Children with Behavioural Problems Misinterpret the Emotions and Intentions of Others

Wells, Amy E, Hunnikin, Laura M, Ash, Daniel P ORCID: 0000-0002-7486-2127 and van Goozen, Stephanie H M (2020) Children with Behavioural Problems Misinterpret the Emotions and Intentions of Others. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 48. pp. 213-221. doi:10.1007/s10802-019-00594-7

Preview

Text (Peer Reviewed Version) 11175 Wells, Hunnikin, Ash and van Goozen (2020) Children-with-Behavioural-Problems-Misinterpret-the-Emotions-and-Intentions-of-Others.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (380kB) | Preview

Abstract

Research indicates that the misinterpretation of other’s emotions or intentions may lead to antisocial behaviour. This study investigated emotion and intention recognition in children with behavioural problems and examined their relationship and relations with behaviour problem severity. Participants were 7–11 year old children with behavioural problems (n = 93, mean age: 8.78, 82.8% male) who were taking part in an early intervention program and typically developing controls (n = 44, mean age: 9.82, 79.5% male). Participants completed emotion recognition and Theory of Mind tasks. Teachers and parents rated children’s emotional and behavioural problems. Children with behavioural problems showed impaired emotion and intention recognition. Emotion recognition and intention recognition were positively related and inversely associated with behavioural problem severity and, independently of one another, predicted behavioural problems. This study is the first to show that children with behavioural problems are impaired in identifying others’ emotions as well as intentions. These social cognitive processes were found to be related and inversely associated with severity of behavioural problems. This has important implications for intervention and prevention programmes for children with behavioural difficulties.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Antisocial Behaviour; Theory of Mind; Emotion Recognition; Intentionality
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology.
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Society and Learning
Depositing User:	Daniel Ash
Date Deposited:	07 Jun 2022 10:26
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:24
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/11175

University Staff: Request a correction | Repository Editors: Update this record