Associations of emotion-related regulation with language skills, emotion knowledge, and academic outcomes

Abstract

Research suggests that the development of emotional regulation in early childhood is interrelated with emotional understanding and language skills. Heuristic models are proposed on how these factors influence children's emerging academic motivation and skills.Recently there has been extensive discussion of the construct of emotion-related regulation, including its conceptualization, measurement, and relation to developmental outcomes. Definitions of the construct vary, but in general emotion-related regulation refers to processes used to manage and change if, when, and how one experiences emotions and emotion-related motivational and physiological states, and how emotions are expressed behaviorally. It is accomplished in diverse ways, notably through attentional and planning processes, inhibition or activation of behavior, and management of the external context.Children's emotion-related regulation (labeled herein regulation) is increasingly viewed as a core skill relevant to many aspects of their socio-emotional and cognitive functioning. A recent Academy of Science committee concluded that "the growth of self-regulation is a cornerstone of early childhood development that cuts across all domains of behavior" (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 3). Similarly, in a report funded by the National Institutes of Health concerning risk factors for academic and behavioral problems at the beginning of school, Huffman, Mehlinger, and Kerivan (2000) concluded that emotion regulation is critical for children's competence.Like the members of the National Academy of Science committee, we believe that regulatory skills, including those involved in managing emotions and their expression, are central to many aspects of children's functioning. However, children's emotion-related regulation and other early developing abilities likely influence one another while they are emerging. In this chapter, we discuss links between children's regulation and two emerging skills: language and emotion understanding. In addition, we review findings on the relation of all three of these constructs to developmental outcomes that have infrequently been studied in relation to regulation: school readiness and academic skills. Finally, we propose a heuristic model for the interrelations among these variables, a model that has implications for research and for interventions with young people. Kopp (1989Kopp ( , 1992 suggested that language skills provide important tools for understanding and regulating children's emotions. Young children use language as a means to influence their environment. Specifically, children may use language in agentic self-managing talk, to communicate about social interactions, or to learn about appropriate ways to manage emotions. Consistent with this view, preschoolers' language skills have been positively correlated with their ability to use distraction in a frustrating situation (Stansbury & Zimmerman, 1999). In addition, language impairment is associated with boys' difficulty with emotion regulation (even for boys w...

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