TY - JOUR PY - 2016// TI - Emotion knowledge and attentional differences in preschoolers showing context-inappropriate anger JO - Perceptual and motor skills A1 - Locke, Robin L. A1 - Lang, Nichole J. SP - 46 EP - 63 VL - 123 IS - 1 N2 - Some children show anger inappropriate for the situation based on the predominant incentives, which is called context-inappropriate anger. Children need to attend to and interpret situational incentives for appropriate emotional responses. We examined associations of context-inappropriate anger with emotion recognition and attention problems in 43 preschoolers (42% male; M age = 55.1 months, SD = 4.1). Parents rated context-inappropriate anger across situations. Teachers rated attention problems using the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form. Emotion recognition was ability to recognize emotional faces using the Emotion Matching Test. Anger perception bias was indicated by anger to non-anger situations using an adapted Affect Knowledge Test. 28% of children showed context-inappropriate anger, which correlated with lower emotion recognition (β = -.28) and higher attention problems (β = .36). Higher attention problems correlated with more anger perception bias (β = .32). This cross-sectional, correlational study provides preliminary findings that children with context-inappropriate anger showed more attention problems, which suggests that both "problems" tend to covary and associate with deficits or biases in emotion knowledge.

© The Author(s) 2016.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0031-5125 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0031512516658473 ID - ref1 ER -