CHILDRENS EMOTIONS AS ORGANIZERS OF THEIR REACTIONS TO INTERADULT ANGER - A FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE

Children's emotions have been implicated as mediating their responses to interadult anger, but this proposition has not been directly tested. Sixty-four 4-8-year-olds (32 boys and 32 girls) were induced to feel angry, sad, happy, or ''just okay'' before their exposure to interadult anger. Data were analyzed by means of (a) analyses of variance testing differences across conditions and (b) correlations between children's emotions during affect induction procedures and their reactions to interadult anger. Findings indicated that negative emotions increased children's distress and negative appraisals and expectations in reaction to interadult anger, whereas positive emotions reduced distress reactions and increased children's positive expectations about future interadult interactions. The results support a functionalist view that emotions can play a causal role in organizing and directing children's reactions to events and are consistent with research and theory highlighting the role of emotionality in children's coping with marital conflict.