Children's Anger And Sadness Disposition And Its Relationship To Peer Acceptance

Background: Anger and sadness as two basic negative emotions play an important role in children's social development. Anger is self-focused while sadness is other-focused (Kitayama, 2000). Anger gives threat to recipient and is associated with other-blame, while sadness is threat reducing, and associated with self-blame (Jenkins, 2000; Martini, 2004). Systematically individual difference of emotional understanding and expression maybe found in the same situations, and they are considered as anger or sadness disposition. Eisenberg (2001) indicated children's anger and sadness disposition could predict their different social functioning.Method: Using the methods of clinical interview, questionnaire, and sociometrics, this study sought to explore children's anger and sadness disposition and its relationship to peer acceptance. There were four studies: (1) In study 1, 120 46 to 81 months children's anger and sadness disposition were reported by their mothers, and their peer acceptance were assessed by their classmates. (2) In study 2,120 children were asked to identify the emotion of the protagonist in 22 hypothetical situations selected from western studies. (3) In study 3, 116 children were asked to select one from the two fictitious peers with anger or sadness disposition in ambiguous anger-sadness situations and to explain their reasons. (4) In study 4, 116 children were asked to predict the consequences of anger and sadness from recipients.Results: (1) Some children with anger disposition were found. (2) Some children with anger or sadness understanding disposition were found. 11 emotional situations were assessed as ambiguous anger-sadness ones. The emotion of the protagonist in 9 situations identified by our children was different from the one in Western studies. The older children (M=75.23±3.67 months) reported more sadness than the younger children (M=51.58±3.29 months) in theme of loss situations. (3) Children reported more preference to the fictitious peer with sadness disposition than the one with anger disposition, especially in older children and the children with sadness understanding disposition and average disposition. Children who preferred to the peer with sadness disposition paid more attention to others than to themselves in their self-reported preferential reasons. (4) Children believed anger elicited more distance, but sadness elicited more goal reinstatement, apology and proximity.Conclusions and implications: Children cognitively preferred peer with sadness disposition to the one with anger disposition in ambiguous anger-sadness situations. Children's understanding of the consequences of anger and sadness further confirm this preference. The findings suggest children with anger disposition may be more rejected by pees than the ones with sadness disposition. Future research and interventions about children with anger or sadness disposition will be proposed.