Emotional Recognition of Children With Down Syndrome and Normally Developing Children: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Psychologists have tried to explain emotions since centuries ago they have tried to identify different types of emotions. Emotions are basically mental experiences that can lead to pleasant or unpleasant moods. Emotions influence our perception and social communication. For Down Syndrome being social can also be determined by emotional recognition. It plays an important role for social interaction which is recognized by emotions and helps them to regulate it for social interaction. Basic emotions which are included in this study are happiness, sadness, and aggressive facial expressions. Objective: To determine the level of emotional regulation through emotional recognition by facial expressions in down syndrome compared to normally developing children. Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study. Emotional Recognition Questionnaire Version 7-6/2012 was used. Data on children with down syndrome were collected from special education centres of Lahore and data on normally developing children was collected from the private schools by using standardized tools. The total sample size was 384 calculated by using an online calculator. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21. Results: The results showed that people with down syndrome were good at identifying emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and worry when compared with normally developing children. Their ability to recognize facial expressions helps down syndrome children for socialization. Conclusions: It was concluded that children with down syndrome can recognize and regulate emotions and  emotion of happiness is more easily recognized than the other emotions when it was compared to normally developing children.