Predictions of Toddlers’ Development of Effortful Control with Parental Beliefs about Children’s Emotion - Abstract
The results of this study indicate the critical role of parents’ emotion-related beliefs in toddlers’ development of effortful control (EC). We assessed EC and negative affectivity characteristics of 94 Taiwanese children through their parents’ reports on the scales of the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire at two different points in time: at 24 and 30 months of age. When the children were 24 months old, we also assessed their parents’ emotion-related beliefs through the Parent’s Beliefs about Children’s Emotions (PBACE) questionnaire. The PBACE predicted the change in EC six months later, controlled for the children’s EC and negative affects at 24 months old. Three different aspects of PBACE significantly predicted the development in EC: parental beliefs about the value of /acceptance of children’s negative emotions, manipulative nature of the emotions of children, and autonomy of children’s emotions (non-supportive meta-emotions). While parental beliefs about the manipulative nature and autonomy of children’s emotions decreased the growth of EC, valuing and/or accepting children’s negative emotions positively predicted an increase in EC. In seeking to promote young children’s development of EC, it is important for parental and care giving educators to point out the importance of supportive emotion-related beliefs, whereas non-supportive meta-emotions may hinder the growth of emotion regulatory capability in early childhood.