Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology University of Rochester Rochester New York USA
2. Mt. Hope Family Center University of Rochester Rochester New York USA
3. Department of Psychology Binghamton University Rochester New York USA
Abstract
AbstractThis study tested children's emotion recognition as a mediator of associations between their exposure to hostile and cooperative interparental conflict and their internalizing and externalizing symptoms. From 2018 to 2022, 238 mothers, their partners, and preschool children (Mage = 4.38, 52% female; 68% White; 18% Black; 14% Multiracial or another race; and 16% Latinx) participated in three annual measurement occasions. Path analyses indicated that Wave 1 observations of hostile interparental conflict predicted residualized increases in children's emotion recognition accuracy (i.e., angry, sad, and happy) at Wave 2 (β = .27). Wave 2 emotion recognition, in turn, predicted residualized decreases in children's internalizing symptoms at Wave 3 (β = −.22). Mediational findings were partly attributable to children's accuracy in identifying angry and high‐intensity expressions.
Funder
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Subject
Developmental and Educational Psychology,Education,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health