PRESCHOOL EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE--PATH TO MENTAL HEALTH

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Emotional competence is central to children's ability to interact and form relationships with others (Parke, 1994; Saarni, 1990). As Saarni (1990) states, "...we are talking about how [children] can respond emotionally, yet simultaneously and strategically apply their knowledge about emotions and their expression to relationships with others, so that they can negotiate interpersonal exchanges and regulate their emotional experiences as well (p. 116)." Certainly these abilities continue to develop throughout the lifespan, but preschool-aged children are surprisingly adept at several component skills of emotional competence: discerning one's own, and others', emotional states using the vocabulary of emotion empathic involvement in others' emotions realizing that inner and outer emotional states may differ coping with aversive or distressing emotions Although developmental psychologists have only recently begun to explicit investigate young children's use of this impressive array of developing emotional competencies within social processes, it follows that emotional competence would contribute to success in interacting with one's peers (i.e., social competence). Accumulating evidence suggests that this is true: Young children who are emotionally competent are more well-liked (e.g., Denham, McKinley, Couchoud, & Holt, 19900. But, more work is necessary to better highlight and specify these critical emotional competence milestones and their socialization, particularly for the applied arena. The proposed research will begin to meet these needs. Thus, we will work to elucidate broader developmental sequences, from socialization variables to general social competence, with parents'' and children's emotions as the organizing framework. This focus highlights the centrality of emotional competence. it also embodies an organizational approach to developing social competence (Waters & Sroufe, 1983) in which distinct behaviors which bring success in peer interaction are accented, along with the evaluations of important persons in the child's widening world (e.g., teachers/caregivers, peers).