{"id":20680,"date":"2024-03-01T08:19:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T08:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/?p=20680"},"modified":"2024-09-27T16:40:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:40:25","slug":"shared-book-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/shared-book-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhy do they feel sad?\u201d Shared book reading reveals how children learn about others\u2019 emotions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_79_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #121c4e;color:#121c4e\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #121c4e;color:#121c4e\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/shared-book-reading\/#Key_takeaways_for_caregivers\" >Key takeaways for caregivers:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/shared-book-reading\/#How_can_parents_support_childrens_early_emotional_development\" >How can parents support children\u2019s early emotional development?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/shared-book-reading\/#Studying_childrens_emotional_development_in_the_home\" >Studying children\u2019s emotional development in the home<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/shared-book-reading\/#Finding_1_Parents_question_asking_was_consistently_related_to_preschoolers_emotion_talk_in_early_childhood\" >Finding # 1: Parents\u2019 question asking was consistently related to preschoolers\u2019 emotion talk in early childhood<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/shared-book-reading\/#Finding_2_Childrens_participation_in_shared_book_reading_drove_their_emotional_development_across_early_childhood\" >Finding # 2: Children\u2019s participation in shared book reading drove their emotional development across early childhood<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/shared-book-reading\/#Conclusion_Parents_engagement_in_emotion_talk_and_asking_questions_may_support_their_childrens_emotional_development\" >Conclusion: Parents\u2019 engagement in emotion talk and asking questions may support their children\u2019s emotional development<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Key_takeaways_for_caregivers\"><\/span><strong>Key takeaways for caregivers:<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is good for children to identify the emotions of others in conversations with caregivers because it scaffolds their ability to identify others\u2019 emotions on their own.<\/li>\n<li>Children who use more emotion talk in parent-child conversations about emotions are more likely to have higher <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/social-emotional-development-2\/\">emotion knowledge<\/a> one year later.<\/li>\n<li>Parents can help younger preschoolers use more emotion talk by modelling it themselves. For example, a parent might say, \u201cShe is sad because she dropped her ice cream.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Parents can help younger and older preschoolers use more emotion talk by asking questions during shared book reading. For example, a parent could ask, \u201cWhy is that child crying?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_can_parents_support_childrens_early_emotional_development\"><\/span><strong>How can parents support children\u2019s early emotional development?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Understanding emotions is a fundamental component of healthy social adjustment. Children express a wide variety of emotions in their first years of life. But how do they learn to identify others\u2019 emotions, including the causes of emotions?<\/p>\n<p>Do they do so by observing a parent label someone\u2019s smile, frown, or grimace? Or do children thrive more when asked questions that help them talk more about emotions? These questions highlight ongoing public interest in giving parents tools to help improve their <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/social-emotional-development\/\">children\u2019s emotional development<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Understanding emotions is a fundamental component of healthy social adjustment.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We conducted <a href=\"https:\/\/srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/cdev.13960\">a multi-visit, multi-year study<\/a> to address this very question: How do parents\u2019 emotion talk and question-asking behaviors relate to children\u2019s emotional development?<\/p>\n<p>We focused on these effects during the transition from preschool to kindergarten because emotion understanding in kindergarten is related to healthy social adjustment throughout the school years.<\/p>\n<p>We explored emotional development through both children\u2019s own emotion talk during shared book reading and measures of their emotion knowledge. Knowing about these connections can help caregivers strategize during discussions with their children.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20703\" style=\"width: 970px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20703\" class=\"wp-image-20703 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/father-daughter_SKZCNKBVVT.jpg\" alt=\"Child reading with father on the sofa.\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/father-daughter_SKZCNKBVVT.jpg 960w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/father-daughter_SKZCNKBVVT-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/father-daughter_SKZCNKBVVT-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/father-daughter_SKZCNKBVVT-356x237.jpg 356w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/father-daughter_SKZCNKBVVT-700x467.jpg 700w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/father-daughter_SKZCNKBVVT-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20703\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stocksnap.io\/photo\/father-daughter-SKZCNKBVVT\">Photo<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/stocksnap.io\/author\/familyfirst\">Family First<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/stocksnap.io\">StockSnap<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Studying_childrens_emotional_development_in_the_home\"><\/span><strong>Studying children\u2019s emotional development in the home<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Our study suggests that parents and children play different roles in children\u2019s acquisition of emotion understanding. We visited the homes of 256 children and parents who were part of a nationally representative sample from the United States yearly for three years, starting when the children were two and a half years old.<\/p>\n<h3>First &amp; second year visit observations<\/h3>\n<p>In the first- and second-year visits, we observed parents and children discussing a picture book that depicted several animated characters expressing an emotion in response to a situation, such as being sad after dropping an ice cream cone in the dirt.<\/p>\n<p>We wanted to explore both parents\u2019 and children\u2019s emotion talk, including emotion labels, emotion causes, and references to the character experiencing the emotion.<\/p>\n<p>We transcribed parent-child conversations and used a computer algorithm to separately document parents\u2019 and children\u2019s emotion talk. We also coded the number of causal questions (e.g., why does she feel sad?) and knowledge-based questions (e.g., did she drop her ice cream cone?) parents asked during the discussion.<\/p>\n<h3>Second &amp; third year visit observations<\/h3>\n<p>In the second- and third-year visits, we evaluated children\u2019s emotion knowledge, or the ability to correctly identify emotions and their causes, using a series of puppet shows.<\/p>\n<p>Prior research has shown that children\u2019s emotion knowledge in the preschool years is positively related to healthy outcomes in the later school years, such as early school adjustment and academic success.<\/p>\n<h3>Unique influence of parents&#8217; and children&#8217;s behaviors<\/h3>\n<p>In short, we wanted to see what parent and child behaviors during shared book reading might be related to children\u2019s higher scores on an emotion knowledge task. Again, we focused on parents\u2019 and children\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/emotions-shape-caring-toddler\/\">emotion talk<\/a> and parents\u2019 question asking.<\/p>\n<p>We also collected information on several child and family characteristics related to children\u2019s emotional development, including <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/learning-stimulation-home-academic-achievement\/\">families\u2019 annual income<\/a>, parents\u2019 highest level of education, children\u2019s gender, and a measure of children\u2019s general <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/infant-language-learning-needs-parents-not-tablets\/\">language development<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It was vital to the integrity of our study to account for these variables in our analyses so we could identify the unique influences of parents\u2019 and children\u2019s behaviors in children\u2019s developing emotion understanding.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mceTemp\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_20734\" style=\"width: 2010px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20734\" class=\"wp-image-20734 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o.jpg\" alt=\"Child reading with mother on a bench outside.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o-356x238.jpg 356w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o-700x467.jpg 700w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/48479379986_4987a92176_o-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20734\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo from Flickr. Creative Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Finding_1_Parents_question_asking_was_consistently_related_to_preschoolers_emotion_talk_in_early_childhood\"><\/span><strong>Finding # 1: Parents\u2019 question asking was consistently related to preschoolers\u2019 emotion talk in early childhood<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>At all our visits, parents who asked more questions relative to other parents had children who used more emotion talk.<\/p>\n<p>At the first visit (when children were two and a half years old), we also found that parents who used more emotion talk relative to other parents had children who also used more emotion talk; however, at ages three and a half and four and a half, children\u2019s emotion talk was no longer related to their parents\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>What does this mean?<\/p>\n<p>Children at a younger age may benefit from seeing their parent label and identify the causes of emotions; however, a year later, children whose parents used more emotion talk than other parents did not use any more emotion talk than their same-age peers. At these older ages, only parents\u2019 frequency of questions related to children\u2019s emotion talk.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>These findings also underscore the possibility that the ideal outcome of a parent-child conversation about emotions is a child\u2019s own production of emotion talk because this is a significant driver of later developing emotion knowledge.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These findings suggest that parents\u2019 questions may be an effective way to elicit emotion talk across early childhood. In contrast, parents of older toddlers (three-and-a-half-year-olds) may want to reduce their focus on using emotion labelling themselves since that might no longer be as effective.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Finding_2_Childrens_participation_in_shared_book_reading_drove_their_emotional_development_across_early_childhood\"><\/span><strong>Finding # 2: Children\u2019s participation in shared book reading drove their emotional development across early childhood<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>We also found that children\u2019s own emotion talk in shared book reading at age three and a half was positively related to their emotion knowledge in the same year and a year later.<\/p>\n<p>Children\u2019s emotion knowledge was not correlated with parents\u2019 emotion talk and questions. These findings suggest that children\u2019s participation in parent-child discussions of emotions is crucial to their emotional development.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion_Parents_engagement_in_emotion_talk_and_asking_questions_may_support_their_childrens_emotional_development\"><\/span><strong>Conclusion: Parents\u2019 engagement in emotion talk and asking questions may support their children\u2019s emotional development<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_20733\" style=\"width: 2570px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20733\" class=\"wp-image-20733 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Child reading with father in a tent.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-356x237.jpg 356w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-700x467.jpg 700w, https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/StockSnap_IUBIUBGI5Z-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20733\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stocksnap.io\/photo\/father-son-IUBIUBGI5Z\">Photo<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/stocksnap.io\/author\/directmedia\">Direct Media<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/stocksnap.io\">StockSnap<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Our findings highlight the different roles parents and children play in children\u2019s emotional development and identify possible parenting strategies.<\/p>\n<p>Parents who engaged younger and older preschoolers in emotion conversations by asking questions seemed to have children who engaged in more emotion talk, whereas parents\u2019 own emotion talk in such <a href=\"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/benefits-of-conversations-with-toddlers\">conversations was positively related<\/a> only to younger (not older) preschoolers\u2019 emotion talk.<\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion #1: Children&#8217;s own production of emotion talk in parent-child conversations is crucial<\/h3>\n<p>Regarding children\u2019s emotion knowledge, the story is more nuanced. Children\u2019s emotion knowledge in kindergarten was predicted only by children\u2019s emotion talk in preschool rather than by parents\u2019 emotion talk or questions.<\/p>\n<p>These results suggest that children\u2019s own production of emotion talk in parent-child conversations is crucial to their ability to identify emotions on their own, without parental assistance.<\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion #2: One ideal outcome of a parent-child conversation may be a child\u2019s own production of emotion talk<\/h3>\n<p>These findings also underscore the possibility that the ideal outcome of a parent-child conversation about emotions is a child\u2019s own production of emotion talk because this is a significant driver of later developing emotion knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>Such production is most likely fostered by parents\u2019 questions (e.g., \u201cwhy does she feel sad?\u201d) for preschoolers of all ages, whereas younger children might need additional scaffolding from parents in the form of parents&#8217; emotion talk (e.g., \u201cshe feels sad because she dropped her ice cream in the dirt\u201d).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key takeaways for caregivers: It is good for children to identify the emotions of others in conversations with caregivers because it scaffolds their ability to identify others\u2019 emotions on their own. Children who use more emotion talk in parent-child conversations about emotions are more likely to have higher emotion knowledge one year later. Parents can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":20681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[438],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20680"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21368,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20680\/revisions\/21368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childandfamilyblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}