Children's emotion-specific strategy use emerges for autobiographical events but not hypothetical stories, suggesting personal experience supports flexible regulation¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Strategy reports differed by emotion in Study 2 (autobiographical events) but not in Study 1 (hypothetical stories), which the authors attribute to children drawing on richer personal experience. → Davis 2010

Evidence¶

Davis 2010¶

Davis, E. L., Levine, L. J., Lench, H. C., & Quas, J. A. (2010). Metacognitive Emotion Regulation: Children’s Awareness that Changing Thoughts and Goals Can Alleviate Negative Emotions. Emotion, 10(4), 498–510. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018428

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Cross-study comparison: Study 1 (hypothetical narratives, N = 80) found no emotion differences in strategies, whereas Study 2 (autobiographical recall, N = 92) found significant emotion × strategy effects. The article states "In Study 2, children’s reports of emotion regulation strategies did differ depending on whether they were describing their own experiences."

"In Study 2, children’s reports of emotion regulation strategies did differ depending on whether they were describing their own experiences of sadness, anger, or fear."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• In hypothetical scenarios, 5- and 6-year-olds most often suggest goal reinstatement and goal substitution, and their strategies do not differ for sadness versus anger — related
• Children tailor metacognitive strategy type to emotion: changing goals most for sadness, changing thoughts most for fear — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• When recalling their own experiences, 5- and 6-year-olds use metacognitive strategies more to alleviate sadness and fear than anger — related
• A majority of 5- and 6-year-olds can describe metacognitive emotion regulation strategies when asked about familiar hypothetical situations with multiple prompts — related
• Five- and six-year-olds describe changing thoughts more often than changing goals as a metacognitive strategy — related