The Impact of Parent–child Relationships on Preschoolers' Emotional Expression and Emotional Regulation

Jiayi Zhang

doi:10.54097/61d5kr52

Authors

Jiayi Zhang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/61d5kr52

Keywords:

Parent–child relationship; Preschool children; Emotional expression; Emotional regulation; Early childhood education.

Abstract

The preschool stage is a key period for the rapid development of children’s emotional abilities. As the earliest and most central socialization area, the parent–child relationship plays an important role in the development of emotional expression and regulation. This paper, based on empirical studies from the past ten years, reviews and compares findings from multiple perspectives, including parenting styles, emotional socialization strategies, emotional language communication, and co-parenting. The results show that warm, stable, and responsive parent–child interactions can significantly enhance the richness and appropriateness of children’s emotional expression and indirectly strengthen emotional regulation by promoting self-control and improving the quality of peer interactions. In contrast, distant interactions or frequent conflicts are likely to limit emotional recognition and cause regulation difficulties. According to these findings, several suggestions are put forward, including improving the family emotional climate, balancing support and discipline, strengthening family–kindergarten cooperation, and paying attention to high-risk families. This study constructs a framework to explain how preschool children acquire emotional competencies. It also gives some suggestions for family education and early childhood teaching.

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References

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