Role of preschoolers’ apprasials and parental responses towards preschoolers’ misbehavior in preschoolers’ development

• Main Author: Lim, Tony Zhao Ming
• Other Authors: Qu Li
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65054
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The study explores 1) the efficacy of a stress manipulation, 2) the relations among stress, appraisals, mood and executive function and 3) the relations among parental responses towards preschoolers’ misbehavior, preschoolers’ behavior problems and preschoolers’ coping styles. One hundred and seven preschoolers were divided into four conditions and went through a) coloring, b) a novel stress manipulation with no appraisal manipulations, c) the stress manipulation with positive appraisal manipulations or d) the stress manipulation with negative appraisal manipulations. Mood and executive function were tested before and after the event. Additionally, parents of these children completed questionnaires on parental responses to children’s misbehavior, preschoolers’ coping styles and preschoolers’ problem behaviors. Results showed that 1) the stress manipulation was effective, 2) preschoolers’ appraisals mediated the relations between appraisal manipulations with mood and executive function respectively, and 3) mediated by preschoolers’ coping styles, negative parental responses were associated with children’s aggression, anxiety/depressive symptoms, emotional reactivity and somatic complaints respectively. The findings suggest that further research should be carried out on preschoolers’ appraisals and parental responses to better understand the impact of preschoolers’ appraisals on the effects of stress and parental responses on the relations between preschoolers’ coping styles and their preschoolers’ behavior problems.