A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE ON ANGER - FAMILY AND PEER CONTEXTS

A model of the development of anger in family and peer contexts is pre sented. Emotional socialization begins in early infancy, in the contex t of parent-infant caretaking. Children's awareness and understanding of their own and other people's anger depends on exposure to models of anger expression and conflict resolution, parental emotional coaching strategies such as discussing feelings and problem solving about emot ion-based actions, coercive versus authoritative parenting practices, and opportunities to engage in constructive conflict resolution with f amily members. Emotional socialization in the home affects children's physiological reactivity and physiological self-regulation, social inf ormation processing, and behavioral strategies for anger-provoking sit uations. When the child brings these characteristics to the peer arena , anger and emotion management skills affect peer social status, agres sive versus prosocial peer interactions and the ability to form and pr ofit from close peer relationships. Implications for school psychologi sts and other school personnel are discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & So ns, Inc.