Building Preschool Children's Emotional Competence: A Parenting Program

Abstract

Poor emotional competence has been identified as a precursor to later social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in children. Aspects of parenting, including modeling, reactions to and coaching of children's emotions, have been associated with the development of emotional competence in children. In this paper, a parenting program with this theoretical basis is outlined and a pilot study of the program is presented. The six-session parenting program was delivered in preschool centers to 47 parents with a four or five year old child, and data were collected about parenting and children's functioning twice prior to program commencement, following program completion, and at three month follow-up. Pre and post program teacher assessments were also collected. Following the program parents reported that they were more encouraging of their children's emotional expression, used emotion-focused approaches more frequently in interactions with their children, and were less critical and dismissive of their children's emotional expression. Their children showed less emotional negativity and had significant reductions in difficult behaviors, especially those who had behavior problems prior to their parents' participation in the program. This program offers a promising approach to fostering the development of children's emotional competence and consequently enhancing social and behavioral functioning.