EMOTIONAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OTHERS AND PRESCHOOLERS - RELATIONS WITH EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE

This study was carried out to investigate natural, bi-directional, emo tional communication between mothers and preschoolers. Preschoolers (2 2 girls and 25 boys, mean age = 44 months) and their mothers were vide otaped playing in a laboratory playroom; mothers simulated sadness and anger. Interrelations were found among aspects of mothers' and childr en's dyadic emotional communication, and such communication was associ ated with variations in the children's emotional development. In parti cular, children who witnessed higher-level maternal sadness or anger, or responded nonprosocially to their mothers, were less prosocial in t he preschool classroom. Moreover, children who evidenced higher-level emotion knowledge responded prosocially to their mothers.