Janke Bettina
Pädagogische Hoshschule Heidelberg.
Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 2010;59(7):561-75. doi: 10.13109/prkk.2010.59.7.561.
Over the past decade several studies have demonstrated children's rich knowledge of emotions. In contrast, less is known about children's knowledge about strategies to regulate their own emotional states. While questionnaire data suggest a rather late development of strategies to regulate emotions, not beginning before middle childhood, theory-of-mind research suggests the possibility of an earlier development. The present study examines whether children from age three on are able to distinguish effective from ineffective strategies of emotion regulation. A total of 64 children (16 3-, 4,-5-, and 6-year-olds) were given six stories all depicting a child protagonist facing a fear-eliciting situation. For each story, two effective and two ineffective strategies were presented. The children's task was to judge whether the strategy would be helpful for not feeling scared. With the exception of the 3-year-olds, children of all age groups were better in understanding the mental strategies than the behavioral strategies. Thus, the results are in accordance with theory of mind research and indicate that recognizing effective behavioral and mental strategies begins to develop from three years onward.
在过去十年中，多项研究表明儿童对情绪有着丰富的认知。相比之下，我们对儿童关于调节自身情绪状态策略的了解较少。虽然问卷调查数据显示情绪调节策略的发展相当滞后，直到童年中期才开始，但心理理论研究表明其有可能更早发展。本研究考察了三岁及以上儿童是否能够区分有效的和无效的情绪调节策略。总共64名儿童（16名3岁、4岁、5岁和6岁儿童）被给予六个故事，所有故事都描绘了一个儿童主角面临引发恐惧的情境。对于每个故事，呈现了两种有效的和两种无效的策略。孩子们的任务是判断该策略是否有助于不感到害怕。除了3岁儿童外，所有年龄组的儿童在理解心理策略方面都比行为策略表现更好。因此，研究结果与心理理论研究一致，表明识别有效的行为和心理策略从三岁起就开始发展。
