Temperamental Exuberance and Peer Relationships in Early to Middle Childhood

• In Event: Temperament and Social Relationships: Multiple Methods for Understanding the Whole Child Across Development

Abstract

Developmental growth consists of enduring adaptations to the environment, providing children with the skills to navigate their social world successfully. Temperament is an important influence on the individual differences that affect development. Children with an exuberant temperamental profile are seen as highly social and happy children, but can be at risk for later externalizing behavior problems and rejection from peers due to impulsivity and high approach tendencies. Prior studies have examined the relations between child temperament and outcomes, indicating that pathways from specific temperament profiles (e.g., reactivity, inhibition) are related to certain outcomes (e.g., behavior problems and social skills). However, these pathways also are impacted by internal regulatory processes and the social context. A key element of successful adaptive functioning is the development of self-regulation. By middle childhood, peers, in addition to parents, serve as a source of support and help children develop self-regulatory skills. Difficulty with self-regulation has been consistently related to behavior problems, while successful regulation is related to social competence. Relationships with peers, specifically high quality friendships, help to support the development of social competence. A child's emotion regulation skills facilitate the learning of appropriate peer behavior, positive social interactions, and effective social problem solving. Children with greater emotional reactivity to various contexts, seen in extreme temperamental profiles such as exuberance, may struggle to adapt their emotions and behavior without more developed regulation skills. The current study will examine how temperamental exuberance across early childhood and emotion regulation are related to peer relationships and friendship quality in middle childhood.
Data for the current study comes from a longitudinal study conducted at the University of Maryland (N=291, 54% female), including measures of exuberance from infancy through toddlerhood, task-based and maternal-report of emotion regulation at 5 and 7 years, as well as observations and child-report of peer relationships and friendships at 9 years. It is expected that across the sample, high exuberance will relate to emotion regulation difficulties. However, highly exuberant children with better regulation skills will be more socially competent in middle childhood than their peers overall. Contrary to expectations, preliminary analyses suggest that exuberance in toddlerhood is related to better task-based emotion regulation ​​(r = .18, p = .012) and maternal-report of emotion regulation (r = .16, p = .021) at 7 years of age. Task-based emotion regulation is not related to maternal-report of emotion regulation at age 7, but is related to Social Ease with an unfamiliar peer (r = .20, p = .011) and maternal-reported interpersonal competence (r = .37, p < .001) at age 9. Additionally, maternal-reported emotion regulation at age 7 is related to both maternal-reported (rs = .25 to .43, ps < .005) and self-reported (r = .19, p = .024) social competence at age 9. Additional analyses will assess the mediating effect of emotion regulation on the longitudinal relationship between temperamental exuberance, peer relationships, and social competencies. Together, results will highlight the interplay between temperament-linked individual differences and emotion regulation processes in shaping the development of successful peer competencies.

Authors

• Sarah B. R. Kravitz, Catholic University of America
  Presenting Author

• Grace Imondi, The Catholic University of America

• Kathryn A Degnan, Catholic University of America