Emotion Regulation in Dyadic Play: The Role of the Play Partners’ Behavior and Competences

• In Event: Peer Play as Developmental Context for Preschool Children’s Social and Emotional Competences

Abstract

The development of emotional competence is a major milestone in early childhood. From early on, we can observe interindividual differences in emotion regulation skills. Socialization experiences within and outside the family shape early interindividual differences. Although peers are believed to be a powerful context for socialization of young children’s social-emotional competence, only little research addressed the issue of peer influence.
The current study aimed to investigate peer influence on children’s emotion regulation in a quasi-experimental dyadic play setting. Children were randomly assigned to different play partners. We investigate whether the observed behavior of the focal child (“actor”) is associated with the behavior and competences of their (varying) play partners (“partner”). We hypothesized that there are positive associations between observed actor and partner emotion expression and modulation. We also hypothesized that emotion regulation skills (reported by educators) of actor and partner are positively associated with actors’ emotion expression and modulation. Furthermore, we explored whether reported emotional and social competences of both children are associated with observed emotion expression and modulation in play.
The sample consisted of 28 children (50% girls) from Swiss kindergartens aged 55 to 69 months (M=62.40; SD=3.45). Children played 3 to 4 times with randomly assigned peers in semi-standardized dyadic play situations, resulting in 96 observations of 48 dyads. All dyads participated in two emotion-eliciting play situations (wobbly bricks and remote-controlled car). Children’s play situations were videotaped and rated with a newly developed instrument (Emotion Regulation Scoring System - ERSS) to assess observable markers of children’s emotion related behavior (emotion expression and modulation). The ERSS showed a good internal consistency for emotion expression (w = .80) and modulation (w = .90). The Interrater Reliability showed a good reliability for emotion expression (ICC = .81) and modulation (ICC = .85). Kindergarten teachers rated children’s social competence (assertiveness, cooperation) and emotional competence (emotion regulation skills, verbal emotion expression, empathy) using well-established rating scales. Data were analyzed with Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE), taking into account the nestedness of the data (children in dyads).
The analyses indicated a significant effect of the play partners’ emotion expression on the actors’ emotion expression. The actors’ reported emotion regulation skills also predicted the actors’ emotion expression in peer play. The partners' emotion modulation showed significant effects on the actors’ emotion modulation. The actors’ reported emotion regulation skills was also a marginally significant predictor for the actors’ emotion modulation.
The analyses show that the behavior of both children was significantly associated, i.e. they showed similar behavior. This suggests that peers may have an influence on children’s emotion related behavior. The findings also show that the actors’ (reported) emotion regulation skills was a significant predictor for the actors’ (observed) emotion regulation, but not the partners’ skills. This indicates that children’s behavior is partly shaped by their own skills, but also that children adapt – to a certain degree - to their play partner’s ways of expressing and modulating emotions. These reciprocal influences suggest that peer play might be an important developmental context to acquire and train emotion regulation skills.

Authors

• Sonja Perren, University of Konstanz and Thurgau University of Teacher Education
  Presenting Author

• Pablo Nischak, Thurgau University of Teacher Education

• Tatiana Diebold, Thurgau University of Teacher Education