Semiannual Publication
Abstract
Emotional competence is a combination of emotional knowledge and emotion regulation skills. A remarkable body of research revealed that emotional competence develops through childhood. This study aims to investigate the possible facilitatory role of an educational program named Preschoolers' Affect Recognition Training (PART) on emotional competence. With the help of culture-based illustrations, PART utilizes emotion coaching, group activities, and mindfulness techniques in plays. In a pretest-posttest design, 95 children (Girls = 48), aged 3-6 (M = 4.22, SD = 0.73) participated in this study. The experimental group received 10 one-hour sessions across five weeks with a random assignment. We used the Affect Knowledge Test and the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment as behavioural measures. The experimental group showed an improvement in emotional knowledge, F(1, 90) = 444.43, p < .001, emotion regulation, F(1, 92) = 5715.08, p < .001, and inhibitory control, F(1, 92) = 16.06, p < .001, compared to the control group (p < .001). Results suggest that PART has facilitatory effects on children's emotional knowledge and emotion regulation.
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