Peer social status and children's understanding of the expression and control of positive and negative emotions

Effects of age, gender, and peer social status on children's understanding of the regulation of positive and negative emotions were investigated. Participants (second-, forth-, and sixth-graders) completed a Social Emotions Questionnaire (SEQ) and responded to sociometric items. The SEQ has six vignettes describing emotion-provoking classroom situations: happiness, pride, sadness, disappointment, embarrassment, and anger. Results showed that, as predicted, children reported that they would less openly express negative emotions. Children's views of peer reactions to emotional expressions depended on the type of emotion and the particular form of expression. Across emotions and forms of expression, girls anticipated more negative reactions from peers than boys, and rejected children expected more negative peer consequences than average or popular children.