Abstract

In early years, anger in children may cause aggressive behaviors. Previous studies show that the development of emotion regulation decreases anger and aggression in children. In this study, the mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between children's anger expression levels and their physical and relational aggression was investigated using structural equation modeling. The participants of the study consisted of 751 36- to 72-month old children living in Turkey (384 males, 50.7%; 367 females, 49.3%; average of age = 4.13; SD = .78). The data on anger-expressing levels and emotion-regulation skills of children were evaluated by their mothers, and the data on their physical and relational aggression levels were evaluated by their teachers. Expressions of anger indirectly predicted both physical aggression (β = .14, p < .01) and relational aggression (β = .10, p < .01) through emotion regulation significantly. The emotion regulation has the full mediator role in the relation between anger, physical, and relational aggression. The results further showed that children's feelings of anger may not turn into aggressive behavior, thus the study emphasizes the importance of supporting the development of emotion-regulation skills in the preschool period.

摘要

早年，孩子的愤怒可能会引起攻击行为。先前的研究表明，情绪调节的发展减少了儿童的愤怒和攻击性。在这项研究中，使用结构方程模型研究了情绪调节在儿童愤怒表达水平与其身体和关系侵略之间关系中的中介作用。该研究的参与者包括751个居住在土耳其的36至72个月大的儿童（384名男性，占50.7％； 367名女性，占49.3％；平均年龄= 4.13；SD = .78）。母亲评估了儿童的愤怒表达水平和情绪调节技能的数据，教师评估了他们的身体和关系攻击水平的数据。愤怒的表达 通过情绪调节间接地间接预测了身体的攻击性（β  = .14，p  <.01）和关系性的攻击性（β  = .10，p <.01）。情绪调节在愤怒，身体攻击和关系攻击之间的关系中具有完全的中介作用。结果进一步表明，儿童的愤怒情绪可能不会转变为攻击性行为，因此该研究强调了在学龄前支持发展情绪调节技能的重要性。