Skip to main content
Log in

Emotion Regulation and Aggressive Behavior in Preschoolers: The Mediating Role of Social Information Processing

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examined whether the relation between maladaptive emotion regulation and aggression was mediated by deviant social information processing (SIP). Participants were 193 preschool children. Emotion regulation and aggression were rated by teachers. Deviant SIP (i.e., attribution of hostile intent, aggressive response generation, aggressive response evaluation and decision) was measured from children’s responses to hypothetical social conflicts. Findings revealed that the relation between maladaptive emotion regulation and aggression was direct and not mediated by SIP biases (i.e., aggressive response generation, aggressive response evaluation and decision). Results are discussed from a theoretical and methodological perspective.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Furniss T, Beyer T, Guggenmos J (2006) Prevalence of behavioural and emotional problems among six-years-old preschool children. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 41:394–399

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Petermann F, Helmsen J, Koglin U (2010) Expansive Verhaltensstörungen [Disruptive disorders]. Monatsschr Kinderheilkd 158:22–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, Ridder EM (2005) Show me the child at seven: the consequences of conduct problems in childhood for psychosocial functioning in adulthood. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 46:837–849

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kim-Cohen J, Arseneault L, Caspi A, Polo Tomás M, Taylor A, Moffitt TE (2005) Validity of DSM-IV conduct disorder in 4, 5–5 year-old children: a longitudinal epidemiology study. Am J Psychiat 162:1108–1117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Dodge KA, Coie JD, Lynam D (2006) Aggression and antisocial behavior. In: Damon W, Lerner R, Eisenberg N (eds) Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development. Wiley, New York, pp 719–788

    Google Scholar 

  6. Crick NR, Grotpeter JK (1995) Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Dev 66:710–722

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Crick NR, Casas JF, Mosher M (1997) Relational and overt aggression in preschool. Dev Psychol 33:579–588

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Crick NR, Dodge KA (1994) A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychol Bulletin 115:74–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lemerise EA, Arsenio WF (2000) An integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing. Child Dev 71:107–118

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Eisenberg N, Spinrad TL (2004) Emotion-related regulation: sharpening the definition. Child Dev 75:334–339

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Thompson RA (1994) Emotion regulation: a theme in search of definition. In: Fox NA (ed) The development of emotion regulation: biological and behavioral considerations. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 59:25–52

  12. Baron RM, Kenny DA (1986) The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc Psychol 51:1173–1182

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Kopp CB (1989) Regulation of distress and negative emotions: a developmental view. Dev Psychol 25:343–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Cole PM, Hall SE (2008) Emotion dysregulation as a risk factor for psychopathology. In: Beauchaine TP, Hinshaw SP (eds) Child and adolescent psychopathology. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, pp 265–298

    Google Scholar 

  15. Eisenberg N, Spinrad TL, Fabes RA, Reiser M, Cumberland A, Shepard SA et al (2004) The relations of effortful control and impulsivity to children’s resiliency and adjustment. Child Dev 75:25–46

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Koglin U, Petermann F (2004) Das Konzept der Inhibition in der Psychopathologie [The concept of inhibition in psychopathology]. Z Klin Psychol Psychiatr Psychother 52:91–117

    Google Scholar 

  17. Liew J, Eisenberg N, Reiser M (2004) Preschoolers’ effortful control and negative emotionality, immediate reactions to disappointment, and quality of social functioning. J Exp Child Psychol 89:298–319

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Rydell AM, Berlin L, Bohlin G (2003) Emotionality, emotion regulation, and adaptation among 5- to 8-year-old children. Emotion 3:30–47

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Gilliom M, Shaw DS, Beck JE, Schonberg MA, Lukon JL (2002) Anger regulation in disadvantaged preschool boys: strategies, antecedents, and the development of self-control. Dev Psychol 38:222–235

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Gouze KR (1987) Attention and social problem solving as correlates of aggression in preschool males. J Abnorm Child Psych 15:181–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Orobio de Castro B, Veerman JW, Koops W, Bosch JD, Monshouwer HJ (2002) Hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior: a meta-analysis. Child Dev 73:916–934

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Runions KC, Keating DP (2007) Young children’s social information processing: family antecedents and behavioral correlates. Dev Psychol 43:838–849

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Coy K, Speltz ML, DeKlyen M, Jones K (2001) Social-cognitive processes in preschool boys with and without oppositional defiant disorder. J Abnorm Child Psych 29:107–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Green VA, Cillessen AHN, Rechis R, Patterson MM, Hughes JM (2008) Social problem solving and strategy use in young children. J Genet Psychol 169:92–112

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Lerner JS, Keltner D (2000) Beyond valence: toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice. Cogn Emot 14:473–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Tittmann M, Rudolph U (2007) Aggressives Verhalten und soziometrischer Status bei Kindern im Vorschulalter. Verantwortlichkeitszuschreibungen und Emotionen bei Kindern (SAVE) [Aggressive behavior and sociometric status of preschool children: validation of an exercise to ascertain attribution of responsibility and emotion in children (SAVE)]. Z Entwickl Paedagogis 39:177–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Denham SA, Bouril B, Belouad F (1994) Preschoolers’ affect and cognition about challenging peer situations. Child Study J 24:1–21

    Google Scholar 

  28. Orobio de Castro B, Merk W, Koops W, Veerman JW, Bosch JD (2005) Emotions in social information processing and their relations with reactive and proactive aggression in referred aggressive boys. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 34:105–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Van Nieuwenhuijzen M, Orobio de Castro B, van Aken MAG, Matthys W (2009) Impulse control and aggressive response generation as predictors of aggressive behaviour in children with mild intellectual disabilities and borderline intelligence. J Intellect Disabil Res 53:233–242

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Musher-Eizenman DR, Boxer P, Danner S, Dubow EF, Goldstein SE, Heretick DML (2004) Social-cognitive mediators of the regulation of environmental and emotion regulation factors to children’s aggression. Aggressive Behav 30:389–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Crozier JC, Dodge KA, Fontaine RG, Lansford JE, Bates JE, Pettit GS et al (2008) Social information processing and cardiac predictors of adolescent antisocial behavior. J Abnorm Psychol 117:253–267

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Juliano M, Werner R, Wright Cassidy K (2006) Early correlates of preschool aggressive behavior according to type of aggression and measurement. J Appl Dev Psychol 27:395–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Ostrov JM, Keating CF (2004) Gender differences in preschool aggression during free play and structured interactions: an overservational study. Soc Dev 13:255–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Wellman HM, Cross D, Watson J (2001) Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: the truth about false belief. Child Dev 72:655–684

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Statistisches Bundesamt (2009) Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit: Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund. Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2007 [Population and employment: population with a migration background. Results of the micro census 2007]. Wiesbaden

  36. Putnam SP, Rothbart MK (2006) Development of short and very short forms of the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire. J Pers Assess 87:102–112

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Hagekull B, Bohlin G (2004) Predictors of middle childhood psychosomatic problems: an emotion regulation approach. Infant Child Dev 13:389–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Petermann F, Koglin U, Natzke H, Marées N (2005) Kinderinterview zu sozialen Situationen [Child interview about social situations]. University Bremen, Bremen Unpublished manuscript

    Google Scholar 

  39. Dodge KA, Lansford JE, Salzer Burks V, Bates JE, Pettit GS, Fontaine R et al (2003) Peer rejection and social information-processing factors in the development of aggressive behavior problems in children. Child Dev 74:374–393

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Harter S, Pike R (1984) The pictorial scale of perceived competence and social acceptance for young children. Child Dev 55:1969–1982

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2004) SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behav Res Meth Ins C 36:717–731

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Kline RB (2005) Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed). Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  43. Webster-Stratton C, Lindsay DW (1999) Social competence and conduct problems in young children: issues in assessment. J Clin Child Psychol 28:25–43

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Costanzo PR, Dix TH (1983) Beyond the information processed: socialization in the development of attributional processes. In: Higgins ET, Ruble DN, Hartup WW (eds) Social cognition and social development: a sociocultural perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 63–81

    Google Scholar 

  45. Fontaine RG, Dodge KA (2006) Real-time decision making and aggressive behavior in youth: a heuristic model of response evaluation and decision (RED). Aggressive Behav 32:604–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Orobio de Castro B (2004) The development of social information processing and aggressive behaviour: current issues. Eur J Dev Psychol 1:87–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Forgas JP (1995) Mood and judgement: the affect infusion model (AIM). Psychol Bull 117:39–66

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Dodge KA, Somberg DR (1987) Hostile attributional biases among aggressive boys are exacerbated under conditions of threats to the self. Child Dev 58:213–224

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Koglin U, Petermann F (2006) Verhaltenstherapeutisches Förderprogramm im Kindergarten [Behavioral therapy program in kindergarten]. Verhaltenstherapie Kind Jugendl 2:87–95

    Google Scholar 

  50. Webster-Stratton C, Reid MJ (2003) Treating conduct problems and strengthening social emotional competence in young children (ages 4–8 years): the Dina Dinosaur treatment program. J Emot Behav Disord 11:130–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Koglin U, Petermann F (2011) The effectiveness of the behavioural training for preschool children. Eur Early Child Educ Rs J 19:97–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Webster-Stratton C, Reid MJ, Stoolmiller M (2008) Preventing conduct problems and improving school readiness: evaluation of the incredible years teacher and child training programs in high-risk schools. J Child Psychol Psyc 49:471–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Dodge KA, Laird R, Lochman JE, Zelli A (2002) Multidimensional latent-construct analysis of children’s social information processing patterns: correlations with aggressive behavior problems. Psychol Assessment 14:60–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Lansford JE, Malone PS, Dodge KA, Crozier JC, Pettit GS, Bates JE (2006) A 12-year prospective study of patterns of social information processing problems and externalizing behaviors. J Abnorm Child Psych 34:715–724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Tremblay RE (2010) Developmental origins of disruptive behavior problems: the ‘original sin’ hypothesis, epigenetics and their consequences for prevention. J Child Psychol Psyc 51:341–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Crick NR, Grotpeter JK, Bigbee MA (2002) Relationally and physically aggressive children’s intent attributions and feelings of distress for relational and instrumental peer provocations. Child Dev 73:1134–1142

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Crick NR, Werner NE (1998) Response decision processes in relational and overt aggression. Child Dev 69:1630–1639

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Petermann F, Kullik A (2011) Frühe Emotionsdysregulation: Ein Indikator für psychische Störungen im Kindesalter? [Early emotion dysregulation: an indicator for mental disorders in childhood?]. Kindh Entwickl 20:186–196

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Johanna Helmsen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Helmsen, J., Koglin, U. & Petermann, F. Emotion Regulation and Aggressive Behavior in Preschoolers: The Mediating Role of Social Information Processing. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 43, 87–101 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-011-0252-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-011-0252-3

Keywords

Navigation