margaret Bendersky 2, Michael Lewis 2
PMCID: PMC1531637  NIHMSID: NIHMS11170  PMID: 16894396

Abstract

Individual differences in emotion knowledge were examined among 188 4-year-old, predominantly African American children. Cognitive ability and negative emotionality, maternal characteristics (parenting, verbal intelligence, and depressive symptoms), environmental risk, and child sex were examined as predictors of emotion knowledge. Regression analyses indicated that cognitively skilled children who resided in relatively low risk environments with verbally intelligent mothers possessed greater emotion knowledge. Proximal (4-year) child cognitive ability was a stronger predictor than distal (2-year) cognitive ability. Positive parenting at 4 years was correlated with child emotion knowledge, but this relation disappeared when parenting was examined in the context of other predictors. These findings highlight the potential role of child cognitive ability, along with environmental risk and maternal verbal intelligence, in children’s emotion knowledge and demonstrate the importance of examining a variety of predictors for their unique contribution to emotion knowledge.

Emotional intelligence includes the ability to accurately perceive emotional messages and to understand their meaning (Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler, & Mayer, 2000). Such emotion knowledge increases during early childhood, as preschool-age children gradually develop competency in identifying emotions, recognising the meaning of facial expressions, and understanding how situational cues may affect others’ emotions (Denham & Couchoud, 1990; Gross & Ballif, 1991; Michalson & Lewis, 1985). Such emotion knowledge may help children anticipate other’s feelings and behavior, communicate their own feelings, and to subsequently act in an appropriate manner (Denham, McKinley, Couchoud, & Holt, 1990; Lewis & Michalson, 1983).

Interest in individual differences in emotion knowledge has recently grown as children who are more competent at such skills tend to have better social adjustment (Boyatzis & Satyaprasad, 1994; Garner, Jones, & Miner, 1994; Nowicki & Duke, 1992; Schultz, Izard, Ackerman, & Youngstrom, 2001) and fewer emotional and behavioural problems (Blair & Coles, 2000; Shields et al., 2001; Zabel, 1979). Emotion knowledge is not merely a concurrent correlate of adjustment as it also predicts future social and emotional functioning (Denham et al., 2003; Dodge, Laird, Lochman, Zelli, & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2002; Izard et al., 2001). Hence, the identification of factors contributing to individual differences in emotion knowledge is an important goal, albeit one that has received little study (Scharfe, 2000). Bioecological models suggest that individual differences in emotion knowledge will stem from multiple factors, including individual characteristics (e.g., cognitive ability, negative emotionality), family processes (e.g., parenting), and the broader environmental context of the child (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). We sought to examine each of these factors as predictors of young children’s emotion knowledge.

Emotion knowledge is believed to reflect one’s basic information-processing skills using emotional information as the relevant data (Salovey et al., 2000). Thus, emotion knowledge and general cognitive ability may be closely related. Broad measures of cognitive ability such as intelligence tests are positively related to emotion knowledge in young children (Field & Walden, 1982; Izard, Schultz, Fine, Youngstrom, & Ackerman, 2000), as are measures of children’s verbal skills (Cutting & Dunn, 1999; Greig & Howe, 2001; Pons, Lawson, Harris, & De Rosnay, 2003; Schultz et al, 2001; Smith & Walden, 1998). Yet, the correlations between emotion knowledge and cognitive ability are generally moderate at best, suggesting that factors other than cognitive ability play a role in explaining individual differences in children’s emotion knowledge.

Negative emotionality, for example, may affect children’s ability to acquire emotion knowledge. Children who frequently experience negative emotions may be likely to focus on their own experience rather than on that of others (Eisenberg et al, 1998). Such an internal focus may make children less able to process information, including emotional information (Izard, 2001). Support for this hypothesis comes from research showing that anger and emotion knowledge are negatively correlated in young children (Denham, 1986). In addition, child sex needs to be considered as some studies indicate that girls exhibit greater emotion knowledge (e.g., Borke, 1973; Brown & Dunn, 1996; but see Camras et al, 1990; Dunn & Cutting, 1999; Stifter & Fox, 1987, for exceptions).

At the family level, parenting has been related to children’s emotion knowledge. Preschool-age children whose parents are responsive, emotionally expressive, and who exhibit low rates of anger and sadness have greater emotion knowledge (Camras et al., 1990; Denham, Zoller, & Couchoud, 1994; Garner et al., 1994; Halberstadt, Crisp, & Eaton, 1999). In contrast, frequent and intense parental expression of negative affect may cause increased child distress and dysregulation, which may inhibit emotional learning (Denham, 1998). At the extreme end of negative parenting, children who were physically abused or neglected performed worse on emotion recognition and understanding (Camras et al, 1990; Rogosch, Cicchetti, & Aber, 1995; Shipman & Zeman, 1999). Maternal depressive symptomatology, while not a measure of parenting per se, is also related to lower child emotion knowledge scores (Greig & Howe, 2001). Given that parenting dimensions are related to maternal depression and intelligence (Lovejoy, Graczyk, O’Hare, & Neuman, 2000; Whiteside, Mansell, Pope, & Bradley, 1996), parenting may mediate any relationship between these maternal characteristics and child emotion knowledge. Research has yet to examine whether the relation between maternal depressive symptoms or intelligence and children’s emotion knowledge exists after controlling for parenting dimensions.

More broadly, environmental factors such as higher parental education and the presence of two parents in the home have been positively related to children’s emotion knowledge, although variance attributed to such factors may become nonsignificant when other factors are considered (Cutting & Dunn, 1999; Dunn & Brown, 1994). It is unclear from the limited research whether such environmental risk factors are uniquely related to children’s emotion knowledge or are merely markers for other variables.

Finally, predictors of emotion knowledge have rarely been examined in a predominantly African American sample. Although parenting styles of African, European, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are more similar than different (Julian, McKenry, & McKelvey, 1994; Whiteside-Mansell, Bradley, Tresch Owen, Randolph, & Cauce, 2003), the use of harsh, restrictive discipline has been related to negative outcomes for European but not for African American children (Baumrind, 1993; Deater-Deckard, Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1996). Furthermore, broad environmental risk factors may affect African and European American children differently (Chase-Lansdale & Gordon, 1996; Thompson, Catlett, Oehler, Gustafson, & Goldstein, 1998). Thus, an important question is whether factors related to emotion knowledge in predominantly European American samples are also found among African American children. Although there is no compelling theory to suggest that the relations between risk factors and emotion knowledge differ across racial groups, verification of these relations is needed among African American children, who have been under-represented in developmental research (Garcia Coll et al, 1996).

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relative contributions of individual characteristics (child cognitive ability, negative emotionality, and sex), family process variables (maternal positive and negative parenting), maternal characteristics (depressive symptoms and verbal intelligence), and environmental risk on children’s emotion knowledge in a predominantly African American sample. We hypothesised that: (a) child cognitive ability, positive parenting, and maternal verbal intelligence would be associated with greater child emotion knowledge; (b) child negative emotionality, negative parenting, maternal depressive symptoms, and environmental risk would be associated with lower emotion knowledge; and (c) the relation between maternal characteristics (i.e., verbal intelligence and depressive symptoms) and emotion knowledge would become nonsignificant once parenting dimensions were controlled. Furthermore, we examined several predictors (child cognitive ability, negative emotionality, parenting dimensions, and environmental risk) at both ages 2 and 4 years for their relation with emotion knowledge at age 4. Given that factors in children’s current or recent environments tend to be better predictors of adjustment than more distal factors (Lewis, 1997), we hypothesised that the 2-year measures would add little if any significant variance to the more proximal 4-year measures of the same constructs.

Emotion knowledge was assessed using three important components: labelling of expressions, recognition of expressions, and situational knowledge. Labelling refers to the ability to verbally identify other people’s facial expressions. In contrast, recognition relies more on receptive than expressive verbal skills as it assesses the ability to identify a facial expression when given the verbal label. Situational knowledge is the understanding of the normative reactions to emotion-eliciting situations (Michalson & Lewis, 1985).

METHOD

Subjects

The sample of 188 children (94 boys, 94 girls) and their mothers was recruited for a longitudinal study on emotional development and included children of low socioeconomic (SES), some of whom had minor medical problems (e.g., below average birth weight; respiratory complications; anemia) and/or prenatal substance exposure (see Bendersky & Lewis, 1998; Bennett, Bendersky, & Lewis, 2002). Pregnant women attending participating hospital-based prenatal clinics, or newly delivered women in the three hospitals in Trenton, New Jersey, and at the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia were approached. Of these, 82% agreed to participate in the study. Informed consent was obtained at this time. Infants were excluded from the study if they were born prior to 32 weeks of gestation, required special care or oxygen therapy for more than 24 hours, exhibited congenital anomalies, were exposed to opiates or PCP in utero, or if their mothers were infected with HIV. Mothers were predominantly African American (87%), with 9% European American and 3% Hispanic. Mothers’ median education level was 11th grade (SD = 1.6 years), and 63% of families received Aid for Dependent Children. Mothers ranged in age from 13.7 to 43.6 years (M = 25.6; SD = 6.1). Participation was voluntary, and incentives were provided in the form of vouchers for use at local stores.

Procedure

Children and mothers were seen in a lab setting for two visits at age 2 years, and two visits at age 4 years. Except where noted, mothers were not present in the testing room while the examiner worked with the child. Emotion knowledge was assessed at the second 4-year visit. Table 1 provides a summary list of all measures.

TABLE 1.

Constructs and their measures

Cognitive ability
Two years: Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II, Mental Development Index
Four years: Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-IV, IQ score (composite based upon abstract/visual reasoning, quantitative reasoning, short-term memory, and verbal reasoning subscales)
Negative emotionality
Two years:

  1. Strange Situation: negative affect + crying + other negative behaviour

  2. Plexiglass Puzzle: intensity and latency (reverse scored) of negative vocalisations

  3. Pulley Puzzle: negative vocalisations + complaints + demands

  4. Tickle: negative vocalisations + negative facial expressions

  5. Balloon Pop: negative affect

  6. Free Play Interruption: frustration + latency to calm + negative vocalisation

  7. Toy Prohibition: anger + sadness + demands

Four years:

  1. Success and Failure tasks: shame + evaluative embarrassment

  2. Pulley Puzzle: negative vocalisations + frustration + complaints

  3. Foghorn blast: negative affect

Negative parenting
Two years:

  1. Free Play: negative affect

  2. Strange Situation (free play and reunion phases): negative affect

Four years: Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale: physical assault + psychological aggression scale scores
Positive parenting
Two years:

  1. Free Play Interruption: comforts + talks/sings + warmly directs + ignores (reverse scored)

  2. Strange Situation (free play and reunion phases): maternal warmth

Four years:

  1. Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment: warmth and acceptance subscale

  2. Pediatric Review of Children’s Environmental Support and Stimulation: total score

Environmental risk
Two and four years:
Social Environment Inventory (maternal life stress) + Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (maternal social support; reverse scored) + number of caregivers + irregularity of child’s schedule + instability of child’s surroundings + single parent household + maternal race (minority status) + maternal education (reverse scored) + receives public assistance
Maternal depressive symptoms
Four years:
Beck Depression Inventory
Maternal verbal IQ
Four years:
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised
Emotion knowledge
Four years:

  1. Labelling of expressions

  2. Recognition of expressions

  3. Situational knowledge

Open in a new tab

Predictor measures

Cognitive ability

At 2 years, the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (Bayley, 1993) were administered. At 4 years, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fourth edition (SB-IV; Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler, 1986) was administered. Both measures have extensive standardisation data and satisfactory reliability, including with African American children (Bayley, 1993; Krohn & Lamp, 1999; Thorndike et al., 1986).

Negative emotionality

A negative emotionality composite score was derived at 2 years from the sum of the standardised scores from the following seven developmentally appropriate tasks indicated in Table 1. In the modified strange situation Separation-Reunion procedure (see Lewis, Feiring, & Rosenthal, 2000), the following duration scores were standardised and summed for each child: negative affect during free play; crying during separation; other negative behaviour during separation; and negative affect during reunion (mean intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC, across codes = 0.94).

In the Plexiglass Puzzle, children were given 4 minutes to push down on a lever to bring a cookie up through an opening in a large plexiglass box. A factor score derived from the standardised sum of the intensity of children’s negative vocalisations (ICC = 1.00) and the latency to their first negative vocalisation served as the negative emotionality score.1

In the Pulley Puzzle, children were given 4 minutes to get food from a basket that was attached to a rope and pulley and hung from the ceiling out of the child’s reach. A factor score derived from the standardised sum of the intensity of negative vocalisations (ICC = 0.87), the number of complaints (ICC = 0.91), and the number of demands the child made (ICC = 0.47) served as the negative emotionality score.

In the Tickle procedure, the examiner tickled the child for 20 seconds. Tickling has previously been shown to elicit negative affect in a substantial minority of children (Bendersky, Alessandri, & Lewis, 1996). A factor score derived from the standardised sum of the frequency of negative vocalisations (e.g., complains; whines; cries; ICC = 0.94) and negative facial expressions (e.g., frowns; sad or angry facial expression; ICC = 0.78) served as the negative emotionality score.

In the Balloon Pop procedure, a balloon was covertly popped near the child. Facial expressions were coded for joy, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, interest, and neutral expressions for 10 seconds after the balloon pop using the Maximally Discriminative Facial Movement Coding System (MAX; Izard, 1995). A factor score derived from the standardised sum of the fear, sadness, anger, interest, and joy (reverse coded; kappa for this composite score = 0.69) expressions served as the negative emotionality score.

Interruption of Free Play involved subjects playing with toys for 2½ minutes (Sullivan & Lewis, 2003). The mother then asked the child to sit in her lap and if the child did not comply after three requests, brought the child over to her lap. After sitting on the mother’s lap for 1 minute, the child was released to play for 1 minute. A factor score derived from the standardised sum of frustration ratings (0 = no signs of frustration; 5 = child definitely frustrated, struggles or cries/screams throughout the minute, and is also aggressive; ICC = 0.96), the latency for the child to become calm for 30 consecutive seconds after release, and the latency from the time the mother called the child to the child’s first negative vocalisation (reverse scored) served as the negative emotionality score.

Finally, children’s response to a Toy Prohibition was examined, as such tasks have been found to elicit negative affect and vocalisations among young children (Longo, Harvey, Wilson, & Deni, 1982). The examiner entered the playroom with a remote controlled car, placed the car a few feet from the child, and played with the car for 2 minutes. A factor score derived from the standardised sum of the frequency of children’s anger/annoyance expressions, sadness expressions, and demands (e.g., “Give it to me!”) (ICC = 0.78) served as the negative emotionality score.

A negative emotionality composite score was derived at 4 years from the sum of the standardised scores from the following three tasks. First, a reaction to Success and Failure task was administered, which previously has been found to elicit negative affect among preschool-age children (e.g., Lewis, Alessandri, & Sullivan, 1992). Children were given four puzzles, with the examiner manipulating a timer so that children failed two of the puzzles (for additional details, see Sullivan, Bennett, & Lewis, 2003). Children’s responses to success and failure were coded from videotape for embarrassment and shame during the 20 second period after the timer went off for each puzzle. The negative emotionality score consisted of the standardised sum of the shame (ICC = 0.71) and embarrassment (ICC = 0.71) scores (see Lewis & Ramsay, 2002; Lewis, Sullivan, Stanger, & Weiss, 1989; Lewis et al., 1992, for additional coding information).

Second, a modification of the Pulley Puzzle task administered at age 2 was presented for 3 minutes. A factor score derived from the standardized sum of the intensity of negative vocalisations (0 = no negative vocalisation; 4 = cries/screams most of the time; ICC = 0.90), latency to first evidence of frustration (reverse scored; ICC = 0.98), and frequency of complaints (ICC = 0.98) served as the negative emotionality score for the Pulley Puzzle.

Finally, children’s response to a brief but loud and unexpected foghorn blast was videotaped and coded for negative affect (0 = neutral, no negative affect; 4 = strong negative facial expression and intense cry; ICC = 0.78) for the period immediately following the blast.

Negative Parenting

At 2 years, the number of seconds that mothers exhibited negative affect while interacting with their child during the free play and reunion phases of the Separation-Reunion task (see above) was coded. Scores were standardised across the free play and reunion phases and summed to create the negative parenting composite.

At 4 years, mothers completed the 22-item Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (PCCTS; Straus, 1995). The physical assault and psychological aggression subscales were summed to form a negative parenting composite. These subscales have adequate reliability and validity and have been previously used with African American families (Straus, Hamby, Finkelhor, Moore, & Runyan, 1998).

Positive parenting

At 2 years, the number of seconds that maternal warmth (“mother shows enjoyment of the interaction with her child, e.g., smiling, caressing, kissing, snuggling”) was observed during the free play and reunion phases of the Separation-Reunion task was coded. In addition, a positive maternal parenting factor consisting of the following dichotomous variables emerged from the Interruption of Free Play task: mother comforts child; mother talks/sings to child; mother warmly asks child to come to her; and mother ignores child (reverse scored). These two scores were standardised and summed to create the positive parenting composite for age 2.

At 4 years, the 7-item Warmth and Acceptance subscale from the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory (Caldwell & Bradley, 1984) was obtained by examiner interview and observation of the mother. The HOME has been used extensively with African Americans (e.g., Bradley, Mundfrom, Whiteside, Casey, & Barrett, 1994). In addition, the Pediatric Review of Children’s Environmental Support and Stimulation (PROCESS; Casey, Bradley, Nelson, & Whaley, 1988), which assesses mothers’ responsivity to their young children, was completed by the examiner. The HOME Inventory Warmth and Acceptance score and the PROCESS total score, which were significantly correlated (r = .62, p < .01), were standardised and summed to create the positive parenting composite.

Environmental risk

At both 2 years and 4 years, risk factors were assessed by maternal interview. The variables were converted to z-scores, reverse scored if necessary so that the higher the value the greater the risk, and summed to produce the environmental risk score (see Bendersky & Lewis, 1998). The score included maternal life stress, based on the Social Environment Inventory (Orr, James, & Casper, 1992). This interview assesses stressful events during the past 6 months (e.g., “you lost your job”). Maternal social support (i.e., the number of important or significant people in the mother’s network, reverse scored) was based on the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, Lindsey, & Carrieri, 1981). The number of regular child caregivers (greater number = higher risk), the irregularity of the child’s schedule (15 items rated on a 4-point scale that assessed the variability of when the child woke up, ate, went to sleep, etc., during the past week), and the instability of the child’s surroundings (9 items assessing the number of changes in the room the child sleeps in, who lives in the house, etc., during the past 6 months) were assessed from the Family Chaos Scale (A. Sameroff, personal communication, September, 1993). In addition, single parenthood (living alone with children = higher risk), maternal race (non-European American = higher risk), maternal education (years schooling completed, reverse scored), and public assistance status (public assistance as main source of income = higher risk) were included in the environmental risk composite.

Maternal depressive symptoms

At 4 years, the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, 1978) was completed by mothers. The BDI has been used extensively with African Americans (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988; Munford, 1994).

Maternal verbal IQ

At 4 years, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R; Dunn & Dunn, 1981) was administered to mothers to provide an estimate of verbal IQ. The PPVT-R correlates highly with the verbal IQ scale of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (median r = .71; Dunn & Dunn, 1981), has been used with African American adults, and has been found to be a valid predictor of IQ for both African and European Americans (Dunn & Dunn, 1981; Halpin, Simpson, & Martin, 1990).

Outcome measures: Emotion knowledge

Labelling of expressions

Emotion knowledge was assessed using procedures described by Michalson and Lewis (1985). Children were first shown photographs and asked to verbally label the expression of the child model (i.e., happy, sad, mad, afraid, surprise, or disgust). Faces labelled in terms of a behaviour (e.g., “smiling” for the happy expression) were prompted (“Yes, Felicia is smiling, but how does she feel?”) and were not scored as correct unless the child subsequently gave a correct label. The only synonyms accepted as correct were “angry” for the mad face, “scared” for the afraid face, “shocked” for the surprise face, and “yucky” and “nasty” for the disgust face. The internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson 20; KR-20) coefficient was 0.56.

Recognition of expressions

To assess children’s recognition of facial expressions, the Examiner next presented all six photographs and asked children in a neutral tone to “point to the … (happy/mad/sad/scared/surprised/yucky) face”. The photographs were then shuffled and the child was asked to identify each expression a second time. The internal consistency (KR-20) coefficient was .68.

Situational knowledge

To assess children’s knowledge of facial expressions in their situational contexts, children were presented with 10 brief stories (including 6 from Michalson & Lewis, 1985; e.g., peer takes the child’s ball). Each story was illustrated with a line drawing, with the characters’ faces left blank. Using the same 6 photographs from the expression labelling and recognition tasks, children were asked “to point to the face that Felicia would make” in each story. The internal consistency (KR-20) coefficient was .58. A composite emotion knowledge score was created by summing the standardised labelling, recognition, and situational knowledge scores (alpha = .63).

RESULTS

Table 2 presents means and standard deviations for predictor and outcome variables while Table 3 presents correlations between each predictor and outcome variable. Emotion knowledge was positively correlated with distal and proximal measures of child cognitive ability, and with maternal verbal intelligence and the proximal measure of positive parenting. Emotion knowledge was negatively correlated with both distal and proximal environmental risk scores. As expected, the proximal measure of cognitive ability was more highly correlated with emotion knowledge than was the distal measure (Fisher r to z transformation, z = 1.96, p < .05). No significant differences, however, were found between proximal and distal measures of child emotionality, environmental risk, and parenting in predicting emotion knowledge.

TABLE 2.

Means (and standard deviations) of predictor and outcome variables

Mean (SD) n
Predictor variables
Child cognitive ability
 Two years 83.1 (10.1) 178
 Four years 84.7 (11.4) 175
Maternal characteristics
 Depressive symptoms 5.9 (6.5) 174
 Verbal intelligence 72.3 (14.6) 170
Outcome variables
 Expression labelling 1.6 (1.4) 188
 Expression recognition 5.6 (2.7) 188
 Situational knowledge 6.8 (2.7) 188
Open in a new tab

Note: Means and standard deviations for the child negative emotionality (n = 179 at 2 years, n = 182 at 4 years), environmental risk (n = 178, n = 166), negative parenting (n = 111, n = 174), positive parenting (n = 177, n = 188), and the emotion knowledge composite (n = 188) are not listed as they were based on standardised (z) scores.

TABLE 3.

Correlations among predictor and outcome variables

Distal Predictors (2 years)
 Proximal Predictors (4 years)
 Emotion knowledge
Cog Emot Env NegP PosP Cog Emot Env NegP PosP Dep VIQ Sex Label Rec Sit Comp
Distal predictor variables (2 years)
 Child cognitive ability –
 Child negative emotionality −.02 –
 Environmental risk −.22** .06 –
 Negative parenting −.06 .22* .00 –
 Positive parenting .05 −.09 .07 .06 –
Proximal predictor variables (4 years)
 Child cognitive ability .52*** .03 −.15# −.08 .11 –
 Child negative emotionality .04 −.05 .01 .19# .12 .09 –
 Environmental risk −.17* .05 .47*** .08 −.02 −.23** .10 –
 Negative parenting −.04 .03 .14# .08 −.02 −.12 −.01 .15* –
 Positive parenting .19** .01 −.26*** −.19* −.12 24*** −.04 −.34*** −.04 –
 Maternal depressive symptoms −.04 .06 .26*** .13 .01 −.06 −.08 .28*** .28*** −.30*** –
 Maternal verbal intelligence .22** .16* −.21** −18# .03 .40*** −.02 −.27*** −.04 .36*** −.02 –
 Child sex .16* −.13 −.01 −.07 .07 .07 −.01 .10 .03 −.16* .03 −.06 –
Emotion knowledge variables
 Labelling of expressions 32*** .05 −.22** −.11 .02 .50*** −.01 −.23** .01 .23** −.10 .35*** −.03 –
 Recognition of expressions .31*** −.07 −.28*** −.08 −.03 .38*** .00 −.22** −.03 .19** −.14# .30*** .10 .56*** –
 Situational knowledge .31*** .06 −.19* −17# .01 .35*** −15# −.20* .02 .07 .02 .25*** .09 .38*** .34*** –
 Composite .40*** .02 −.29*** −.16 .00 .52*** −.07 −.27*** .00 .21** − −.09 .38*** .08 .82*** .80*** .73*** –
Open in a new tab

Note: Correlations between child sex and other variables are based on Spearman’s rho; all other coefficients are based on Pearson correlations. Sex was coded such that 1 = boys, 2 = girls.

*

p ≤ .05, two-tailed;

**

p ≤ .01;

***

p ≤ .001.

Cog = child cognitive ability; Emot = child negative emotionality; Env = environmental risk; NegP = negative parenting; PosP = positive parenting; Dep = maternal depressive symptoms; VIQ = maternal verbal intelligence; Sex = child sex; Label = expression labelling; Rec = expression recognition; Sit = situational knowledge; Comp = emotion knowledge composite (i.e., label + rec + sit).

Hierarchical regressions were conducted next to predict child emotion knowledge. In Step 1, we entered predictors from 4 years, followed by those from 2 years in Step 2. Maternal characteristics were entered in Step 3, and child sex in Step 4. Four-year predictors were entered before two-year predictors to examine whether the more distal predictors added any unique variance to the prediction of emotion knowledge. The maternal characteristics of depressive symptoms and verbal intelligence were entered next because we hypothesised that any effects of these variables on emotion knowledge would be mediated through maternal parenting, already entered in the first two steps. Finally, given that girls have been found to exhibit greater emotion knowledge in some studies, we entered child sex last to see if a sex difference was present, controlling for the effects of the other predictors.2

Predictors of children’s emotion knowledge

Table 4 presents the standardised regression coefficients (β) at time of entry and for the final equation, the change in R2 for each block, and the total model R2 for the prediction of the composite and for each emotion knowledge domain. The overall equation for the emotion knowledge composite, a standardized sum of the three separate outcomes, explained 35% of the variance (p < .001). Child cognitive ability at 4 years explained the greatest variance (β = .47, p < .001) as children with higher IQ scores tended to have higher emotion knowledge scores. Child cognitive ability at 2 years added significant variance to emotion knowledge scores (β = .15, p < .05), even after entering 4-year cognitive ability. Maternal verbal intelligence also was a positive predictor of children’s emotion knowledge, even after entering children’s cognitive ability (β = .15, p < .05). Finally, high environmental risk, assessed both at 4 and 2 years (β = −.14, p < .05; β = −.16, p < .05, respectively), predicted lower emotion knowledge scores. Child negative emotionality, parenting, maternal depressive symptoms, and sex failed to predict the emotion knowledge composite.

TABLE 4.

Hierarchical regressions predicting children’s emotion knowledge at 4.5 years

Emotion knowledge composite
 Labelling of expressions
 Recognition of expressions
 Situational knowledge
Predictor Entry β Final β R2change Entry β Final β R2change Entry β Final β R2change Entry β Final β R2change
1. Proximal (4 years) .29*** .26*** .16*** .15***
Child cognitive ability .47*** .36*** .45*** .38*** .33*** .25** .33*** .22*
Child negative emotionality −.08 −.06 −.03 −.02 .00 .00 −.12 −13#
Environmental risk −.14* −.06 −.10 −.03 −.12 −.02 −.15* −.08
Negative parenting .08 .09 .08 .10 .03 .06 .07 .06
Positive parenting .05 −.03 .09 .02 .08 .01 −.06 −.09
2. Distal (2 years) .05* .02 .04# .05#
Child cognitive ability .15* .14* .06 .07 .11 .10 .17* .17*
Child negative emotionality .03 .01 .05 .02 −.06 −.07 .08 .07
Environmental risk −.16* −.15* −.11 −.09 −.17* −.15# −.11 −.10
Negative parenting −.08 −.06 −.05 −.04 −.02 .01 −.12# −.11
Positive parenting −.02 −.03 .00 −.01 −.05 −.06 .00 −.01
3. Maternal characteristics: .02 .01 .02 .01
Depressive symptoms −.04 −.04 −.06 −.06 −.08 −.08 .04 .04
Verbal intelligence .15* .15* .14# .14# .14# .14# .08 .08
4. Child sex .03 .03 .00 −.04 −.04 .00 .08 .08 .01 .03 .03 .00
Total model R2 .35*** 29*** .23*** 21***
Open in a new tab

Note: Asterisks under R2 column indicate significance of change in R2 for each block. Sex was coded such that 1 = boys, 2 = girls.

*

p ≤ .05;

**

p ≤ .01;

***

p ≤ .001;

#

p ≤ .10.

Examining each emotion knowledge domain, patterns of prediction similar to that for the composite were found with a few exceptions. Whereas child cognitive ability at 4 years predicted each of the three domains, cognitive ability at 2 years predicted only the situational knowledge domain (β = .17, p < .05). Nonsignificant trends were found for maternal verbal intelligence to predict greater expression labelling and recognition scores (β = .14, p < .10), but not situational knowledge scores. Environmental risk at 2 years was significant only for the prediction of expression recognition (β = −.17, p < .05), and environmental risk at 4 years was significant only for the prediction of situational knowledge (β = −.15, p < .05). A trend was found for negative parenting at 2 years to also predict lower situational knowledge (β = −.12, p < .10). Finally, a trend also was found in the final equation for negative emotionality to predict lower situational knowledge (β = −.13, p < .10). Positive parenting, maternal depressive symptoms, and child sex were unrelated to each emotion knowledge domain.

DISCUSSION

Young children’s cognitive ability is a strong predictor of their emotion knowledge. Most prior studies have found a positive relation between children’s cognitive ability and their emotion knowledge (e.g., Brown & Dunn, 1996; Denham et al., 1994; Fine, Izard, Mostow, Tretacosta, & Ackerman, 2003; Greig & Howe, 2001; Schultz et al., 2001; cf. Shields et al., 2001; Zabel, 1979). Earlier studies, however, have not always compared cognitive ability to a broad range of potential predictors of emotion knowledge. Furthermore, prior studies have generally used either a few subtests from an IQ test (Cook, Greenberg, & Kusche, 1994; Izard et al., 2000), a receptive language scale (Fine et al., 2003; Greig & Howe, 2001; Schultz et al., 2001; Shields et al., 2001; Smith & Walden, 1998; Zabel, 1979), or a measure of observed expressive language ability (Brown & Dunn, 1996; Denham et al., 1994) to estimate cognitive ability rather than the more comprehensive cognitive batteries used in the present study. Although the proximal measure of cognitive ability was found to be a stronger predictor, the distal measure did add unique variance as children with relatively high cognitive ability at 2 years had greater emotion knowledge at 4 years even after controlling for cognitive ability at 4 years. Maternal verbal intelligence and environmental risk also predicted emotion knowledge. However, children’s negative emotionality, sex, parenting, and maternal depressive symptoms were unrelated to emotion knowledge.

Children with either poor emotion knowledge or poor cognitive abilities exhibit increased rates of emotional-behavioural problems (Cook et al., 1994; Fine et al., 2003; Kusche, Cook, & Greenberg, 1993). What remains unclear is whether emotion knowledge and cognitive ability each add unique variance to the prediction of emotional-behavioural problems, as they may for social adjustment (Izard et al., 2000). It has been suggested that the development of emotion knowledge involves both the cognitive and emotion systems, and that emotion knowledge is related to but independent from cognitive ability (Izard, 1991; Schultz et al., 2001). Although the processes are not well understood, emotion knowledge deficits may lead to social problems and peer rejection, which in turn may lead to emotional-behavioural problems (Dodge et al., 2002; Fine et al., 2003; Laird, Jordan, Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 2001; Parker & Asher, 1987; Rogosch et al., 1995). Similarly, poor cognitive ability is a risk factor for learning problems, stigmatisation, shame, and peer rejection, which also may lead to emotional-behavioural problems (Laird et al., 2001; Lewis, 1995; Parker & Asher, 1987; Prior, Smart, Sanson, & Oberklaid, 1999). Alternatively, perhaps emotion knowledge mediates the relation between cognitive ability and emotional-behavioral problems, as children with low cognitive ability may have greater difficulty learning about emotions. Izard et al. (2000), for example, found that emotional recognition skills mediate the relation between cognitive ability and social adjustment.

Maternal verbal intelligence also predicted emotion knowledge, even after controlling for children’s cognitive ability. Perhaps verbally intelligent mothers are better able to articulate emotion lessons to their child, thus providing greater emotion learning opportunities. More broadly, given that maternal intelligence has been associated with affectionate, responsive parenting (Bornstein et al., 1996; Whiteside-Mansell et al., 1996), maternal verbal intelligence may be a causal factor, or at least a marker, for effective parenting. In the present sample, maternal verbal intelligence was correlated with positive parenting at 4 years, and both of these maternal characteristics were positively correlated with children’s emotion knowledge. Yet, maternal verbal intelligence predicted emotion knowledge after positive parenting was already controlled for in the regressions, indicating that maternal intelligence added unique variance and is not merely a marker for positive parenting.

Environmental risk also predicted emotion knowledge. This is consistent with prior findings showing that parental education, occupation, and the presence of two parents in the home are positively related to children’s emotion knowledge (Cutting & Dunn, 1999; Dunn & Brown, 1994; Smith & Walden, 1998). Several other variables reflective of children’s environment, however, failed to predict emotion knowledge when examined in the context of other predictors. Maternal depressive symptoms were unrelated to emotion knowledge. Greig and Howe (2001) found maternal depressive symptoms to be negatively related to children’s emotion knowledge, but the relation became nonsignificant after controlling for other variables. Combined with the present findings, maternal depressive symptoms do not appear to be a robust predictor of children’s emotion knowledge. Similarly, positive parenting was correlated with emotion knowledge, but became a nonsignificant predictor when examined in the regressions. Negative parenting also was unrelated to emotion knowledge. Given that some research has found an association between parenting and children’s emotion knowledge, at least two potential explanations exist. First, most prior studies examining parenting effects on children’s emotion knowledge had fewer than 50 subjects (Camras et al, 1988, 1990; Daly, Abramovitch, & Pliner, 1980; Denham et al., 1994; Field & Walden, 1982; Garner et al., 1994; Shipman & Zeman, 1999). Such samples limit the ability to examine the unique variance of parenting effects in the context of other potential predictors, such as cognitive ability and environmental risk. Second, our parenting measures assessed maternal affect, warmth, and the use of harsh discipline. While our parenting assessments were relatively comprehensive, it is possible that more specific measures focusing on maternal expressivity (Halberstadt et al., 1999) or the use of emotional language (Denham et al., 1994) are more likely to show parenting effects on emotion knowledge.

Negative emotionality also was unrelated to children’s emotion knowledge. Before negative emotionality is dismissed as a predictor of emotion knowledge, it should be noted that we assessed negative emotionality during interactions in which either the examiner or mother was present. Such contextual factors are important, as young children may be less apt to exhibit negative emotions when an adult is present (Garner, 1995; Zeman, Penza, Shipman, & Young, 1997). In addition, our measures of negative emotionality at 2 and 4 years, though developmentally appropriate, were not parallel. For example, the strange situation is typically administered within the first two years of life, whereas assessment of self-conscious emotions such as shame would be inappropriate at age 2 as such emotions emerge during the third year (Lewis, 1993).

The findings for our predominantly African American, low SES sample are consistent with those from predominantly European American samples. We used more comprehensive measures of cognitive ability, but our findings were consistent with studies finding children’s language ability to be positively related to emotion knowledge among both African American (Schultz et al., 2001; Smith & Walden, 1998) and European American samples (Brown & Dunn, 1996; Greig & Howe, 2001). Regarding maternal depression, Greig and Howe (2001) found a negative relation between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s emotion knowledge in their predominantly white, working class sample of Scottish preschoolers (Greig & Howe, 2001). Similarly, we found a trend for maternal depressive symptoms to be negatively related to children’s recognition of expressions, though not to their labelling of expressions or situational knowledge. In both studies, however, the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and children’s emotion knowledge decreased and became nonsignificant once other variables, including children’s cognitive ability, were entered into regressions. For other predictors, there is insufficient research to compare the generalisability of findings across racial groups. For example, we know of no prior study to examine negative emotionality as a predictor of emotion knowledge among African American or European American children.

We assessed several important dimensions of emotion knowledge. Emotion knowledge, however, is a broad construct that may include additional skills (e.g., the perception of emotion signals in vocal expressions and behaviours; the identification of causes of emotions; the ability to recognise and label one’s own emotions; Izard, 2001). Although such skills may be interrelated, our findings do not necessarily generalise to other dimensions of emotion knowledge. Similarly, our findings are based on measures that utilise posed photographs and hypothetical vignettes, and thus may not generalise to children’s actual behaviour in social situations that require consideration of nonfacial cues and one’s personal history with an interactant (Saarni, 1999). Furthermore, as some basic dimensions of emotion knowledge do not develop until after age 24 months (e.g., emotion situation knowledge; Fine et al., 2003), we did not assess emotion knowledge at 2 years, prohibiting us from examining correlates of change in emotion knowledge from age 2 to 4.

In summary, relatively little is known about the characteristics of children and their environments that may enhance or hinder their acquisition of emotion knowledge (Schultz et al., 2001). The present study compared theoretically important predictors for their relation to young children’s emotion knowledge. The findings indicate that cognitively skilled children who come from low risk environments and who have verbally intelligent mothers possess greater emotion knowledge in early childhood than their peers.

Footnotes

This study was supported by Grant DA07109 to Michael Lewis from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The authors gratefully acknowledge Linda Camras for providing the photographs used in the assessment of emotion knowledge. An earlier report of this data was presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (April 2003) in Tampa, Florida.

1

Details of all factor analyses are available from the authors.

2

Existing research (e.g., Kaugars, Russ, & Singer, 2001) does not provide any reason to examine neonatal health or cocaine exposure as predictors of emotion knowledge, and when added to the hierarchical regressions no effects were found.

References

  1. Baumrind D. The average expectable environment is not good enough: A response to Scarr. Child Development. 1993;64:1299–1317. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bayley, N. (1993). Bayley scales of infant development (2nd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
  3. Beck, A. T. (1978). Depression inventory. Philadelphia: Center for Cognitive Therapy.
  4. Beck AT, Steer RA, Garbin MG. Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review. 1988;8:77–100. [Google Scholar]
  5. Bendersky, M., Alessandri, S. M., & Lewis, M. (1996). Emotions in cocaine-exposed infants. In M. Lewis & M. W. Sullivan (Eds.), Emotional development in atypical children (pp. 89–108). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  6. Bendersky M, Lewis M. Arousal modulation in cocaine-exposed infants. Developmental Psychology. 1998;34:555–564. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bennett DS, Bendersky M, Lewis M. Children’s intellectual and emotional-behavioral adjustment at 4 years as a function of cocaine exposure, maternal characteristics, and environmental risk. Developmental Psychology. 2002;38:648–658. doi: 10.1037//0012-1649.38.5.648. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Blair RJR, Coles M. Expression recognition and behavioural problems in early adolescence. Cognitive Development. 2000;15:421–434. [Google Scholar]
  9. Borke H. The development of empathy in Chinese and American children between three and six years of age: A cross-cultural study. Developmental Psychology. 1973;9:102–108. [Google Scholar]
  10. Bornstein MH, Haynes OM, O’Reilly AW, Painter KM. Solitary and collaborative pretense play in early childhood: Sources of individual variation in the development of representational competence. Child Development. 1996;67:2910–2929. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Boyatzis CJ, Satyaprasad C. Children’s facial and gestural decoding and encoding: Relations between skills and with popularity. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1994;18:37–55. [Google Scholar]
  12. Bradley RH, Mundfrom DJ, Whiteside L, Casey PH, Barrett K. A factor analytic study of the Infant-Toddler and Early Childhood versions of the HOME Inventory administered to white, black, and Hispanic American parents of children born preterm. Child Development. 1994;65:880–888. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00790.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. (1998). The ecology of developmental processes. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), W. Damon (Series Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (5th ed., pp. 993–1028). New York: Wiley.
  14. Brown JR, Dunn J. Continuities in emotion understanding from 3–6 years. Child Development. 1996;67:789–802. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Caldwell, B., & Bradley, R. (1984). Home observation for measurement of the environment. Unpublished manuscript, University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
  16. Camras LA, Ribordy S, Hill J, Martino S, Sachs V, Spaccarelli S, et al. Maternal facial behavior and the recognition and production of emotional expression by maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Developmental Psychology. 1990;26:304–312. [Google Scholar]
  17. Camras L, Ribordy S, Hill J, Martino S, Spaccrelli S, Stefani R. Recognition and posing of emotional expressions by abused children and their mothers. Developmental Psychology. 1988;24:776–781. [Google Scholar]
  18. Casey PH, Bradley RH, Nelson JY, Whaley SA. The clinical assessment of a child’s social and physical environment during health visits. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 1988;9:333–339. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Chase-Lansdale PL, Gordon RA. Economic hardship and the development of five- and six-year-olds: Neighborhood and regional perspectives. Child Development. 1996;67:3338–3367. [Google Scholar]
  20. Cook ET, Greenberg MT, Kusche CA. The relations between emotional understanding, intellectual functioning, and disruptive behavior problems in elementary-school-aged children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 1994;22:205–219. doi: 10.1007/BF02167900. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Cutting AL, Dunn J. Theory of mind, emotion understanding, language, and family background: Individual differences and interrelations. Child Development. 1999;70:853–865. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00061. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Daly EM, Abramovitch R, Pliner P. The relationship between mothers’ encoding and their children’s decoding of facial expressions of emotion. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 1980;26:25–33. [Google Scholar]
  23. Deater-Deckard K, Dodge KA, Bates JE, Pettit GS. Physical discipline among African American and European American mothers: Links to children’s externalizing behaviors. Developmental Psychology. 1996;32:1065–1072. [Google Scholar]
  24. Denham SA. Social cognition, prosocial behavior, and emotion in preschoolers: Contextual validation. Child Development. 1986;57:194–201. [Google Scholar]
  25. Denham, S. A. (1998). Emotional development in young children. New York: Guilford Press.
  26. Denham SA, Blair KA, DeMulder E, Levitas J, Sawyer K, Auerbach-Major S, et al. Preschool emotional competence: Pathway to social competence? Child Development. 2003;74:238–256. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00533. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Denham SA, Couchoud EA. Young preschoolers’ understanding of emotions. Child Study Journal. 1990;20:171–192. [Google Scholar]
  28. Denham SA, McKinley M, Couchoud EA, Holt R. Emotional and behavioral predictors of preschool peer ratings. Child Development. 1990;61:1145–1152. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Denham SA, Zoller D, Couchoud EA. Socialization of preschoolers’ emotion understanding. Developmental Psychology. 1994;30:928–936. [Google Scholar]
  30. Dodge KA, Laird R, Lochman JE, Zelli A Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. Multidimensional latent-construct analysis of children’s social information processing patterns: Correlations with aggressive behavior problems. Psychological Assessment. 2002;14:60–73. doi: 10.1037//1040-3590.14.1.60. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Dunn J, Brown JR. Affect expression in the family, children’s understanding of emotions, and their interactions with others. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 1994;40:120–137. [Google Scholar]
  32. Dunn J, Cutting AL. Understanding others, and individual differences in friendship interactions in young children. Social Development. 1999;8:201–219. [Google Scholar]
  33. Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1981). Peabody picture vocabulary test-revised: Manual for forms L and M. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
  34. Eisenberg N, Fabes RA, Shepard SA, Murphy BC, Jones S, Guthrie IK. Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children’s sympathy from dispositional regulation and emotionality. Developmental Psychology. 1998;34:910–924. doi: 10.1037//0012-1649.34.5.910. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Field TM, Walden TA. Production and discrimination of facial expressions by preschool children. Child Development. 1982;53:1299–1311. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Fine S, Izard CE, Mostow A, Trentacosta CJ, Ackerman BP. First grade emotion knowledge as a predictor of fifth grade self-reported internalizing behaviors in children from economically disadvantaged families. Development and Psychopathology. 2003;15:331–342. doi: 10.1017/s095457940300018x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Garcia Coll C, Lamberly G, Jenkins R, McAdoo H, Crnic K, Waik BH, et al. An integrative model for the stud of developmental competencies in minority children. Child Development. 1996;67:1891–1914. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Garner PW. Toddlers’ emotion regulation behaviors: The roles of social context and family expressiveness. Journal of Genetic Psychology. 1995;156:417–430. doi: 10.1080/00221325.1995.9914834. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Garner PW, Jones DC, Miner JL. Social competence among low-income preschoolers: Emotion socialization practices and social cognitive correlates. Child Development. 1994;65:622–637. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Greig A, Howe D. Social understanding, attachment security of preschool children and maternal mental health. British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 2001;19:381–393. [Google Scholar]
  41. Gross AL, Bailif B. Children’s understanding of emotion from facial expressions and situations: A review. Developmental Review. 1991;11:368–398. [Google Scholar]
  42. Halberstadt, A. G., Crisp, V. W., & Eaton, K. L. (1999). Family expressiveness: A retrospective and new directions for research. In P. Philippot, R. S. Feldman, & E. Coats (Eds.), The social context of nonverbal behavior (pp. 109–155). New York: Cambridge University Press.
  43. Halpin G, Simpson RG, Martin SL. An investigation of racial bias in the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Educational and Psychological Measurement. 1990;50:183–189. [Google Scholar]
  44. Izard, C. E. (1991). The psychology of emotions. New York: Plenum.
  45. Izard, C. E. (1995). The maximally discriminative facial movement coding system. Unpublished manuscript, University of Delaware, Newark.
  46. Izard CE. Emotional intelligence or adaptive emotions? Emotion. 2001;1:249–257. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Izard CE, Fine S, Schultz D, Mostow A, Ackerman BP, Youngstrom EA. Emotion knowledge as a predictor of social behavior and academic competence in children at risk. Psychological Science. 2001;12:18–23. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Izard CE, Schultz D, Fine SE, Youngstrom E, Ackerman BP. Temperament, cognitive ability, emotion knowledge, and adaptive social behavior. Imagination, Cognition and Personality. 2000;19:305–330. [Google Scholar]
  49. Julian TW, McKenry PC, McKelvey MW. Cultural variations in parenting: Perceptions of Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian-American parents. Family Relations: Journal of Applied Family and Child Studies. 1994;43:30–37. [Google Scholar]
  50. Kaugars, A. S., Russ, S. W., & Singer, L. T. (2001, April). Emotional processes in four-year-old children prenatally exposed to cocaine. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
  51. Krohn EJ, Lamp RE. Stability of the SB:FE and K-ABC for young children from low-income families: A 5-year longitudinal study. Journal of School Psychology. 1999;37:315–332. [Google Scholar]
  52. Kusche CA, Cook ET, Greenberg MT. Neuropsychological and cognitive functioning in children with anxiety, externalizing, and comorbid psychopathology. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology. 1993;22:172–195. [Google Scholar]
  53. Laird RD, Jordan KY, Dodge KA, Pettit GS, Bates JE. Peer rejection in childhood, involvement with antisocial peers in early adolescence, and the development of externalizing behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology. 2001;13:337–354. doi: 10.1017/s0954579401002085. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  54. Lewis, M. (1993). The emergence of human emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), The handbook of human emotions (pp. 223–235). New York: Guilford Press.
  55. Lewis, M. (1995). Shame: The exposed self. New York: Free Press.
  56. Lewis, M. (1997). Altering fate: Why the past does not predict the future. New York: Guilford Press.
  57. Lewis M, Alessandri SM, Sullivan MW. Differences in shame and pride as a function of gender and task difficulty. Child Development. 1992;63:630–638. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  58. Lewis M, Feiring C, Rosenthal S. Attachment over time. Child Development. 2000;71:707–720. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00180. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  59. Lewis, M., & Michalson, L. (1983). Children’s emotions and moods: Developmental theory and measurement. New York: Plenum.
  60. Lewis M, Ramsay D. Cortisol response to embarrassment and shame. Child Development. 2002;73:1034–1045. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00455. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  61. Lewis M, Sullivan MW, Stanger C, Weiss M. Self development and self-conscious emotions. Child Development. 1989;60:146–156. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  62. Longo J, Harvey A, Wilson S, Deni R. Toy play, play tempo, and reaction to frustration in infants. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1982;55:239–242. doi: 10.2466/pms.1982.55.1.239. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  63. Lovejoy MC, Graczyk PA, O’Hare E, Neuman G. Maternal depression and parenting behavior: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review. 2000;20:561–592. doi: 10.1016/s0272-7358(98)00100-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  64. Michalson, L., & Lewis, M. (1985). What do children know about emotions and when do they know it? In M. Lewis & C. Saarni (Eds.), The socialization of emotions (pp. 117–140). New York: Plenum.
  65. Munford MB. Relationship of gender, self-esteem, social class, and racial identity to depression in Blacks. Journal of Black Psychology. 1994;20:157–174. [Google Scholar]
  66. Norbeck J, Lindsey A, Carried V. The development of an instrument to measure social support. Nursing Research. 1981;30:264–269. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  67. Nowicki S, Duke MP. The association of children’s nonverbal decoding abilities with their popularity, locus of control, and academic achievement. Journal of Genetic Psychology. 1992;153:385–393. [Google Scholar]
  68. Orr S, James S, Casper R. Psychosocial stressors and low birth weight: Development of a questionnaire. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 1992;13:343–347. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  69. Parker JG, Asher SR. Peer relations and later personal adjustment: Are low-accepted children at risk? Psychological Bulletin. 1987;102:357–389. doi: 10.1037//0033-2909.102.3.357. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  70. Pons F, Lawson J, Harris PL, de Rosnay M. Individual differences in children’s emotion understanding: Effects of age and language. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 2003;44:347–353. doi: 10.1111/1467-9450.00354. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  71. Prior M, Smart D, Sanson A, Oberklaid F. Relationships between learning difficulties and psychological problems in preadolescent children from a longitudinal sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 1999;38:429–436. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199904000-00016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  72. Rogosch F, Cicchetti D, Aber J. The role of child maltreatment in early deviations in cognitive and affective processing abilities and later peer relationship problems. Development and Psychopathology. 1995;7:591–609. [Google Scholar]
  73. Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. New York: Guilford Press.
  74. Salovey, P., Bedell, B. T., Detweiler, J. B., & Mayer, J. D. (2000). Current directions in emotional intelligence research. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 504–520). New York: Guilford Press.
  75. Scharfe, E. (2000). Development of emotional expression, understanding, and regulation in infants and young children. In R. Bar-On & J. D. A. Parker (Eds.), The handbook of emotional intelligence (pp. 244–262). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  76. Schultz D, Izard CE, Ackerman BP, Youngstrom EA. Emotion knowledge in economically disadvantaged children: Self-regulatory antecedents and relations to social difficulties and withdrawal. Development and Psychopathology. 2001;13:53–67. doi: 10.1017/s0954579401001043. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  77. Shields A, Dickstein S, Seifer R, Giusti L, Magee KD, Spritz B. Emotional competence and early school adjustment: A study of preschoolers at risk. Early Education and Development. 2001;12:73–96. [Google Scholar]
  78. Shipman KL, Zeman J. Emotional understanding: A comparison of physically maltreating and nonmaltreating mother-child dyads. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology. 1999;28:407–17. doi: 10.1207/S15374424jccp280313. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  79. Smith M, Walden T. Developmental trends in emotion understanding among a diverse sample of African American preschool children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 1998;19:177–197. [Google Scholar]
  80. Stifter CA, Fox NA. Preschool children’s ability to identify and label emotions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1987;11:43–54. [Google Scholar]
  81. Straus, M. A. (1995). Manual for the Conflict Tactics Scales. Durham, NH: Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire.
  82. Straus MA, Hamby SL, Finkelhor D, Moore DW, Runyan D. Identification of child maltreatment with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales: Development and psychometric data for a national sample of American parents. Child Abuse and Neglect. 1998;22:249–270. doi: 10.1016/s0145-2134(97)00174-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  83. Sullivan MW, Bennett DS, Lewis M. Darwin’s view: Self-evaluative emotions as context specific emotions. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2003;1000:304–308. doi: 10.1196/annals.1280.031. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  84. Sullivan MW, Lewis M. Contextual determinants of anger and other negative expressions in young infants. Developmental Psychology. 2003;39:693–705. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.39.4.693. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  85. Thompson RJ, Catlett AT, Oehler JM, Gustafson KE, Goldstein RF. Home environment and developmental outcome of African American and White infants with very low birthweight. Children’s Health Care. 1998;27:1–14. [Google Scholar]
  86. Thorndike, R. L., Hagen, E. P., & Sattler, J. M. (1986). The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: 4th ed. Technical Manual. Chicago: Riverside Publishing.
  87. Whiteside-Mansell L, Bradley RH, Tresch Owen M, Randolph SM, Cauce AM. Parenting and children’s behavior at 36 months: Equivalence between African American and European American mother-child dyads. Parenting: Science and Practice. 2003;3:197–234. [Google Scholar]
  88. Whiteside-Mansell L, Pope SK, Bradley RH. Patterns of parenting behavior in young mothers. Family Relations: Journal of Applied Family and Child Studies. 1996;45:273–281. [Google Scholar]
  89. Zabel R. Recognition of emotions in facial expressions by emotionally disturbed and nondisturbed children. Psychology in the Schools. 1979;16:119–126. [Google Scholar]
  90. Zeman J, Penza S, Shipman K, Young G. Preschoolers as functionalists: The impact of social context on emotion regulation. Child Study Journal. 1997;27:41–67. [Google Scholar]

RESOURCES