Sixty-five mothers reported on their toddlers’ attention regulation and negative emotional intensity and provided information about the toddlers’ empathy and aggression. Toddler concerned attention was also observed during a laboratory session as was mothers’ discourse about mental states. Toddlers reported to have better attention regulation and lower negative emotional intensity were reported to be less physically aggressive. Mothers who made more references to needs, intentions, and desires had toddlers who were lower in both aggression- and empathy-related behavior as assessed with maternal report and observation.
Alink LRA, Mesman J., van Zeijl J., Stolk MN, Juffer F., Koot HM, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, and van Ijzendoorn MH (2006) The early childhood aggression curve: Development of physical aggression in 10- to 50-month-old children . Child Development77: 954-966.
2.
Bailey DB, McWilliams RA, Ware WB, and Burchinal MH ( 1993) Social interactions of toddlers and preschoolers in same-age and mixed-age play groups. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology14: 261-276.
3.
Barrett KC ( 2005) The origins of social emotions and self-regulation on toddlerhood: New evidence. Cognition and Emotion19: 953-979.
4.
Barrett KC, Zahn-Waxler C., and Cole PM ( 1993) Avoiders vs. amenders: Implications for the investigation of guilt and shame during toddlerhood?Cognition and Emotion7: 481-505.
5.
Bell MA, Wolfe CD ( 2004) Emotion and cognition: An intricately bound developmental process. Child Development75: 366-370.
6.
Bischof-Kohler D. ( 1991) The development of empathy in infants. In: Lamb ME, Keller H (eds) Infant Development: Perspectives from German-speaking Countries. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum , 245-273.
7.
Bretherton I., Beeghly M. ( 1982) Talking about internal states: The acquisition of an explicit theory of mind. Developmental Psychology18: 906-921.
8.
Brophy M., Dunn J. ( 2002) What did mummy say? Dyadic interactions between young ‘hard to manage’ children and their mothers. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology30: 103-112.
9.
Brown J., Dunn J. ( 1991) ‘You can cry mum’: The social and developmental implications of talk about internal states. British Journal of Developmental Psychology9: 237-256.
10.
Brown J., Dunn J. ( 1996) Continuities in emotion understanding from 3-6 years. Child Development67: 789-802.
11.
Brownell CA, Ramani GB, and Zerwas S. ( 2006) Becoming a social partner with peers: Cooperation and social understanding in one- and two-year olds. Child Development77: 803-821.
12.
Campbell SB, Spieker S., Burchinal M., Poe MD and the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network ( 2006) Trajectories of aggression from toddlerhood to age 9 predict academic and social functioning through age 12. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry47: 791-800.
13.
Chapman M. ( 1991) The epistemic triangle: Operative and communicative components of cognitive competence. In: Chandler M, Chapman M (eds) Criteria for Competence. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 209-228.
14.
Christie IC, Friedman BH ( 2004) Autonomic specificity of discrete emotion and dimensions of affective space: A multivariate approach. International Journal of Psychophysiology51: 143-153.
15.
Cicchetti D. ( 1994) Guidelines, criteria, and rules of thumb for evaluating normed and standardized assessment instruments in psychology. Psychological Assessment6: 284-290.
16.
Cole PM, Barrett K., and Zahn-Waxler C. ( 1992) Emotion displays in two-year olds during mishaps . Child Development63: 314-324.
17.
Cole PM, Martin SE, and Dennis TA ( 2004) Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Development75: 317-333.
18.
Denham SA, Grout L. ( 1992) Socialization of emotion pathway to preschoolers emotional and social competence. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior17: 205-227.
19.
Eisenberg N., Fabes RA ( 1995) The relation of young children’s vicarious emotional responding to social competence, regulation, and emotionality. Cognition and Emotion9: 203-228.
20.
Eisenberg N., Fabes RA, and Murphy BC ( 1995) Relations of shyness and low sociability to regulation and emotionality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology68: 505-517.
21.
Eisenberg N., Fabes RA, Gutherie IK, Murphy BC, Maszk P., Holmgren R., and Suh K. ( 1996) The relations of regulation and emotionality to problem behavior in elementary school children. Development and Psychopathology8: 141-162.
22.
Fabes RA, Hanish LD, and Martin CL ( 2002) Young children’s negative emotionality and social isolation: A latent growth curve analysis. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly48: 284-307.
23.
Feinfield K., Lee PP, Flavell ER, Green FL, and Flavell JH ( 1999) Young children’s understanding of intention . Cognitive Development14: 463-486.
24.
Fine SE, Izard CE, and Trentacosta CJ ( 2006) Emotion situation knowledge in elementary school: Models of longitudinal growth and preschool correlates. Social Development4: 730-751.
25.
Garner PW ( 2003) Child and family correlates of toddlers’ emotional and behavioral responses to a mishap. Infant Mental Health Journal24: 580-596.
26.
Garner PW, Dunsmore JC, and Southam-Gerrow M. (2008) Mother-child conversations about emotions: Linkages to child aggression and prosocial behavior. Social Development17: 259-277.
27.
Garner PW, Estep KM ( 2001) Emotional competence, emotion socialization, and young children’s peer-related social competence. Early Education and Development12: 30-48.
28.
Gill K., Calkins S. ( 2003) Do aggressive/destructive toddlers lack concern for others ? Development and Psychopathology15: 55-71.
29.
Goldsmith HH ( 1996) Studying temperament via construction of the toddler behavior assessment questionnaire. Child Development67: 218-235.
30.
Hart S., Field T., and Del Valle C. ( 1998) Infants protest their mothers’ attending to an infant size doll. Social Development7: 54-61.
31.
Hastings PD, Zahn-Waxler C., Robinson J., Usher B., and Bridges D. ( 2000) The development of concern for others in children with behavior problems. Developmental Psychology36: 531-546.
32.
Hill AL, Braungart-Rieker JM ( 2002) Four-month attentional regulation and its prediction of three-year compliance. Infancy3: 261-273.
33.
Hoffman ML ( 2000) Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and Justice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
34.
Jenkins J., Turrell SL, Kogushi Y., Lollis S., and Ross H. ( 2003) A longitudinal investigation of the dynamics of mental state talk in families. Child Development74: 905-920.
35.
Katz L., Windecker-Nelson B. ( 2004) Parental meta-emotion philosophy in families with conduct-problem children: Links with peer relations. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology32: 385-398.
36.
Kochanska G., Gross JN, Lin MH, and Nichols KE ( 2002) Guilt in young children: Development, determinants, and relations with a broader system of standards. Child Development73: 461-482.
37.
Kuczynski L., Kochanska G., Radke-Yarrow M., and Girnius-Brown O. (1987) A developmental interpretation of young children’s noncompliance. Developmental Psychology23: 799-806.
38.
Lagattuta KH, Wellman HM ( 2002) Differences in early parent-child conversations about negative versus positive emotions: Implications for the development of psychological understanding. Developmental Psychology38: 564-580.
39.
Laible D. ( 2004) Mother-child discourse surrounding a child’s past behavior at 30 months: Links to emotion understanding and early conscience development at 36 months. Merrill Palmer Quarterly50: 159-180.
40.
Laible D., Thompson R. ( 2000) Mother-child discourse, attachment security, and shared positive affect and early conscience development. Child Development71: 1424-1440.
41.
Laible D., Thompson R. ( 2002) Mother-child conflict in the toddler years: Lessons in emotion, morality, and relationships. Child Development73: 1187-1203.
42.
Landis JR, Koch GG ( 1977) The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics33: 159-174.
43.
Larzelere RE, Amberson TG, and Martin JA ( 1992) Age differences in perceived discipline problems for 9 to 48 months. Family Relations41: 192-199.
44.
Larzelere RE, Martin JA, and Amberson TG ( 1989) The Toddler Behavior Checklist: A parent-completed assessment of socioemotional characteristics of young preschoolers. Family Relations38: 418-425.
45.
Lazarus RS ( 1991) Emotion and Adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press.
46.
Leerkes EM, Crockenberg SC ( 2006) Antecedents of mothers’ emotional and cognitive responses to infant distress. Infant Mental Health Journal27: 405-428.
47.
Levenson RW ( 1992) Autonomic nervous system differences among emotions . Psychological Science3: 23-27.
48.
Loeber R., Hay D. ( 1997) Key issues in the development of aggression and violence from childhood to adult-hood. Annual Review of Psychology48: 371-410.
49.
Lynch T., Robins CJ, and Morse JQ ( 2001) A mediational model relating affect intensity, emotion inhibition, and psychological distress. Behavior Therapy32: 519-536.
50.
MacCoon DG, Wallace JF, and Newman JP ( 2004) Self-regulation: Context-appropriate balanced attention . In: Baumesister RF, Vohs KD (eds) Handbook of Self-regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications. New York: Guilford, 422-446.
51.
Matheny AP, Reise ML, and Wilson RS ( 1985) Rudiments of infants’ temperament: Newborn to 9 months. Developmental Psychology21: 486-494.
52.
McDevitt SC, Carey WB ( 1978) The measurement of temperament in 3-7 year old children . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry19: 245-253.
53.
Meins E., Fernyhough C., Fradley E., and Tuckney M. ( 2001) Rethinking maternal sensitivity: Mothers’ comments on infants’ mental processes predict security of attachment at 12 months . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry42: 637-648.
54.
Meins E., Fernyhough C., Wainwright R., Gupta MD, Fradley E., and Tuckney M. ( 2002) Maternal mindmindedness and attachment security as predictors of theory of mind understanding. Child Development73: 1715-1726.
55.
Nikkari DS, Gilbert J., Emde RN, and Campos JJ ( 1993) The Emotion Prototype Questionnaire: A new parental report instrument for assessing emotional development in toddlers. Paper presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, LA, March.
56.
O’Leary SG, Slep AM, and Reid MJ ( 1999) A longitudinal study of mothers’ overreactive discipline and toddlers’ externalizing behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology27: 331-341.
57.
Ozonoff S., Pennington BF, and Rogers SJ ( 1990) Are there emotion perception deficits in young autistic children? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry31: 343-361.
58.
Pears KC, Moses LJ ( 2003) Demographics, parenting, and theory of mind in preschool children. Social Development12: 1-20.
59.
Peterson C., Slaughter V. ( 2003) Opening windows into the mind: Mothers’ preferences for mental state explanations and children’s theory of mind. Cognitive Development18: 399-429.
60.
Polit DF, Hunger BP ( 1999) Nursing Research. Philadelphia , PA: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.
61.
Putnam SP, Gartstein MA, and Rothbart MK ( 2006) Measurement of fine-grained aspects of toddler temperament: The Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development29: 386-401.
62.
Radke-Yarrow M., Zahn-Waxler C. ( 1976) Dimensions and correlates of prosocial behavior in young children. Child Development47: 118-125.
63.
Repacholi B., Gopnik A. ( 1997) Early reasoning about desires: Evidence from 14- and 18-month olds. Developmental Psychology33: 12-21.
64.
Robinson JL, Zahn-Waxler C., and Emde R. ( 1994) Patterns of development in early empathic behavior: Environmental and child constitutional influences. Social Development3: 125-145.
65.
Rothbart MK, Ahadi SA, and Hershey KL ( 1994) Temperament and social behavior in childhood. Merrill Palmer Quarterly40: 21-39.
66.
Rothbart MK, Ahadi SA, Hershey KL, and Fisher P. ( 2001) Investigations of temperament at three to seven years: The children’s behavior questionnaire. Child Development72: 1394-1408.
67.
Sanson A., Hemphill SA, and Smart D. ( 2004) Connections between temperament and social development: A review. Social Development13: 142-170.
68.
Shantz M. ( 1983) Social cognition. In: Flavell JH, Markman EM (eds) Handbook of Child Psychology, Vol. 3: Cognitive Development, 4th edn. New York: Wiley, 495-555.
Sigman M., Kasari C., Kwon J., and Yirmiya N. ( 1992) Responses to the emotions of others by autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children. Child Development63: 796-807.
71.
Smetana JG ( 1999) The role of parents in moral development: A social domain analysis. Journal of Moral Education28: 311-321.
72.
Smiley P., Huttenlocher J. ( 1989) Young children’s acquisition of emotion concepts . In: Saarni C, Harris PL (eds) Children’s Understanding of Emotion. New York: Cambridge University Press, 27-49.
73.
Snyder J., Patterson G. ( 1986) The effects of consequences on patterns of social interaction: A quasi-experimental approach to reinforcement in natural interaction . Child Development57: 1257-1268.
74.
Snyder J., Stoolmileer M., Wilson M., and Yamamoto M. ( 2003) Child anger regulation, parental responses to children’s anger displays, and early child antisocial behavior. Social Development12: 335-360.
75.
Spinrad T., Stifter CA ( 2006) Toddlers’ empathy-related responding to distress: Predictions from negative emotionality and maternal behavior in infancy. Infancy10: 97-122.
76.
Spitznagel EL, Helzer JE ( 1985) A proposed solution to the base rate problem in the kappa statistic. Archives of General Psychiatry42: 725-728.
77.
Stein NL, Levine LJ ( 1989) The causal organisation of emotional knowledge: A developmental study. Cognition & Emotion3: 343-378.
78.
Strayer J., Roberts W. ( 2004) Empathy and observed anger and aggression in five-year-olds . Social Development13: 1-13.
79.
Stein NL, Levine LJ ( 1989) The causal organization of emotion knowledge: A developmental study. Cognition and Emotion3: 343-378.
80.
Symons D. ( 2004) Mental state discourse, theory of mind, and the internalization of self-other understanding. Developmental Review24: 159-188.
81.
Symons D., Fossum KM, and Collins TBK ( 2006) A longitudinal study of belief and desire state discourse during mother-child play and later false belief understanding. Social Development15: 676-691.
82.
Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS ( 1989) Using Multivariate Statistics. New York: Harper Collins.
83.
Taumoepeau M., Ruffman T. ( 2006) Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding. Child Development77: 465-481.
84.
Thompson RA ( 1991) Emotion regulation and emotional development. Educational Psychology Review3: 269-307.
85.
Thompson RA ( 2005) Conversation and developing understanding: Introduction to the special issue. Merrill Palmer Quarterly52: 1-17.
86.
Tremblay R., Japel E., Perusse D., McDuff P., Boivin M., Zoccolillo M., and Montplaisir J. ( 1999) The search for the age of ‘onset’ of physical aggression: Rousseau and Bandivia revisited. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health9: 8-23.
87.
Ungerer J., Dolby R., Waters B., Barnett B., Kelk N., and Lewin V. ( 1990) The early development of empathy: Self-regulation and individual differences in the first year. Motivation and Emotion14: 93-106.
88.
Van der Mark IL, Van Ijzendoorn MH, and Bakersmans-Kranenburg MJ (2002) Development of empathy in girls during the second year of life: Associations with parenting, attachment, and temperament. Social Development11: 451-468.
89.
Wellman HM, Woolley JD ( 1990) From simple desires to ordinary beliefs: The early development of everyday psychology. Cognition35: 245-275.
90.
Wilson BJ ( 2003) The role of attentional processes in children’s prosocial behavior with peers: Attention shifting and emotion. Developmental Psychopathology15: 313-329.
91.
Zahn-Waxler C., Radke-Yarrow M., Wagner E., and Chapman M. ( 1992) Development of concern for others. Developmental Psychology28: 126-136.
92.
Zanolli K., Paden P., and Cox K. ( 1997) Teaching prosocial behavior to typically developing toddlers . Journal of Behavioral Education7: 373-391.
