[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/ Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Anger and Sadness Perception in Clinically Referred Preschoolers: Emotion Processes and Externalizing Behavior Symptoms

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examined emotion perception processes in preschool aged children presenting with clinically significant emotional and behavior problems, with emphasis on sadness perception accuracy (i.e., the ability to correctly identify sadness from expressive and situational cues) and anger perception bias (i.e., the tendency to perceive anger in the absence of concordant cues) as related to children’s externalizing symptoms. Participants were 82 children (3–5 years of age) admitted to a psychiatric day treatment program. Children participated in a structured puppet play activity to assess emotion understanding. Mothers reported on children’s externalizing symptoms and program staff reported on children’s emotion regulation and negative emotional lability. Young children in this clinical sample demonstrated generally age-appropriate ability to identify basic emotions as expressed within prototypical social situations. Most emotion perception errors involved the over-identification of sadness. Children’s decreased accuracy in sadness perception was associated with increased externalizing symptoms. Children’s negative emotional lability contributed unique variance to the prediction of externalizing symptoms, with more labile children also demonstrating increased symptoms. Results underscore the role of emotion processes in early childhood mental health problems, with implications for emotion-based treatments of early externalizing behavior symptoms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
£29.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (United Kingdom)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Assessments of Mental Retardation, language delays, and pervasive developmental disorders were made using all available clinical information, including current and prior clinical evaluations, observations, and collateral consultation with other providers. Children were included in the present study only if they were judged to be in the broad average range of developmental functioning.

  2. Insurance eligibility requirements include family income below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level (for example, yearly income for family of four less than $39,220 in 2008).

    .

References

  1. Casey RJ (1996) Emotional competence in children with externalizing and internalizing disorders. In: Lewis M, Sullivan MW (eds) Emotional development in atypical children. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, pp 161–183

    Google Scholar 

  2. Cole PM, Michel MK, Teti LO (1994) The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation: a clinical perspective. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 59:73–100

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Cole PM, Zahn-Waxler C (1992) Emotional dysregulation in disruptive behavior disorders. In: Cicchetti D, Toth SL (eds) Developmental perspectives on depression. University of Rochester Press, Rochester, pp 173–209

    Google Scholar 

  4. Crockenberg S, Leerkes E (2000) Infant social and emotional development in family context. In: Zeanah C (ed) Handbook of infant mental health, 2nd edn. Guilford Press, New York, pp 60–90

    Google Scholar 

  5. Izard CE, Youngstrom EA, Fine SE, Mostow AJ, Trentacosta CJ (2006) Emotions and developmental psychopathology. In: Cicchetti D, Cohen DJ (eds) Developmental psychopathology, vol 1: theory and method, 2nd edn. Wiley, Hoboken, pp 244–292

    Google Scholar 

  6. Campbell SB (2002) Behavior problems in preschool children: clinical and developmental issues, 2nd edn. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  7. Hill AL, Degnan KA, Calkins SD, Keane SP (2006) Profiles of externalizing behavior problems for boys and girls across preschool: the role of emotion regulation and inattention. Dev Psychol 42:913–928

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Keenan K (2000) Emotion dysregulation as a risk factor for child psychopathology. Clin Psychol-Sci Pr 7:418–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Denham SA (1998) Emotional development in young children. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  10. Fabes RA, Eisenberg N, Hanish LD, Spinrad TL (2001) Preschoolers’ spontaneous emotion vocabulary: relations to likeability. Early Educ Dev 12:11–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Izard CE, Fine S, Mostow A, Trentacosta C, Campbell J (2002) Emotion processes in normal and abnormal development and preventive intervention. Dev Psychopathol 14:761–787

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Denham SA, Couchoud EA (1990) Young preschoolers’ understanding of emotions. Child Stud J 20:171–192

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hughes C, Dunn J, White A (1998) Trick or treat? Uneven understanding of mind and emotion and executive dysfunction in ‘hard to manage’ preschoolers. J Child Psychol Psyc 39:981–994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Denham SA, Caverly S, Schmidt M, Blair K, DeMulder E, Caal S, Hamada H, Mason T (2002) Preschool understanding of emotions: contributions to classroom anger and aggression. J Child Psychol Psyc 43:901–916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Schultz D, Izard CE, Ackerman BP, Youngstrom EA (2001) Emotion knowledge in economically disadvantaged children: self-regulatory antecedents and relations to social difficulties and withdrawal. Dev Psychopathol 13:53–67

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Shields A, Dickstein S, Seifer R, Giusti L, Magee KD, Spritz B (2001) Emotional competence and early school adjustment: a study of preschoolers at risk. Early Educ Dev 12:73–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Blair RJR, Colledge E, Murray L, Mitchell DGV (2001) A selective impairment in the processing of sad and fearful expressions in children with psychopathic tendencies. J Abnorm Child Psychol 29:491–498

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. DaFonesca D, Seguier V, Santos A, Poinso F, Deruelle C (2009) Emotion understanding in children with ADHD. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 40:111–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Meerum-Terwogt M (1990) Disordered children’s acknowledgement of multiple emotions. J Gen Psychol 117:59–69

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Meerum-Terwogt M, Schene J, Koops W (1990) Concepts of emotion in institutionalized children. J Child Psychol Psyc 37:1131–1143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Norvilitis JM, Casey RJ, Brooklier KM (2000) Emotion appraisal in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and their parents. J Attention Disorder 4:15–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Southam-Gerow MA, Kendall PC (2000) A preliminary study of emotion understanding of youths referred for treatment of anxiety disorders. J Child Clin Psychol 29:319–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Fine SE, Trentacosta CJ, Izard CE, Mostow AJ, Campbell JL (2004) Anger perception, caregivers’ use of physical discipline, and aggression in children at risk. Soc Dev 13:213–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Barrett KC, Campos JJ (1987) Perspectives on emotional development II: a functionalist approach to emotions. In: Osofsky J (ed) Handbook of infant development, 2nd edn. Wiley, Oxford, pp 555–578

    Google Scholar 

  25. Cole PM, Martin SE, Dennis TA (2004) Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Dev 75:317–333

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Blair RJR, Coles M (2000) Expression recognition and behavioural problems in early adolescence. Cog Dev 15:421–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Marsh AA, Blair RJR (2007) Deficits in facial affect recognition among antisocial populations: a meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Rev 32:454–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Barth JM, Bastiani A (1997) A longitudinal study of emotion recognition and preschool children’s social behavior. Merrill Palmer Quart 43:107–128

    Google Scholar 

  29. Schultz D, Izard CE, Ackerman BP (2000) Children’s anger attribution bias: relations to family environment and social adjustment. Soc Dev 9:284–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Arsenio WF, Cooperman S, Lover A (2000) Affective predictors of preschoolers’ aggression and peer acceptance: direct and indirect effects. Dev Psychol 36:438–448

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Denham SA, Blair KA, DeMulder JL, Sawyer K, Auerbach-Major S, Queenan P (2003) Preschool emotional competence: pathway to social competence? Child Dev 74:238–256

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Miller AL, Fine SE, Gouly KK, Seifer R, Dickstein S, Shields A (2006) Showing and telling about emotions: interrelations between facets of emotional competence and associations with classroom adjustment in head start preschoolers. Cogn Emot 20:1170–1192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Achenbach TM, Rescorla LA (2000) Manual for the ASEBA preschool forms & profiles. University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth and Families, Burlington

    Google Scholar 

  34. Shields A, Cicchetti D (1997) Emotion regulation among school-age children: the development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale. Dev Psychol 33:906–916

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Denham SA (1986) Social cognition, prosocial behavior, and emotion in preschoolers: contextual validation. Child Dev 57:194–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Izard CE, King KA, Trentacosta CJ, Morgan JK, Laurenceau JP, Krauthamer-Ewing ES, Finlon KJ (2008) Accelerating the development of emotional competence in head start children: effects on adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Dev Psychopathol 20:369–397

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Holmbeck G (1997) Toward terminiological, conceptual, and statistical clarity in the study of mediators and moderators: examples from the child-clinical and pediatric psychology literatures. J Consult Clin Psychol 65:599–610

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Pons F, Harris PL, de Rosnay M (2004) Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years: developmental periods and hierarchical organization. Eur J Dev Psychol 1:127–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Olson SL, Bates JE, Sandy JA, Lanthier R (2000) Early developmental precursors of externalizing behavior in middle childhood and adolescence. J Abnorm Child Psych 28:119–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simmons College, Boston, MA, USA

    Sarah E. Martin

  2. Warren-Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    John R. Boekamp, David W. McConville & Elizabeth E. Wheeler

Authors
  1. Sarah E. Martin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John R. Boekamp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David W. McConville
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Elizabeth E. Wheeler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah E. Martin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Martin, S.E., Boekamp, J.R., McConville, D.W. et al. Anger and Sadness Perception in Clinically Referred Preschoolers: Emotion Processes and Externalizing Behavior Symptoms. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 41, 30–46 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-009-0153-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-009-0153-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation