Abstract
Research has linked language delays in young children to behavior problems and risk for psychopathology. We hypothesized that low language skill would affect normal socialization of emotion regulation, which in turn would affect the development of behavior problems. Seventy-eight mother/preschool-age child pairs participated in two mildly frustrating situations. Parents of children with low verbal comprehension used more unexplained compliance demands than other parents. Further, children whose parents used more unexplained compliance demands used fewer cognitive and distraction strategies, and more instrumental strategies. Children's use of physical self-comforting was positively related to overall, internalizing, and externalizing behavior problems. Findings supported the original hypothesis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Richman N, Stevenson J, Graham P: Preschool to School: A Behavioral Study. London: Academic Press, 1982.
Stevenson J, Richman N, Graham P: Behavior problems and language abilities at three years and behavioral deviance at eight years. J Child Psy Psyc 26: 215-230, 1985.
Stevenson J, Richman N: Behavior, language, and development in three-year-old children. J Autism Childhood Schiz 8: 299-313, 1978.
Beitchman JH, Nair R, Clegg M, Ferguson B, Patel PG: Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children with speech and language disorders. J Amer Acad Child Adoles Psych 25: 528-535, 1986.
Achenbach TM, Edelbrock, C: Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Press, 1984.
Tallal P, Dukette D, Curtiss S: Behavior/emotional profiles of preschool language-impaired children. Devel Psychopath 1: 51-67, 1989.
Affolter F, Brubaker R, Bischofberger W: Comparative studies of normal and language disturbed children based on performance profiles. Acta Oto-Laryngol, Supplement 323, 1974.
Baker L, Cantwell DP: Comparison of well, emotionally disordered, and behaviorally disordered children with linguistic problems. J Amer Acad Child Adoles Psych 26: 193-196, 1987a.
Baker L, Cantwell DP: A prospective follow-up of children with speech language disorders. J Amer Acad Child Adoles Psych 26: 546-553, 1987b.
Benasich AA, Curtiss S, Tallal P: Language, learning, and behavioral disturbances in childhood: A longitudinal perspective. J Amer Acad Child AdolesPsych 32: 585-594, 1993.
Bowlby J: Attachment and loss: Attachment, Vol. 1. New York: Basic Books, 1969.
Sroufe LA: Individual patterns of adaptation from infancy to preschool. In Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, Vol. 6., ed. Perlmutter M. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1983.
Tronick EZ, Ricks M, Cohn JF: Maternal and infant affective exchange: Patterns of adaptation. In Emotion and Early Interaction, ed. Field T, Fogel A, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1982.
Garber J, Dodge KA: The Development of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Thompson RA: Emotion regulation: A theme in search of a definition. In The Development of Emotion Regulation: Biological and Behavioral Considerations. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 59: (2–3, Serial No. 240), ed. Fox NA, 1994.
Campbell SB: Behavior Problems in Preschool Children: Clinical and Developmental Issues. New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 1990.
Block JH, Block J: The role of ego control and ego resiliency in the organization of behavior. In Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology: Development of Cognition, Affect, and Social Relations, Vol. 13., ed. Collins, WA. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1980.
Heller TL, Baker BL, Henker B, Hinshaw SP: Externalizing behavior and cognitive functioning from preschool to first grade: Stability and predictors. J Clin Child Psych 25:376-387, 1996.
Garber J, Braafladt N, Zemen J: The regulation of sad affect: An information-processing perspective. In The Development of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation, eds. Garber J, Dodge KA. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991
Lazarus RS, Folkman S: Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York: Springer, 1984.
Stansbury K: Parent reported age differences in 3-and 4-year-olds' emotion regulation. Unpublished masters' thesis. U.C.L.A., 1986
Stansbury K: Behavioral Expressions of Emotion Regulation in Normally-Developing and At-Risk Preschoolers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of California, Los Angeles, 1990.
Stansbury K, Sigman M: Responses of preschoolers in two frustrating episodes: Emergence of complex strategies for emotion regulation. Submitted manuscript, 1999.
Sethre-Hofstad L: Maternal Sensitivity and Relations Between Mother and Child Adrenocortical Response to a Challenging Situation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1997.
Kopp CB: Antecedents of self-regulation: A developmental perspective. Devel Psych 18: 199-214, 1982.
Kopp CB: Regulation of distress and negative emotions: A developmental view. Devel Psych 25: 343-354, 1989.
Winnicott DW: Transitional objects and transitional phenomena. Intl J Psychoanalysis 34: 89-97, 1953.
Piaget J: The Origins of Intelligence in Children. New York: Norton, 1952.
Reynell JK: Reynell Developmental Language Scales: Experimental Edition. Windsor: NFER, 1969.
Howlin P, Cross P: The variability of language test scores in 3-and 4-year-old children of normal non-verbal intelligence: A brief research report. Euro J Disorders Commun 18: 199-214, 1994.
Silva PA: A comparison of the predictive validity of the Reynell Developmental Language Scales, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Br J Ed Psych 56: 201-204, 1986.
Stansbury K, Sethre-Hofstad L, Abeita LA: Behavioral Expressions of Emotion Regulation in Normally Developing and At-Risk Preschool Children. Submitted manuscript.
Stansbury K, Harris M: Individual differences in stress reactions during a peer entry episode: Effects of age, temperament, approach behavior, and self-perceived peer Competence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, in press.
Pratt MW, Kerig PK, Cowan PA, Cowan CP: Family worlds: Couple satisfaction, parenting style, and mothers' and fathers' speech to young children. Merrill-Palmer Quar 38: 245-262, 1992.
Buss DM: Predicting parent-child interactions from children's activity level. Dev Psych 17: 59-65, 1981.
Vygotsky L: Thinking and speech. In The collected works of L. V. Vygotsky, Vol. 1., eds. Reiber R, Carton, A. New York: Plenum, 1987.
Harris PL: Children and Emotion: The Development of Psychological Understanding. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.
McCoy CL, Masters JC: The development of children's strategies for the social control of emotion. Child Devel 56: 1214-1222, 1985.
Morisset CE, Barnard KE, Greenberg MT, Booth CL, Spieker SJ: Environmental influences on early language development: The context of social risk. Devel and Psychopath 2: 127-149, 1990.
Gersten M, Coster W, Schneider-Rosen K, Carlson V, Cicchetti D: The socio-emotional bases of communicative functioning: Quality of attachment, language development, and early maltreatment In Advances in Developmental Psychology, Vol., eds. Lamb M, Brown AL, Rogoff B. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1986.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stansbury, K., Zimmermann, L.K. Relations Among Child Language Skills, Maternal Socialization of Emotion Regulation, and Child Behavior Problems. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 30, 121–142 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021954402840
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021954402840