Frequency and Intensity of Emotional Expressiveness and Preschool Children’s Peer Competence

Children’s emotional expressiveness with peers was examined as a predictor of social competence. Data were collected from 122 preschool children (57 boys, 65 girls; 86 European American, 9 African American, 17 Hispanic, and 10 other ethnicity) over a period of two years. Observations of children’s peer interactions in Year 1 were coded for frequency and intensity of happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Sociometric interviews and teacher ratings...