Parent-Child Emotion Language During Storytelling in Children

1. Significant positive partial correlations observed in DD but not CO group Significant positive partial correlations observed in CO but not DD group Child Agree With Child Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion Child Disagree With Child Total Negative Emotion Parent Total Positive Emotion Parent Total Positive Emotion Parent Total Negative Emotion Parent Total Negative Emotion Parent Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion Parent Disagree With Child Total Negative Emotion Child Disagree With Parent Disagree Parent Agree With Parent Disagree Child Total Positive Emotion Child Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion With Parent Total Positive Emotion Child Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion Parent Total Negative Emotion Parent Disagree With Child Total Positive Emotion Parent Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion Parent Agree With Parent Total Positive Emotion Parent Total Negative Emotion Child Total Positive Emotion With Parent Total Positive Emotion Child Total Negative Emotion With Child Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion Parent Total Negative Emotion Parent-Child Emotion Language During Storytelling in Children with Developmental Disabilities and Controls Amy Camodeca, M.A.1, Varakini Parameswaran, B.S.1 , Karen Ip, M.A.1 , Kimberley Babb, Ph.D.1 , Julie Hakim-Larson, Ph.D.1 , Marcia Gragg, Ph.D.1 , Sylvia Voelker, Ph.D.1 , Mary Broga, Ph.D.2 , & Christine Agar, M.A.1 1University of Windsor, 2Windsor Regional Children’s Centre Abstract Compared emotion socialization during storytelling for parents of children with developmental disabilities (DD) and of a control sample (CO). The DD sample consisted of 50 mothers of 38 male and 12 female children (M child age=5.80, SD=2.55). The CO sample was recruited in a university setting and consisted of 7 fathers and 41 mothers of 23 male and 25 female children (M child age=3.94, SD=.98). Participants recorded themselves telling their child a text-free story. Transcripts were coded for emotion references. Partial correlations were computed for child/parent agreement/disagreement and use of behavioural and verbal emotion terms. The pattern of results obtained suggests that children with developmental disabilities are likely to acquiesce to parent’s interpretation of emotion in others. The storytelling task seemed to facilitate bi-directional emotion labelling of positive emotions in control children, but not in those with developmental disabilities. However, labelling of negative emotion words was facilitated in both groups through the interaction. Children with developmental disabilities seemed to rely more on behavioural emotional cues compared to control children, indicating that children in the CO group were more easily able to infer subjective states without reliance on behavioural cues, assisting in the understanding of characters’ positive emotional states. • Results Table 2: Significant Relations Specific to Developmental Disabilities or Control Group • Child agreement was associated with the frequency of parent use of all three emotion terms (positive, negative, and behavioural) in the DD group, but not in controls. For the DD group, the correlation between Child Agree and Parent Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion was weaker than the correlation between Parent Total Positive or Negative Emotion. • In the DD group, no significant relations between parent’s emotion word frequencies and child emotion word frequencies were observed; in the CO group, positive correlations between Parent and Child Positive, Negative, and Behavioural Expressions of Emotion were observed. • For the DD group, children’s Total Behavioural Expression of Emotion was positively correlated with their Total Negative Emotion terms; in the CO group, no linear relationships were noted. • Parents in the DD group showed increased disagreement with increased production of negative emotion words by the child. Interestingly, for the CO group, Parent Disagree was related to increased production of positive emotion words. • Child Disagree showed no relation to parent emotion word use in the DD group. However, for the CO sample, Child Disagree was positively correlated with parent’s use of both positive and negative emotion words. • Method • Participants • Developmental Disabilities Group (DD): • 50 mother-child pairs • Comprised of 38 male and 12 female children (M child age=5.80, SD=2.55). • Control Group (CO): • Recruited from a University sample • 7 father-child and 41 mother-child pairs • Comprised of 23 male and 25 female children (M child age=3.94, SD=.98) • Measures and Procedure • Each parent-child pair audio recorded a storytelling session using one of two text-free picture storybooks: • One Frog Too Many (Mayer & Mayer, 1975) • Frog, Where are You? (Mayer, 1969) • Recordings were transcribed and segmented. • Two independent raters coded each segment for emotion terms and agreed on 91% of segments. Introduction • Results • Table 1: Relations Between Frequencies of Emotion Terms By Group • A Fisher’s R-Z transformation and Z test was computed for each set of partial correlations that was significant in both groups. None of these partial correlations was significantly different between samples (all Z’s < |1.53|, all p’s>.05). • For both groups, similar positive relationships were observed between Child and Parent Agree and child use of negative emotion terms. Parents in both groups showed agreement with child’s use of both positive and negative emotion terms. Children’s use of positive emotions was related to their use of negative emotion words and behavioural expression of emotion. Parent and Child Total Negative Emotion was positively correlated. • Emotion Competence and Developmental Disabilities • Children with developmental disabilities have difficulties in verbalizing and understanding emotions (Skwerer, Faja, Schofield, Verbalis, & Flusberg, 2006a). • Research in this area has focused on the correctness of a child’s emotion label in a controlled setting as opposed to parent-child discussion of emotion in natural settings. (Skwerer, Verbalis, Schofield, Faja, & Flusberg, 2006b; Bauminger, Edelsztein, & Morash, 2005; Mellor & Dagnan, 2005; Gross, 2004). • Storytelling and Emotion Socialization • Everyday interactions, such as storytelling, involve labelling and discussing of emotions, providing an opportunity for emotion socialization (Harkins, 1993; Denham & Auerbach, 1995; Saarni, 1999). • Emotion Terms • Emotion terms include prototypical emotions, undifferentiated emotions, and behaviours associated with an emotional state (Shaver, Schwartz, Kirson, & O’Connor, 1987;Cervantes & Callanan, 1998 Adams, Kuebli, Boyle, & Fivush, 1995; Laible, 2004). • Discussion and Conclusions • These findings suggest that children with developmental disabilities may acquiesce to their parents’ labelling and interpretation of emotions in others. Acquiescence may be less likely with regard to interpretation of behavioural displays of emotion; research does posit that children with and without developmental disabilities have an easier time understanding behavioural expressions of emotion compared to internal states. Perhaps this reflects a lack/delayed development of Theory of Mind. • It is possible that parents of control children are better able to facilitate their children’s production of emotion words by emotion labelling; that this imitation of using emotion words in the DD group is not observed may be due to a language delay, inability to come up with their own emotion words, or use of agreement in the place of saying an emotion word. • Alternatively, it is possible that parents of children in the DD group were not able to facilitate the production of emotion words in the parent through labelling emotions but the parents would still attempt to socialize emotion through the story. • It appears that the bi-directional facilitation of emotion labelling occurred as expected in both samples with regard to negative emotions. Perhaps the negative emotions utilized in the story were easier to understand then positive emotions, either because they were less complex emotions or because the negative emotions were easier to perceive based on behavioural expression. 1Partial correlations were computed with child age as a control variable. 2Partial correlations were computed with child age and storybook as control variables. *p≤.05. **p≤0.01. ***p≤0.001. • Purpose • Investigate parent socialization of emotion terms in children with developmental disabilities using an everyday parent-child activity. Research Funded by The Provincial Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO The authors would like to thank Brian Camodeca for facilitating statistical analyses.