Keep Calm and Carry on: The importance of children’s emotional positivity and regulation for success in Head Start

Abstract

Young children’s emotional competence plays a significant role in their ability to thrive in school. Specifically, the ability to regulate their emotions according to situational demands, while remaining emotionally positive towards others, are very important contributors to children’s social success (Denham, Brown, & Domitrovich, 2010; Halberstadt, Denham, & Dunsmore, 2001; Raver, Garner, & Smith-Donald, 2007). These skills are particularly important for children in Head Start programs who already demonstrate a significant achievement gap as early as kindergarten (e.g., Campbell & Stauffenberg, 2008; Raver & Knitzer, 2002; Ryan, Fauth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2006). In light of these findings, the present study focused on the relations between positive emotion/engagement and emotion regulation of Head Start preschoolers and both their school adjustment and academic readiness during Head Start and in kindergarten.

The social emotional skills of children attending Head Start programs were observed and directly assessed, and their teachers provided information regarding via questionnaires. The results indicated that emotion regulation and positive emotion/engagement observed during challenging regulatory tasks were related in interpretable ways with both behavior with peers and school success. Nevertheless, being positive emotionally and socially during these emotionally taxing situations was associated with poorer self-regulation under these circumstances. Implications for practice in terms of assessment, social-emotional teaching and teachers’ emotional competence are discussed.