Emotion Regulation Between 2 and 6 Years – Behavioral Dynamics and Developmental Correlates

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The development of emotion regulation in toddlerhood and early childhood is a key developmental achievement that emerges within dynamic interaction with caregivers within and outside the family. It has important implications for other facets of children’s socio-emotional development. From a transactional perspective, this symposium brings together studies from the US, Germany, and India with children from 2 to 6 years of age. Based on behavioral data, the studies (i) explore dynamic relations between caregivers’ and children’s behaviors as they unfold across time, (ii) relate behavioral dynamics with caregivers’ socialization goals, and (iii) demonstrate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with child prosocial development.
Examining sequences of mother-child behaviors within dyadic interactions, Study 1 illustrates changing links between mothers’ emotion socialization and children’s regulation. Study 2 analyzes emotionally challenging episodes during naturalistic teacher-child interaction in preschools, focusing on teachers’ emotion coaching and co-regulation and children’s self-regulation. Study 3 investigates links between maternal emotion socialization goals and specific regulation strategies and their associations with children’s affect during a standardized waiting task. Study 4 examines cross-sectional and longitudinal relations between standardized behavioral assessments of different facets of preschoolers’ emotion regulation with two domains of prosocial behavior, namely helping and sharing.
Showcasing different methodological approaches to analyzing complex behavioral data, this symposium presents findings on the behavioral dynamics and developmental correlates of 2- to 6-year-olds’ emotion regulation. Furthermore, all presentations situate emotion regulation within relational context by considering socializers or prosocial behavior towards others, bringing a transactional perspective to understanding the development of emotion regulation.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chairs

• Joscha Kärtner, University of Münser

• Luisa Marie Lüken, University of Münster

Individual Presentations

• Maternal Emotion Socialization and Child Regulation: Within-Interaction Sequences in Early Childhood - Presenting Author: Julie C Dunsmore, University of Houston; Danhua Zhu, University of California - Irvine; Fantasy T. Lozada, Virginia Commonwealth University; Martha Ann Bell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Teachers Promote Children’s Emotion Regulation – How and how Well do They do it? - Presenting Author: Judith Silkenbeumer, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster; Luisa Marie Lüken, University of Münster; Manfred Holodynski, University of Münster; Joscha Kärtner, University of Münser

• Effects of Emotion Socialization Models on Maternal Regulation Strategies and Toddler’s Affect in India - Presenting Author: Tripti Kathuria, N/A; Shagufa Kapadia, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda; Wolfgang Josef Friedlmeier, Grand Valley State University

• Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations Between Preschooler’s Emotion Regulation and Their Helping and Sharing Behavior - Presenting Author: Luisa Marie Lüken, University of Münster; Judith Silkenbeumer, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster; Manfred Holodynski, University of Münster; Joscha Kärtner, University of Münser