This research adopted observational and experimental paradigms to investigate the relationships between components of emotion knowledge in three- to four-year-old children. In Study 1, 88 children were assessed on the Emotion Matching Task (Morgan, Izard, & King), and two tasks requiring the generation of emotion labels and causes. Most tasks…

The current study examined relations among child temperament, peer interaction, and theory of mind (ToM) development. We hypothesized that: (1) children classified as behaviorally inhibited at 24 months would show less ToM understanding at 36 months in comparison to nonbehaviorally inhibited children; (2) children who displayed negative peer…

Contingent self-esteem (i.e., the degree to which one's self-esteem is dependent on meeting particular conditions) has been shown to predict a wide range of psychosocial and academic problems. This study extends previous research on contingent self-esteem by examining the predictive role of perceived parenting dimensions in a sample of early…

To advance research evaluating the relationship between social information processing (Crick & Dodge) and youth aggression, this meta-analytic study examined associations between social goals and aggression in children in 21 separate research reports. Eligible studies provided descriptive or preintervention measurement of children's aggression and…

Although there is some evidence from cross-sectional studies that reminiscing is an important context in which children construct socioemotional understanding, longitudinal evidence is lacking. The goal of this study was to examine longitudinally the links between the quality of reminiscing at 42 months and children's subsequent socioemotional…

This study examined the prospective relationship between negative parenting behaviors and adolescents' friendship competence in a community sample of 416 two-parent families in the Southeastern USA. Adolescents' externalizing problems and their emotional insecurity with parents were examined as mediators. Parents' psychological control was…

The current study examines whether the relation between mothers' responses to their children's negative emotions and teachers' reports of children's academic performance and social-emotional competence are similar or different for European-American and African-American families. Two hundred mothers (137 European-American, 63 African-American)…

This study examined the extent to which teacher ratings of the frequency of parent-teacher contacts and quality of parent-teacher relationships in prekindergarten were associated with teachers' perceptions of the quality of their relationship with children and children's social development. Participants were a diverse sample of 2966 four-year-olds…

Beneficial and detrimental correlates of interpersonal disagreement have been postulated and documented. The conclusion: conflict is both bad and good. The evidence for these paradoxical effects is summarized. In this article, we argue that the consequences of conflict for individuals depend on its frequency, the way in which it is managed, and…

We tested whether gender-specific vs. common classroom norms were more powerful moderators of the association between a risk factor (rejection) and peer victimization among girls and boys. The participants were 1220 elementary schoolchildren from grades 4-6 (with 10-13 years of age). We compared different multilevel models including combined vs.…

The purpose of the current study was to test a conceptual model of the mediated and moderated associations among shyness, coping strategies, and socioemotional functioning in middle childhood. Participants were 358 children (177 boys) aged 9-13 years (M = 10.16 years, SD = 0.95). Children completed self-report assessments of shyness, coping style…

This study evaluated a comprehensive model of factors associated with internalizing problems (IP) in early childhood, hypothesizing direct, mediated, and moderated pathways linking child temperamental inhibition, maternal overcontrol and rejection, and contextual stressors to IP. In a novel approach, three samples were integrated to form a large…

The purpose of the study was to examine the differential relations between mother-child reminiscing about a positive emotional event vs. a negative emotional event and attachment security, family climate, and young children's socioemotional development. Fifty preschool children (M age = 50.69 months, SD = 4.64) and their mothers completed two…

The aim of this study was to investigate the unique and combined role of friendship quality and friends' aggression in regard to the persistence of young children's physical aggression from kindergarten to grade 2. The sample included 1555 children (808 girls) assessed annually using teacher ratings. Two theoretical perspectives (i.e., the social…

This study examined inter-relations among different types of parental emotion socialization behaviors in 88 mothers and 76 fathers (co-residing with participating mothers) of eight-year-old children. Parents completed questionnaires assessing emotion socialization behaviors, emotion-related attitudes, and their children's social functioning. An…