Criteria for evaluating the significance of developmental research in the twenty-first century: force and counterforce

Since its birth approximately 100 years ago, the field of child development has undergone fluctuations in the criteria used to determine which research topics are more or less worthy of study. The purpose of this paper is to identify the forces that influence how developmental research is prioritized and evaluated and how these influences are changing as we enter the new millennium. We do so by considering the developmental researcher in context and suggest that there will be increasing pressure to use new criteria when assessing the significance of twenty-first-century developmental science. We review the three most commonly used forms of research validity--internal, external, and ecological--and then identify new research validities that we believe are likely to play increasingly important roles in the next millennium. We also argue that many developmental scientists will increasingly be pressured by forces that are external to the traditional research environment and that these forces will shape the ways in which the significance of developmental research is evaluated.     

Preschoolers' Spontaneous Emotion Vocabulary: Relations to Likability

Although there has been growing interest in the development of emotion, a surprisingly small amount of research deals with the vocabulary children use to refer to emotions. In the present study, we examined differences in children's spontaneous use of emotion vocabulary during their naturally-occurring peer interactions and explored these differences in relation to their likability as assessed by their peers. Preschoolers were observed in their interactions with other children and their utterances containing emotion words were recorded. The content, form, and pragmatic function of these emotion words then were analyzed. It was found that with increasing age, emotion vocabulary became more differentiated and complex. Moreover, children who used a larger number of different emotion words, made more references to others' emotional states, and used emotion vocabulary for social functions, were more liked by their peers. Discussion focused on understanding young children's use of emotion vocabulary, the contributions it makes to the quality of their social interactions, and the implications of these for early educators.     

The Relations of Emotionality and Regulation to Preschoolers' Social Skills and Sociometric Status

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of emotionality (intensity and negative emotion) and regulation (coping and attentional regulation) to preschoolers' social skills (as rated by adults) and sociometric status. Teachers' ratings of children's constructive coping and attentional control were positively related to boys' social skills and peer status, whereas negative affect was negatively related. Acting out (vs. avoidant) coping and emotional intensity were negatively related to girls' and boys' social skills and boys' peer status. In addition, mothers' reports of boys' coping by seeking social support and low emotional intensity were associated with boys' positive social functioning, whereas avoidant coping was positively related to girls' rated social skills. The results are discussed in relation to research on emotion regulation and coping with emotion in interpersonal contexts.