Emotion regulation strategies and later externalizing behavior among European American and African American children

Abstract

Children’s early emotion regulation strategies (ERS) have been related to externalizing problems; however, most studies have included predominantly European American, middle-class children. The current study explores whether ERS use may have differential outcomes as a function of the mother’s ethnic culture. The study utilizes two diverse samples of low-income male toddlers to examine observed ERS during a delay of gratification task in relation to maternal and teacher reports of children’s externalizing behavior 2 to 6 years later. Although the frequencies of ERS were comparable between ethnic groups in both samples, the use of physical comfort seeking and self-soothing was positively related to African American children’s later externalizing behavior but negatively related to externalizing behavior for European American children in Sample 1. Data from Sample 2 appear to support this pattern for self-soothing in maternal, but not teacher, reportof externalizing behavior. Within group differences by income were examined as a possible explanatory factor accounting for the ethnic differences, but it was not supported. Alternative explanations are discussed to explain the pattern of findings.

Predicting social functioning in children with a cochlear implant and in normal-hearing children: The role of emotion regulation

“…It is thus the ability to moderate an emotion and to use coping mechanisms for its management (coping), thereby enabling it to be expressed appropriately (emotion expression). If effective, emotion regulation enhances social interactions [7,8].…”

“…Consequently, in typically developing children, adaptive emotion regulation is associated with good social functioning, in which social competence is high and behavioral problems are limited, which can be observed even in very young children [7,9,10]. Common adaptive emotion-regulation strategies in preschool children are avoidance and distraction: less distraction in early childhood was found to be related to rejection by their peers a few years later [11,12].…”

Mapping the Growth of Heterogeneous Forms of Externalizing Problem Behavior Between Early Childhood and Adolescence:A Comparison of Parent and Teacher Ratings

“…Some studies have shown that African-American children are at elevated risk for externalizing problems relative to children of European-American descent (e.g., Supplee, Skuban, Shaw, & Prout, 2009). Is child ethnicity also linked with differential growth in selective subcomponents of externalizing problems, especially when examined independently of variations in family SES?…”

Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC): estudos preliminares da adaptação e validação para a cultura brasileira

“…Há também a observação da interação mãe-criança (Friedlmeier & Trommsdorff, 1999). Há ainda formas de investigação da RE que são levadas a efeito por meio de entrevistas (ver os trabalhos de Cruvinel, 2009;Shipman, Edwards, Brown, Swisher, & Jennings, 2005); tarefas que envolvem atraso de gratifi cação (Supplee, Skuban, Shaw, & Prout, 2009;Trentacosta, & Shaw, 2009); e/ou outros tipos de tarefas (Carthy, Horesh, Apter, Edge, & Gross, 2010;Kanske, Heissler, Schönfelder, Bongers, & Wessa, 2011). O monitoramento das emoções eliciadas nas crianças a partir de tarefas pode ser alcançado por medidas de autorrelato, métodos de observação, imageamento cerebral, eletromiografi a facial e métodos de detecção de sobressalto (Cacioppo & Gardner, 1999).…”