The Impact of Story-Sharing Circles on Preschoolers’ Elaboration and Resolution of Negative Emotional Experiences.

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

Prior research describes how personal narratives, which consist of formulating and connecting past experiences into cohesive autobiographical stories, can serve as an outlet for emotional expression and an important context for helping make meaning of past experiences (Bird & Reese, 2006; Engel, 1995; Fivush, 1993). Narrating past personal and interpersonal emotional experiences provides children with opportunities to evaluate, interpret, and understand their own and others’ thoughts and feelings. Central to the present study, reflecting on negative emotional experiences in the form of narratives has been linked to children’s emotional and behavioral regulation as constructing an emotionally coherent narrative about a conflictual experience necessitates an understanding of, and ability to downregulate, complex negative emotions (Cole, Michel, & O’Donnell- Teti, 1994, Slade, 1994; Wolf, 1990). For children growing up in families facing the many stressors of poverty, conversations that scaffold children’s processing of negative emotional experiences may be especially beneficial for healthy socioemotional outcomes (Leyva, Berrocal, & Nolivos, 2014). Additionally, kindergarten entry represents a developmental transition with a heightened need for emotional and behavioral regulation (Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000). Thus, the present study aimed to examine the impact of story-sharing circles implemented during a summer kindergarten readiness program, serving a high-poverty sample, on children’s abilities to include internal state language and resolve negative emotions in their personal narratives. Participants included 32 children between 4 and 5 years of age (M= 62.7 months, SD= 5.1 months; 15 boys, 17 girls) enrolled in a kindergarten readiness program. A majority of the families (90%) were identified as Black in terms of racial/ethnic background. Over the course of the four-week program, 20 children (M = 62.35 months, SD = 4.57; 7 boys, 13 girls) participated in 12 story-sharing circles, while the remaining 12 children (M = 64 months, SD = 5.6; 7 boys, 5 girls) engaged in free play activities. Participants across both groups were matched on age and gender. During each circle, structurally-complete model stories were presented that included multiple character perspectives, emotion and mental state references, and conflict-resolution sequences. Children took turns sharing their own stories using prompts focused on negative emotion contexts (e.g., “tell us a story about a time you felt scared/ frustrated/ someone’s feelings were hurt"). Internal state language and emotional tone shifts in children’s stories elicited at pre- and post- intervention as well as during the story-sharing circles were coded per Davidson and Welliver (2019). Preliminary results indicate significantly higher frequencies of emotional tone shifts at post-test for children assigned to the story-sharing circles (M= .75, SD= .83) compared to children assigned to the control condition (M= .13, SD= .31), t (30) = 2.48, p = .019. Descriptive patterns for the frequency of individual internal state language components (see Figures 1 and 2) as well as elaboration on the antecedents and consequences of negative emotional experiences during the story circles will be presented. Implications for instructional strategies to scaffold children’s personal narratives utilizing a strengths-based approach— one that recognizes and validates children’s cultural styles and oral traditions— will be discussed.

Authors

• Kiren S Khan, Rhodes College
  Presenting Author

• Meredith Schoel, Rhodes College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eraine Leland, Rhodes College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Taylor Duncan, Rhodes College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leticia Rosas, Rhodes College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marsha D Walton, Rhodes College
  Non-Presenting Author