3-230 - The Intersection of Emotional and Language Development in Early Childhood

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children’s emotional and language development have historically been studied separately although it is often assumed that language contributes to emotional development (Cole, Armstrong, & Pemberton, 2010). This symposium highlights the contribution of young children’s emotion to their language development as well as how early communication influences the affective quality of interaction with parents. The four presentations were selected for their varied approaches, including studying emotion as a temperamental dimension or as an aspect of observed interactions, selecting different features of language development (receptive versus expressive, speech versus gestures, vocabulary versus grammar), and different interaction partners (mother, father, or teacher).

The first addresses the possibility that relations between infant temperament (positive and negative emotionality) and language acquisition depend upon parenting qualities. The second presentation underscores the importance of considering additional temperament dimensions, notably attention control, in relating toddler positive and negative emotionality to language development and language risk in Italian toddlers. The third presentation discusses differential effects of receptive and expressive language on the emotional tone of toddler-parent in a large sample of Early Head Start families. The fourth paper addresses the effects of toddler positive and negative emotion on mother-child and father-child conversation quality at two ages (18 and 30 months) in a rural lower income sample. Finally, the fourth paper will summarize cross-cutting themes of the papers, including the complexity of these relations and the need for studying bidirectional influences both in moment-to-moment interaction and over the course of early childhood.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chairs

• Margaret Anne Fields, Pennsylvania State University

• Pamela M Cole, Penn State Univ

Individual Presentations

• Early Language Development in Context: Interactions Between Infant Temperament and Maternal Behaviors - Presenting Author: Lauren M. Laake, Northern Illinois University; David J Bridgett, Northern Illinois University

• Language Risk and Temperamental Profiles in Italian Toddlers - Presenting Author: Maria_Carmen Carmen Usai, 10Charge; Paola Viterbori, University of Education; Valentina Garello, Department of Education Sciences, University of Genoa, Italy

• Effects of Early Receptive and Expressive Language Skills on the Affective Quality of Mother-Child Interactions - Presenting Author: Claire D Vallotton, Michigan State University; Holly Elisabeth Brophy-Herb, Michigan State University

• Toddler Emotion Expressions and Their Relation to Father-Toddler and Mother-Toddler Conversation Quality - Presenting Author: Margaret Anne Fields, Pennsylvania State University; Pamela M Cole, Penn State Univ; Caroline K. Pemberton Roben, University of Delaware; Mirella Cristina Maggi, Pennsylvania State University