Peer Sociometric Status and Negative Emotion Regulation Strategies in Preschool Children

• Main Authors: Huang Tsung Cheng, 黃瑽琤
• Other Authors: Jennifer Chun-Li Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/60410732942299147973

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 幼兒與家庭教育學系碩士班 === 102 === This study seeks to investigate the relationship between the sociometric status and emotion regulation strategies of anger and sadness among preschool children. 200 children aged 5 and 6 years by purposive sampling were recruited to participate in this study from 5 public kindergartens, 9 classes in Taipei and New Taipei City. A parent-report questionnaire was used to measure children’s negative emotion regulation strategies band sociometric status was collected by picture board sociometric interview method. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson Product-moment Correlation, ANOVA. The key findings of this study are as follows: 1. Based on the analysis results from Pearson’s product-moment correlations, children rated higher on the scales of explicit behavioral strategies tended to have lower scores on cognitive strategies for regulating angry and sad emotions. 2. Based on the results of ANOVA, the 5-year-olds were rated significantly higher than 6 –years-olds on the scale of venting for regulating both anger and sadness emotions . On the other hand, the 6-year-olds were rated significantly higher than 5-year-olds on the scales of cognitive distraction and reappraisal for regulating sadness emotion. 3. Based on the results of ANOVA, girls were significantly more frequently using reappraisal strategy than boys for regulating anger emotion. 4. Both for regulating anger and sadness emotions, rejected children were assessed highest on the scale of venting and overall lower on the scales of cognitive strategies The findings suggest that the use of negative emotion regulation strategy may partially account for preschool children’s sociometric status in peer relationship. More specifically, different regulation strategies for copying specific negative emotion may lead to different adjustment results, which in turn affect their peer social interaction. According to these findings, this study suggests that kindergarten teachers to assist children to be more self-aware of their negative emotion experiences and learn appropriate emotion regulation strategies to enhance their emotional capacity. Implications for future research include: to increase the study samples that also cover both public and private kindergartens across different areas; to examine the interplay of temperament type, emotion regulation strategy usage, and the role-taking ability on young children’s peer relationship, especially rejected children, to provide evidence for counseling and teaching.