Emotion Knowledge and Attentional Differences in Preschoolers Showing Context-Inappropriate Anger

Percept Mot Skills. 2016 Aug;123(1):46-63. doi: 10.1177/0031512516658473. Epub 2016 Jul 13.

Abstract

Some children show anger inappropriate for the situation based on the predominant incentives, which is called context-inappropriate anger. Children need to attend to and interpret situational incentives for appropriate emotional responses. We examined associations of context-inappropriate anger with emotion recognition and attention problems in 43 preschoolers (42% male; M age = 55.1 months, SD = 4.1). Parents rated context-inappropriate anger across situations. Teachers rated attention problems using the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form. Emotion recognition was ability to recognize emotional faces using the Emotion Matching Test. Anger perception bias was indicated by anger to non-anger situations using an adapted Affect Knowledge Test. 28% of children showed context-inappropriate anger, which correlated with lower emotion recognition (β = -.28) and higher attention problems (β = .36). Higher attention problems correlated with more anger perception bias (β = .32). This cross-sectional, correlational study provides preliminary findings that children with context-inappropriate anger showed more attention problems, which suggests that both "problems" tend to covary and associate with deficits or biases in emotion knowledge.

Keywords: attention; context; emotion; preschool.

MeSH terms

  • Anger / physiology*
  • Attention / physiology*
  • Child Behavior / physiology*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Emotions / physiology*
  • Facial Expression
  • Facial Recognition / physiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Problem Behavior*