Are Emotion Regulation Strategies Different among 3-6-Year-Old Aggressive Children? Evidence from China

Background: During the long-time home quarantine due to COVID-19, preschool-age children can be easily stricken by negative emotions, which give rise to aggressive behaviors. Aggressive behaviors are of different types at the preschool stage. We aimed to investigate the differences of emotion regulation strategies among children age 3-6 yr old with different aggression types and explore the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and aggressive behaviors.

Methods: The aggressive behaviors of 1,187 children sampled (event sampling method) from 5 kindergartens in five cities in Henan Province of China were observed on the spot in 2020. Three aggression types (i.e., physical, verbal, and indirect) were selected to conduct a questionnaire survey on emotion regulation strategies and discuss the differences among aggressive children in emotion regulation strategies.

Results: Children of different genders are significantly different in aggressive behaviors and problem solving, as well as children at different age levels in self-comfort, passive reaction, and negative regulation strategies. Significant interaction exists between gender and aggression but not in negative regulation strategy; significant interaction also exists between age and aggression but not in cognitive reconstruction, substitutive activity, and aggressive behavior. Significant differences exist among children of different aggression types in positive and negative regulation strategies. The discrimination accuracy of emotion regulation strategies for aggression types is 66.5%.

Conclusion: Significant differences exist among 3-6-yr-old aggressive children in emotion regulation strategies, and emotion regulation strategies can effectively distinguish aggressive children of different types.