How to Start a Conversation? A 5-Year Longitudinal Investigation of the Effect of Parent Question Type on Children’s Early Emotion Labeling

Abstract

This study used a five-wave longitudinal design to examine how the type and timing of parental questions during shared discussion of wordless picture books influence children’s emotion labeling. Participants were 323 children (150 girls, ages 2–3 at Wave 1 in 2019) and their primary caregivers, who were assessed annually until ages 6–7. Parent–child interactions were recorded, transcribed, and coded for the frequency of yes/no and open-ended questions during the first conversational turn and children’s subsequent correct emotion labels. An RI-CLPM controlling for conversation length, child age, and gender indicated that start-of-conversation open-ended questions were positively associated with children’s correct emotion labeling, whereas start-of-conversation yes/no questions were negatively associated. Emotion labeling and parental questioning showed stability across waves; however, start-of-conversation question type did not predict children’s labeling longitudinally. Moreover, a reverse longitudinal effect emerged: stronger child emotion labeling predicted decreases in parents’ use of yes/no questions the following year, suggesting that parents adapt their entry prompts as children’s skills improve. Sensitivity analyses showed that parent total question frequency across the full conversation was positively associated with labeling regardless of question type. These findings highlight the role of question type, timing, and caregiver responsiveness in socio-emotional development.