ParentChild Emotion Language During Storytelling in Children

1



Parent-Child Emotion Language During
Storytelling in Children with Developmental
Disabilities and Controls Amy Camodeca, M.A.1,
Varakini Parameswaran, B.S.1 , Karen Ip, M.A.1 ,
Kimberley Babb, Ph.D.1 , Julie Hakim-Larson,
Ph.D.1 , Marcia Gragg, Ph.D.1 , Sylvia Voelker,
Ph.D.1 , Mary Broga, Ph.D.2 , Christine Agar,
M.A.1 1University of Windsor, 2Windsor Regional
Childrens Centre
Abstract Compared emotion socialization during
storytelling for parents of children with
developmental disabilities (DD) and of a control
sample (CO). The DD sample consisted of 50
mothers of 38 male and 12 female children (M
child age5.80, SD2.55). The CO sample was
recruited in a university setting and consisted
of 7 fathers and 41 mothers of 23 male and 25
female children (M child age3.94, SD.98).
Participants recorded themselves telling their
child a text-free story. Transcripts were coded
for emotion references. Partial correlations were
computed for child/parent agreement/disagreement
and use of behavioural and verbal emotion terms.
The pattern of results obtained suggests that
children with developmental disabilities are
likely to acquiesce to parents interpretation of
emotion in others. The storytelling task seemed
to facilitate bi-directional emotion labelling of
positive emotions in control children, but not in
those with developmental disabilities. However,
labelling of negative emotion words was
facilitated in both groups through the
interaction. Children with developmental
disabilities seemed to rely more on behavioural
emotional cues compared to control children,
indicating that children in the CO group were
more easily able to infer subjective states
without reliance on behavioural cues, assisting
in the understanding of characters positive
emotional states.

• Results
• Table 2 Significant Relations Specific to
  Developmental Disabilities or Control Group
• Child agreement was associated with the frequency
  of parent use of all three emotion terms
  (positive, negative, and behavioural) in the DD
  group, but not in controls. For the DD group, the
  correlation between Child Agree and Parent Total
  Behavioural Expression of Emotion was weaker than
  the correlation between Parent Total Positive or
  Negative Emotion.
• In the DD group, no significant relations between
  parents emotion word frequencies and child
  emotion word frequencies were observed in the CO
  group, positive correlations between Parent and
  Child Positive, Negative, and Behavioural
  Expressions of Emotion were observed.
• For the DD group, childrens Total Behavioural
  Expression of Emotion was positively correlated
  with their Total Negative Emotion terms in the
  CO group, no linear relationships were noted.

• Method
• Participants
• Developmental Disabilities Group (DD)
• 50 mother-child pairs
• Comprised of 38 male and 12 female children (M
  child age5.80, SD2.55).
• Control Group (CO)
• Recruited from a University sample
• 7 father-child and 41 mother-child pairs
• Comprised of 23 male and 25 female children (M
  child age3.94, SD.98)
• Measures and Procedure
• Each parent-child pair audio recorded a
  storytelling session using one of two text-free
  picture
  storybooks
• One Frog Too Many (Mayer Mayer, 1975)
• Frog, Where are You? (Mayer, 1969)
• Recordings were transcribed and segmented.

Introduction

• Results
• Table 1 Relations Between Frequencies of Emotion
  Terms By Group

• Emotion Competence and Developmental
  Disabilities
• Children with developmental disabilities have
  difficulties in verbalizing and understanding
  emotions (Skwerer, Faja, Schofield, Verbalis,
  Flusberg, 2006a).
• Research in this area has focused on the
  correctness of a childs emotion label in a
  controlled setting as opposed to parent-child
  discussion of emotion in natural settings.
  (Skwerer, Verbalis, Schofield, Faja, Flusberg,
  2006b Bauminger, Edelsztein, Morash, 2005
  Mellor Dagnan, 2005 Gross, 2004).
• Storytelling and Emotion Socialization
• Everyday interactions, such as storytelling,
  involve labelling and discussing of emotions,
  providing an opportunity for emotion
  socialization (Harkins, 1993 Denham Auerbach,
  1995 Saarni, 1999).
• Emotion Terms
• Emotion terms include prototypical emotions,
  undifferentiated emotions, and behaviours
  associated with an emotional state (Shaver,
  Schwartz, Kirson, OConnor, 1987 Cervantes
  Callanan, 1998 Adams, Kuebli, Boyle, Fivush,
  1995 Laible, 2004).

• Discussion and Conclusions
• These findings suggest that children with
  developmental disabilities may acquiesce to their
  parents labelling and interpretation of emotions
  in others. Acquiescence may be less likely with
  regard to interpretation of behavioural displays
  of emotion research does posit that children
  with and without developmental disabilities have
  an easier time understanding behavioural
  expressions of emotion compared to internal
  states. Perhaps this reflects a lack/delayed
  development of Theory of Mind.
• It is possible that parents of control children
  are better able to facilitate their childrens
  production of emotion words by emotion labelling
  that this imitation of using emotion words in the
  DD group is not observed may be due to a language
  delay, inability to come up with their own
  emotion words, or use of agreement in the place
  of saying an emotion word.
• Alternatively, it is possible that parents of
  children in the DD group were not able to
  facilitate the production of emotion words in the
  parent through labelling emotions but the parents
  would still attempt to socialize emotion through
  the story.
• It appears that the bi-directional facilitation
  of emotion labelling occurred as expected in both
  samples with regard to negative emotions. Perhaps
  the negative emotions utilized in the story were
  easier to understand then positive emotions,
  either because they were less complex emotions or
  because the negative emotions were easier to
  perceive based on behavioural expression.

1Partial correlations were computed with child
age as a control variable. 2Partial correlations
were computed with child age and storybook as
control variables. p.05. p0.01. p0.001.

• Purpose
• Investigate parent socialization of emotion
  terms in children with developmental disabilities
  using an everyday parent-child activity.

Research Funded by The Provincial Centre for
Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO
The authors would like to thank Brian Camodeca
for facilitating statistical analyses.