Emotion attributions, behavioral functioning, and sociometric status

Researchers know little about the emotional competencies of young children at risk for later emotional and behavioral disturbance. The present study examined the emotion attributions of 184 middle-class, rural, predominantly European-American first- and second-grade children on an emotion recognition task. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis found children's anger attribution bias to predict their levels of aggression. Contrary to prediction, emotion attribution accuracy did not predict levels of social withdrawal. Analyses of covariance examined the emotion attributions of children grouped according to their sociometric status. Rejected girls and neglected boys attributed anger to hypothetical peers significantly more than their average classmates. Sociometric groups did not differ in the accuracy of their emotion attributions. Results suggest that young children's tendencies to attribute anger to others incorrectly has negative consequences for their social adjustment.