LOW-INCOME MOTHERS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT EMOTIONS AND THEIR CHILDRENS EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE

This study examined the linkage between low-income mothers' conversati ons about emotions and their children's understanding of emotion. Fort y-five low-income preschoolers and their mothers were videotaped while viewing a wordless picture book designed to elicit talk about emotion s. Three maternal and child emotional language behaviors were coded fr om the videotapes: (a) unelaborated comments about emotions; (b) expla nations about the causes and consequences of emotions; and (c) empathy -related statements. The children's questions about emotions were also coded In a separate interview, the preschoolers were administered tas ks that assessed emotional expression knowledge, emotional situation k nowledge, and emotional role-taking. The results revealed that emotion al situation knowledge was positively predicted by mothers' empathy-re lated statements. Mothers' explanations about the causes and consequen ces of emotions were uniquely related to emotional role-taking ability . There were very few correlations between the mothers' and children's talk about emotions. Results are discussed in terms of the functional significance of mothers' emotional language for young children's emot ional competence.