Playing it cool: Temperament, emotion regulation, and social behavior in preschoolers

• Published in: Journal of school psychology Vol. 42; no. 6; pp. 419 - 443
• Main Authors: Blair, Kimberly A., Denham, Susanne A., Kochanoff, Anita, Whipple, Beth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Behavior Problems; Coping; Early-childhood development; Emotional-control; Emotional-development; Emotionality; Interpersonal Competence; Personality; Preschool-education; Prosocial Behavior; Psychosocial-development; Young Children; Emotional-development; Emotionality; Early-childhood development; Psychosocial-development; Emotional-control; Preschool-education; Personality
• ISSN: 0022-4405; 1873-3506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsp.2004.10.002

The contributions of temperamental styles and emotional coping strategies to the development of preschoolers' social competence and behavior problems were investigated. The ability to cope with emotion was found to be more important than temperament alone in the development of prosocial behavior. Our results indicate that the use of passive coping strategies may play a significant role in the development of maladaptive behaviors in young children. Specifically, the use of passive coping strategies was found to moderate the relationship between temperament dimensions in predicting externalizing and internalizing maladaptive behaviors. When combined with extremely negative temperamental dispositions, just facing the problems was discovered to be beneficial for preschoolers, which encourages the use of preventative or interventional strategies in the classroom to develop constructive emotion regulation skills in young children.