Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
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Item Gender differences in emotion identification among young children(2017) Mulder, Blakely; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Gender differences in emotion competence, including emotion identification, are held in popular belief but are inconsistently supported in the research. Emotion identification (EID) is defined as one’s understanding of the experience and expression of emotion, as conveyed through the labeling of the emotions oneself or another person is experiencing. This study investigated gender differences in EID using both the traditional method of comparing scores on a structured task of emotion identification and a comparison of girls’ and boys’ patterns of responding. An ANCOVA was used to compare girls’ and boys’ scores on a task of Situational EID across age groups, while children’s response patterns were analyzed using chi-squares. Results found few effects due to gender, but many effects due to age. Results are framed in context of the biological and social factors that impact emotion identification.Item The Role of Temperament and Emotion Understanding in the Development of Child Internalizing Disorders(2014) Gifford, Kathleen Marie; Teglasi, Hedy; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Internalizing disorders are among the most frequently diagnosed psychological problems in childhood (Crawford, Schrock, & Woodruff-Borden, 2011). Evidence suggests that children who have the tendency to avoid, and less developed effortful control, are more likely to develop symptoms of internalizing (White, McDermott, Degnan, Henderson, & Fox, 2011). Similarly, preschoolers who are rated as being more withdrawn during social interactions often display more social anxiety than less avoidant peers (Ale, Chorney, Brice, & Morris, 2010). Furthermore, more difficulty with emotion understanding, and social avoidance, has been shown to directly relate to internalizing problems such as depression, fear/anxiety, somatic complaints, worry and rumination (Rieffe & De Rooij, 2012). Although researchers have identified some early vulnerability factors that lead to the development of internalizing problems, research on anxiety/internalizing in the preschool age population is scarce (Wichstrom, Belsky, & Berg-Nielsen, 2013). The current study sought to fill this gap in the existing literature. The study sample consisted of 139 parent, teacher, and preschooler participants from a university setting (38 to 82 months old; with a mean age of 57 months). Temperament was examined through parent ratings on the Structured Temperament Interview (STI) (Teglasi, 2009) and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), Short Form (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Emotion understanding was examined by preschoolers' performance on the Emotion Comprehension Test (ECT) (unpublished). Internalizing behaviors were measured through teacher ratings on the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE) (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996). Correlations between the STI factors and CBQ scales illustrated underlying aspects of emotionality and reactivity that influence children's approach/avoidance tendencies, and the link between temperament and overall adjustment. Children who were rated high on preferring familiar/routine activities were also rated as having more internalizing problems, and worse performance on a measure of emotion understanding; whereas, children who were rated high on sociability were rated as having fewer internalizing problems. Regression analyses demonstrated that effortful control moderated the relationship between sociability and internalizing behaviors such that children with high sociability and high effortful control displayed the best behavioral adjustment; and children with low sociability and high effortful control displayed the most internalizing behaviors.Item Assessment of Emotion Understanding in Preschoolers: Multiple-Choice vs. Open-Ended Methods(2014) Verron, Heather; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines a new method of assessing emotion understanding in preschoolers. Prior research has established that preschool is a critical time for emotion understanding development and that emotion understanding abilities are related to such important outcomes as social competence. Traditionally, measures of emotion understanding present multiple-choice questions that require children to select one emotion that is most likely to be elicited in various situations. However, this study proposes an alternative method in which children are asked to explain their answers on a subset of items. Their open-ended responses are then coded for quality of reasoning. Results establish preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the new assessment method. Notably, multiple regression analyses indicate that the coded emotion reasoning scores are a better predictor of social competence than scores obtained using traditional multiple-choice procedures. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are also discussed.