How do Children Learn to Manage Their Emotions?

In life, it is important for us to be able to calm ourselves down, or manage our emotions, when we get very excited or very sad. Children learn how to do this at a young age. We wanted to learn what parts of a child’s environment, like how their parents interact with them or what life is like at home, relate to how kids control their emotions. We predicted that children who are better able to manage their emotions may be more likely to help other people. We used questionnaires and tasks to learn about how children manage their emotions and interact with others. We found that parents and life at home both related to how well children manage their emotions. We also found that children who were better able to manage their emotions were more likely to help others in need and less likely to misbehave at home.