19.3: Emotional Development and Challenges
- Page ID
- 247165
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- Differentiate between internalizing and externalizing emotional challenges in children.
In middle childhood, children become increasingly skilled at identifying and managing emotions in ways that align with cultural expectations. They understand when and how it is acceptable to express emotions such as fear, sadness, and anger, and they begin to regulate these emotions more independently (Thompson & Meyer, 2007).
By this age, most children can adjust their emotional responses based on social context—for example, remaining calm in class even when frustrated or showing empathy when a peer is upset. Cultural norms strongly influence how emotions are expressed and interpreted, and children learn to follow these patterns to fit in with peers and meet adult expectations (Saarni, 1999).
While emotional regulation improves during this stage, some children experience difficulties that lead to more persistent emotional challenges. These challenges are often described as internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression) or externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, defiance) (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). These types of behaviors may result from the kinds of adverse childhood experiences you read about in Chapter 16, Section 8, or there could be other influences impacting the social and emotional development of the school-age child. In the following sections, we will examine common emotional concerns in middle childhood: fear and anxiety, sadness and depression, and anger and aggression.
References, Contributors and Attributions
Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families.
Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. Guilford Press.
Thompson, R. A., & Meyer, S. (2007). Socialization of emotion regulation in the family. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 249–268). Guilford Press.