Children's negative emotions and ego-resiliency: longitudinal relations with social competence

Emotion. 2014 Apr;14(2):397-406. doi: 10.1037/a0035079. Epub 2013 Dec 23.

Abstract

We examined the relations of negative emotions in toddlerhood to the development of ego-resiliency and social competence across early childhood. Specifically, we addressed whether fear and anger/frustration in 30-month-old children (N = 213) was associated with the development of ego-resiliency across 4 time points (42 to 84 months), and, in turn, whether ego-resiliency predicted social competence at 84 months. Child anger/frustration negatively predicted the intercept of ego-resiliency at 42 months (controlling for prior ego-resiliency at 18 months) as well as the slope. Fear did not significantly predict either the intercept or slope of ego-resiliency in the structural model, although it was positively correlated with anger/frustration and was negatively related to ego-resiliency in zero-order correlations. The slope of ego-resiliency was positively related to children's social competence at 84 months; however, the intercept of ego-resiliency (set at 42 months) was not a significant predictor of later social competence. Furthermore, the slope of ego-resiliency mediated the relations between anger/frustration and children's later social competence. The results suggest that individual differences in anger/frustration might contribute to the development of ego-resiliency, which, in turn, is associated with children's social competence.

MeSH terms

  • Anger
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Ego*
  • Emotions*
  • Fear
  • Female
  • Frustration
  • Humans
  • Individuality
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Resilience, Psychological*
  • Social Behavior