The manner in which children manage their own emotions is crucial to their success in school, at home, and in life.
The aim of this longitudinal study is to examine how parental socialization of emotion during the period rapid language development influences the development of effective emotional self-regulation in preschoolers. A community-based sample of 18 month olds and their parents are followed from 1.5 to 4 years of age. It is predicted that the level of a child's language during these years, affects a child's ability to self-regulate emotions at age 4. We predict that the quality of self-regulation predicts child behavior problems with social competence. These developmental processes are studied in families in a lower range of family income because there is likely to be more risk of emotional stress in these families. Economic stress associated with lower income is known to be a risk factor for parents and for their children's social competence and probability of behavior problems. The study includes assessment of how economic stress, marital conflict, and parenting hassles affect the ways in which families interact about emotional events and how this affects the child's ability to develop new and more effective ways to manage emotion when adult support is not available. The participants of the study are 150 families with an 18-month old boy or girl at the first visit. During the three years of the child's life under study, the family is visited at home 4 times and the mother and child visit the lab 4 times. The findings will assist in building a theoretical model for the role of language in the socialization of adaptive emotional functioning and in risk for behavior problems.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH061388-02
Application #
6539087
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-RPHB-1 (01))
Program Officer
Delcarmen-Wiggins, Rebecca
Project Start
2001-04-06
Project End
2006-03-31
Budget Start
2002-04-01
Budget End
2003-03-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$341,695
Indirect Cost
Name
Pennsylvania State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
University Park
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
16802
Bendezú, Jason José; Cole, Pamela M; Tan, Patricia Z et al. (2018) Child language and parenting antecedents and externalizing outcomes of emotion regulation pathways across early childhood: A person-centered approach. Dev Psychopathol 30:1253-1268
Chaplin, Tara M; Klein, Melanie R; Cole, Pamela M et al. (2017) Developmental change in emotion expression in frustrating situations: The roles of context and gender. Infant Child Dev 26:
Cole, Pamela M; Bendezú, Jason J; Ram, Nilam et al. (2017) Dynamical systems modeling of early childhood self-regulation. Emotion 17:684-699
Fields, Margaret A; Cole, Pamela M; Maggi, Mirella C (2017) Toddler Emotional States, Temperamental Traits, and Their Interaction: Associations with Mothers' and Fathers' Parenting. J Res Pers 67:106-119
Helm, Jonathan Lee; Ram, Nilam; Cole, Pamela M et al. (2016) Modeling Self-Regulation as a Process Using a Multiple Time-Scale Multiphase Latent Basis Growth Model. Struct Equ Modeling 23:635-648
Chow, Sy-Miin; Bendezú, Jason J; Cole, Pamela M et al. (2016) A Comparison of Two-Stage Approaches for Fitting Nonlinear Ordinary Differential Equation Models with Mixed Effects. Multivariate Behav Res 51:154-84
Roben, Caroline K P; Cole, Pamela M; Armstrong, Laura Marie (2013) Longitudinal relations among language skills, anger expression, and regulatory strategies in early childhood. Child Dev 84:891-905
Tan, Patricia Z; Armstrong, Laura Marie; Cole, Pamela M (2013) Relations between Temperament and Anger Regulation over Early Childhood. Soc Dev 22:
Cole, Pamela M; Ledonne, Emily N; Tan, Patricia Z (2013) A Longitudinal Examination of Maternal Emotions in Relation to Young Children's Developing Self-Regulation. Parent Sci Pract 13:113-132
Cole, Pamela M; Tan, Patricia Z; Hall, Sarah E et al. (2011) Developmental changes in anger expression and attention focus: learning to wait. Dev Psychol 47:1078-89