Discusses research on the role of individual differences in emotionality and regulation in empathy-related responding (sympathy and personal distress). Links sympathy to intense emotionality and high regulation. Empathy-related responding is better predicted by a combination of emotionality and regulation than by either separately. Examples are…

Concurrent and longitudinal relations among parental emotional expressivity, children's sympathy and children's prosocial behavior were assessed with correlations and structural equation modeling when the children were 55-97 months old (N = 214; M age = 73 months, SD = 9.59) and eight years later (N = 130; ages 150-195 months old, M = 171 months,…

In this study, in which triads of children were filmed while they played with a toy, the relation between (1) preschoolers' emotional status and (2) their performance and receipt of prosocial behaviors was examined. (PCB)

Study of third- through sixth-grade children's prosocial behavior based on peer nominations found that children with prosocial reputations tended to be high in constructive social skills and attentional regulation, and low in negative emotionality. The relations of children's negative emotionality to prosocial reputation were moderated by level of…

Investigates developmental change and gender differences in sympathy and personal distress reactions in children. Examines interrelations among indexes used to assess sympathy and personal distress. (PCB)

Cole, Martin, and Dennis (this issue) considered many important conceptual and methodological issues in their discussion of emotion regulation. Although it may be necessary to develop an integrated definition of the construct of emotion regulation, the definition provided in the Cole et al. article is too encompassing. It is important to…

Emotion-related regulation is a topic of considerable current interest; however, this was not always true. We briefly discuss the history of interest in the topic and then the current state of the field, including definitions of the construct. In addition, we summarize some of the important issues for future attention, including definitional…

This longitudinal study examined relations between self-reported parental reactions to children's negative emotions (PNRs) and children's socially appropriate/problem behavior and negative emotionality. Evidence was consistent with the conclusion that relationship between children's externalizing, but not internalizing, emotion and parental…

Relations among effortful control/low negative emotionality, immediate reactions in a situation that usually calls for the masking of disappointment (i.e., the use of display rules), and social competence/adjustment were investigated for 78 preschool children (mean age=4.87 years). Parents, teachers, and peers rated children on negative…

Examined the relations of teachers' and parents' reports of children's shyness at ages 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 years to dispositional regulation, emotionality, and coping. The overall pattern of findings was partially consistent with the conclusion that parent-rated shyness reflected primarily social wariness with unfamiliar people, whereas…

In this study, the linear and interactive relations of children's effortful control and parents' emotional expressivity to children's empathy-related responses were examined. Participants were 214 children, 4.5 to 8 years old. Children's effortful control was negatively related to their personal distress and was positively related to their…

Examined multiple measures of 82 young children's emotionality, regulation, and social functioning over a 2-year period, finding that social functioning was predicted by low negative emotionality and high levels of regulation. Also found that vagal tone was positively related to competent social functioning and emotionality/regulation for boys,…

Examined relations of maternal characteristics and child-rearing practices and children's vicarious emotional responses to kindergartners' and third graders' comforting of a crying infant. Found that children's emotional states were related to their comforting behavior, and girls' comforting and helping behaviors were related to several maternal…

Data regarding individual differences in children's regulation, emotionality, quality of socioemotional functioning, and shyness were obtained from teachers and peers for 112 Indonesian 6th graders. Similar data (plus parents' reports) also were collected when these children were in 3rd grade. For boys, regulation and low negative emotionality…

The social functioning of 64 young adolescents (10- to 12-year olds) was examined in relation to negative emotionality and regulation during early adolescence, as well as two, four, and six years earlier. Young adolescents who were viewed as relatively high in social functioning (i.e., high teacher-rated school social competence; low mother- or…