Affective predictors of preschoolers' aggression and peer acceptance: Direct and indirect effects

Observational assessments were made of 51 preschoolers' (mean age = 53.25 m onths) peer aggression and emotional displays outside of (baseline) and dur ing aggressive interactions, and their emotion knowledge and peer acceptanc e were also assessed. Results indicated that the connections between childr en's affective dispositions and their aggression and peer acceptance varied as a function of both the emotion context (baseline vs. aggression related ) and the particular emotion involved (happiness vs. anger). Emotion knowle dge and affective dispositions overlapped little with each other, and both made independent contributions to peer acceptance and aggression. Mediation analyses revealed, however, that the significant connections between child ren's emotional dispositions and knowledge and their peer acceptance were m ostly mediated by aggression.