EMOTION REGULATION IN PRESCHOOLERS AT RISK FOR DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR DISORDERS

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The purpose of this project is the identification of patterns of emotion regulation in young children at risk for developing disruptive behavior disorders. This project examines the regulation of emotion, particularly anger, in relation to behavioral difficulties in preschool age children with the goal of understanding how emotional regulation patterns relate to particular symptom clusters. Observational and self-report data from experimental tasks that challenge self-control were collected. Observational procedures examine preschoolers' adaptive and maladaptive behaviors under conditions of disappointment, frustration, and temptation. Analyses of disappointment data indicate that at risk boys do not mask anger,and their anger predicts disruptive behavior during the procedure and externalizing symptoms reported by mothers and teachers. At risk girls do mask,and they continue to minimize negative emotion even when low risk girls express it; girls' minimization of negative emotion predicts attention deficit symptoms.