A closer look at preschoolers' freely produced labels for facial expressions.

Children's performance on free labeling of prototypical facial expressions of basic emotions is modest and improves only gradually. In 3 data sets (N=80, ages 4 or 5 years; N=160, ages 2 to 5 years; N=80, ages 3 to 4 years), errors remained even when method factors (poor stimuli, unavailability of an appropriate label, or the difficulty of a production task) were controlled. Children's use of emotion labels increased with age in a systematic order: Happy, angry, and sad emerged early and in that order, were more accessible, and were applied broadly (overgeneralized) but systematically. Scared, surprised and disgusted emerged later and often in that order, were less accessible, and were applied narrowly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting parent and child outcomes of a filial therapy program.

The present study investigated parent and child factors that predict outcome in a filial therapy program for parents (N = 27) and young children (ages 2–10). Higher levels of parent distress and poorer child regulation of emotion at pretest were predictive of greater reductions in child behavior problems; poorer parent regulation of emotion at pretest was predictive of greater increases in parent acceptance; and less parent satisfaction with social support from family and friends at pretest was predictive of greater increases in parent communication of acceptance in parent–child play. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Labels and explanations in mother–child emotion talk: Age and gender differentiation.

Mothers' and preschoolers' emotion talk was examined for age- (2, 3, and 4 years) and gender-related patterns in the use of labels and explanations. Although labels directly refer to emotions, explanations link emotion words to causal information. Children used emotion words mainly in labels. Boys' emotion talk showed an age increase: in contrast, the youngest group of girls talked about emotion much more frequently than did same-age boys, and this high frequency remained relatively stable across age. Mothers used more explanations than labels in emotion talk to boys but used similar amounts with girls. Further, their use of labels and explanations related to individual differences in the extent to which children talked about emotion. These findings are discussed in terms of language socialization?in particular, processes related to the socialization of emotion language and gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's attributions regarding the situational determinants of emotion in self and others.

22 4–5 yr olds and 22 7–8 yr olds, equally divided by sex, were interviewed regarding the contexts they considered elicited each of 5 emotional states (happy, sad, angry, afraid, and surprised) in self, other children, and adults. Responses were coded into a priori categories and were compared with rankings made by 40 22–36 yr olds of the same categories as explanations for adults' and for children's emotions. Results confirm that explanations for emotional states were nonrandom, even for preschoolers, and were distributed in significantly different and meaningful ways across the emotions investigated. Several age- and gender-related hypotheses were confirmed: Interpersonal and achievement explanations for emotions both increased with age; fantasy contexts for fear decreased with age; and girls used more interpersonal explanations for emotion than did boys. Expected increases with age in cognitive differentiation of such affect knowledge were marginally confirmed, with older children using a greater number of categories to explain emotions than did younger children. Contrary to expectations, there were no age or gender effects as a function of target person, nor was there greater differentiation of categories used to explain own vs others' affect. Social and cognitive factors relevant to children's and adults' affect construals are discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feeling happy versus feeling good: The processing of discrete and global categories of emotional expressions by children and adults.

The use of analytic and holistic modes of processing in the recognition of emotional expressions was explored. Five- and 7-yr-old children as well as adults were presented with slides of emotional expressions with different parts of the faces exposed. In Condition 1 (discrete categories), individuals were asked to press a button for each of the target emotions: happiness, surprise, fear, and anger. In Condition 2 (global categories), the target terms were feels good and feels bad. Individual features were better for identifying global categories than discrete categories, and younger children relied more on single than on combinations of features. The classification of emotional expressions may not fit a classic hierarchical model of categorization, and recognition of each emotion appears to follow different courses of development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and birth cohort difference on the children's depression inventory: A meta-analysis.

A within-scale meta-analysis was performed on 310 samples of children (ages 8-16; N = 61,424) responding to the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Girls' depression scores stayed steady from ages 8 to 11 and then increased between ages 12 and 16. Boys' CDI scores were stable from ages 8 to 16 except for a high CDI score at age 12. Girls' scores were slightly lower than boys' during childhood, but girls scored higher beginning at age 13. There were no socioeconomic status effects and no differences between White and Black samples. However, Hispanic samples scored significantly higher on the CDI. Analyses for birth cohort showed a slight decrease in boys' CDI scores over time and no change for girls. Longitudinal studies demonstrated a marked testing effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of mother–child behavior.

This study examined the role of ethnicity in untrained observers’ ratings of videotaped mother–child interactions. Participants were Black, White, and Latino undergraduates (N = 109), who rated videotapes of 4 Black, 4 White, and 4 Latino mother–child dyads. Overall, participants of different ethnicities showed more similarities than differences in their ratings of parent–child behavior. There was, however, evidence that participant ethnicity and parent–child ethnicity interacted for ratings of child defiance/negative emotion. Black and White participants differed in their ratings of Black and White children’s defiance/negative emotion, with members of each ethnic group favoring children of their own ethnic group. Intergroup contact appeared to play a role in ratings of parent behavior among Black observers. Black observers who reported low intergroup contact tended to rate Black mothers high on strictness and low on permissiveness. More research is needed to better understand the role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of parent and child behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgments of emotion from spontaneous facial expressions of New Guineans.

The claim that specific discrete emotions can be universally recognized from human facial expressions is based mainly on the study of expressions that were posed. The current study (N=50) examined recognition of emotion from 20 spontaneous expressions from Papua New Guinea photographed, coded, and labeled by P. Ekman (1980). For the 16 faces with a single predicted label, endorsement of that label ranged from 4.2% to 45.8% (mean 24.2%). For 4 faces with 2 predicted labels (blends), endorsement of one or the other ranged from 6.3% to 66.6% (mean 38.8%). Of the 24 labels Ekman predicted, 11 were endorsed at an above-chance level, and 13 were not. Spontaneous expressions do not achieve the level of recognition achieved by posed expressions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Essentialism in Brazilian children's extensions of animal names.

The present study investigates whether Brazilian children have essentialist beliefs about animal categories. Two groups of Brazilian 4-year-olds (middle class and from shantytowns) were told that 2 animals share either internal or superficial properties. They were then taught labels for the animals. Across conditions, children from both groups were equally likely to interpret the labels as referring to mutually exclusive categories of animals, but they differed on how likely they were to maintain an inclusion relation between the labels. More important, children from both groups were more likely to accept a common label for animals sharing internal than superficial properties, indicating that internal property information convinced children that the animals were of the same kind. These findings were comparable to the results of a recent study by G. Diesendruck, S. A. Gelman, and K. Lebowitz (1998) with North American 4-year-olds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's moral evaluations of reporting the transgressions of peers: Age differences in evaluations of tattling.

The way children evaluate the reporting of peers' transgressions to authority figures was investigated. Participants, ages 6–11 years (N = 60), were presented with a series of vignettes, each of which depicted a child who committed either a minor transgression (such as not finishing the vegetables at lunch) or a more serious transgression (such as stealing from a classmate). Participants were asked to evaluate the decision of a child observer who either did or did not report the transgression to a teacher. Younger children considered reporting to be appropriate for both types of transgressions, but older children considered reporting to be appropriate for major transgressions only. Results are interpreted with reference to (a) a changing peer culture in which the social cost of reporting transgressions increases and (b) a developmental change in children's cognitive capabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The functional organization of preschool-age children’s emotion expressions and actions in challenging situations.

Although functional links between emotion and action are implied in emotion regulation research, there is limited evidence that specific adaptive actions for coping with a challenge are more probable when certain negative emotions are expressed. The current study examined this question among 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 113; M age = 47.84 months, SD = 6.19). Emotion expressions and actions were observed during 2 challenging tasks: children waited for a gift while the mother worked, and children worked alone to retrieve a prize from a locked box with the wrong key. Angry and happy expressions, compared with sad expressions, were associated with more actions. These actions varied with the nature of the task, reflecting appreciation of situational appropriateness. In addition, when waiting with the mother, happiness was associated with the broadest range of actions, whereas when working alone on the locked box, anger was associated with the broadest range of actions. Results are discussed in terms of the adaptive function of negative emotions and in terms of functional and dimensional models of emotion. Findings have implications for the development of emotion regulation and social–emotional competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age of onset of child maltreatment predicts long-term mental health outcomes.

The authors tested the hypothesis that children who are maltreated earlier in life are at greater risk for poor psychological functioning in adulthood than those maltreated later in life. Age of onset of maltreatment was assessed with 3 classifications: (a) continuous (ages 0-11 years); (b) dichotomous (early [ages 0-5 years] vs. later [ages 6-11 years]); and (c) developmental (infancy [ages 0-2 years], preschool [ages 3-5 years], early school age [ages 6-8 years], and school age [ages 9-11 years]). Individuals with documented cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect prior to age 12 (N=496) were followed up and assessed in adulthood. Results indicated that an earlier onset of maltreatment, measured dichotomously and developmentally, predicted more symptoms of anxiety and depression in adulthood, while controlling for gender, race, current age, and other abuse reports. Later onset of maltreatment, measured continuously or developmentally, was predictive of more behavioral problems in adulthood. Implications for the assessment of maltreated children, the prevention of adult psychopathology, and the classification of age of maltreatment onset are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theoretical and statistical derivation of a screener for the behavioral assessment of executive functions in children.

The problem of valid measurement of psychological constructs remains an impediment to scientific progress, and the measurement of executive functions is not an exception. This study examined the statistical and theoretical derivation of a behavioral screener for the estimation of executive functions in children from the well-established Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC). The original national standardization sample of the BASC–Teacher Rating Scales for children ages 6 through 11 was used (N = 2,165). Moderate-to-high internal consistency was obtained within each factor (.80–.89). A panel of experts was used for content validity examination. A confirmatory factor analysis model with 25 items loading on 4 latent factors (behavioral control, emotional control, attentional control, and problem solving) was developed, and its statistical properties were examined. The multidimensional model demonstrated adequate fit, and it was deemed invariant after configural, metric, and scalar measurement invariance tests across sex and age. Given its strong psychometric properties, with further tests of item validity, this instrument promises future clinical and research utility for the screening of executive functions in school-age children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's understanding of the simultaneity of two emotions: A five-stage developmental acquisition sequence.

Documented a five-stage scalable developmental sequence of children's understanding of the simultaneity of two emotions, defined by combinations of the valence of the two emotions (same valence or different valence) and the number of targets toward which the two emotions were directed (one target or two). The following sequence, documented across ages 4 through 12, emerged: Level 0, no acknowledgment of simultaneous emotions (at the remaining levels, simultaneity toward particular combinations is acknowledged, and each level represents a new acquisition); Level 1, simultaneity of emotions of same valence directed toward one target; Level 2, emotions of same valence, each directed toward a different target; Level 3, emotions of different valence, each directed toward a different target; and Level 4, emotions of different valence directed toward the same target. The ages of the children systematically increase across levels. The ordering of these levels was interpreted in terms of Fisher's skill theory, which provides a cognitive-structural analysis. Additional findings revealed developmental differences in the types of errors children made at the various levels. Moreover, young children were more likely to select positive rather than negative emotions, whereas the pattern was the reverse for older children. Finally, young children selected basic emotion terms (e.g., happy, sad, mad, scared) with great frequency. With increasing level, older children demonstrated a greater understanding of emotion terms that were more differentiated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The forced-choice paradigm and the perception of facial expressions of emotion.

The view that certain facial expressions of emotion are universally agreed on has been challenged by studies showing that the forced-choice paradigm may have artificially forced agreement. This article addressed this methodological criticism by offering participants the opportunity to select a none of these terms are correct option from a list of emotion labels in a modified forced-choice paradigm. The results show that agreement on the emotion label for particular facial expressions is still greater than chance, that artifactual agreement on incorrect emotion labels is obviated, that participants select the none option when asked to judge a novel expression, and that adding 4 more emotion labels does not change the pattern of agreement reported in universality studies. Although the original forced-choice format may have been prone to artifactual agreement, the modified forced-choice format appears to remedy that problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is biliary lithogenesis affected by length and implantation of cystic duct? Study of 270 patients with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography

BACKGROUND: White children have a much higher incidence rate of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) than do African American children. This discrepancy, coupled with the geographic and temporal variations in the incidence of childhood ALL, have led to speculation that factors associated with socioeconomic status (SES) may play an important role in its etiology. Because most of the variation is accounted for by the occurrence of a peak in incidence between the ages of 2 and 5 years, the purpose of this study was to compare the SES of children diagnosed with ALL between the peak ages of 2-5 years with those children diagnosed at other ages (birth-1 year and 6-14 years). METHODS: Patients included 4210 children who were diagnosed with ALL between January 1, 1989 and December 31, 1991 by a member institution of the Children's Cancer Group or the Pediatric Oncology Group. Of these children, 3614 were white and 596 were African American. The SES of a case was defined as the SES of the child's zip code of residence at the time of diagnosis. Five sociodemographic variable categories for each zip code were obtained from the 1990 U.S. Census including per capita income, number of housing units by household income, number of housing units by level of urbanization, number of persons older than 25 years by educational attainment, and number of persons by occupation. Mean values were compared for white children versus African American children, and peak ages (2-5 years) versus nonpeak ages (birth-1 year and 6-14 years) for both whites and African Americans. In addition, Wilcoxon's rank sum tests were performed. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences between the means in each of the socioeconomic categories when African Americans were compared with whites. However, within race, the means of the SES variables for white children diagnosed during the peak ages (2-5 years) were not significantly different from children diagnosed at other ages (birth-1 year and 6-14 years). Similarly, all but one of the comparisons for African American children yielded nonstatistically significant results. Similar results were obtained from the Wilcoxon's rank sum tests. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this analysis suggest that age differences in childhood ALL incidence may not be solely accounted for by SES differences.     

An initial evaluation of the role of emotion and impulsivity in explaining racial/ethnic differences in the use of corporal punishment.

The authors sought to provide an initial evaluation of the hypothesis that corporal punishment is less strongly associated with parental emotion and impulsivity among African American (“Black”) in contrast to European American (“White”) parents. White–Latino and Black–Latino differences in corporal punishment, emotion, and impulsivity were explored, given the lack of existing theory predicting group differences. Couples with 3- to 7-year-old children were recruited via random digit dialing, and the parents completed questionnaires and an analog parent–child conflict task in the laboratory. Group differences were tested pooling mothers and fathers via dyadic data analyses. Black parents (N = 57) had more positive attitudes toward and used more corporal punishment than White parents (N = 730). Latino American parents' (N = 78) views and use of corporal punishment were similar to those of White parents. By and large, associations of corporal punishment with parents' impulsivity and emotion did not significantly vary by race/ethnicity. The present findings, although preliminary, do not support the emotion-impulsivity hypothesis of racial differences in the use of corporal punishment suggested by K. Deater-Deckard, K. A. Dodge, J. E. Bates, and G. S. Pettit (1996). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children’s attention to interactions directed to others: Guatemalan mayan and european american patterns.

This study investigated differences in attention and learning among Guatemalan Mayan and European American children, ages 5–11 years, who were present but not addressed while their sibling was shown how to construct a novel toy. Each child waited with a distracter toy for her or his turn to make a different toy. Nonaddressed children from Mayan traditional families (with little maternal involvement in Western schooling; n = 40) showed more sustained attention and learning than their counterparts from Mayan families with extensive involvement in Western schooling (n = 40) or European American children (with extensive family involvement in schooling; n = 40). The nonaddressed Mayan children from highly schooled families in turn attended more than the European American children. These findings are consistent with research showing that traditional indigenous ways of organizing learning emphasize observation of ongoing interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"I'd rather not talk about it": Emotion parenting in families of children with an anxiety disorder.

This study examined emotion socialization practices in families of children with an anxiety disorder (AD; n = 28) and of children who had no diagnoses (ND; n = 28) and considered gender differences. Youth (aged 8-13) and both parents discussed times when the child felt anxious, angry, and happy, for 5 min each. Fathers of AD children engaged in less explanatory discussion of emotion overall and exhibited less positive affect and more negative affect when interacting with sons than did fathers of ND children. Similar patterns emerged for mothers, although specific results varied by emotion type and child gender. Children with an AD demonstrated less positive affect overall and engaged in fewer problem-solving emotion regulation strategies when discussing anxious and angry situations than did children in the ND group. In both AD and ND groups, fathers appeared to have greater involvement in emotion-related discussions with sons versus daughters. The results highlight parents' contributions to the emotional development of their children, the ways in which socialization may go awry in families of AD children, and the implications for children's emotional functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The “disgust face” conveys anger to children.

What does the “facial expression of disgust” communicate to children? When asked to label the emotion conveyed by different facial expressions widely used in research, children (N = 84, 4 to 9 years) were much more likely to label the “disgust face” as anger than as disgust, indeed just as likely as they were to label the “angry face” as anger. Shown someone with a disgust face and asked to generate a possible cause and consequence of that emotion, children provided answers indistinguishable from what they provided for an angry face—even for the minority who had labeled the disgust face as disgust. A majority of adults (N = 22) labeled the same disgust faces shown to the children as disgust and generated causes and consequences that implied disgust. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)