Cross-lagged relationship between interpersonal closeness, early language skills and emotion understanding among toddlers

This longitudinal study examined how parent–child closeness, teacher–child closeness and language skills predicted and were predicted by emotion understanding in early years. Participants were 128 Hong-Kong-Chinese toddlers (74 girls; M age = 33.03 months). Parents and teachers reported their closeness with each child, and children’s oral language and emotion understanding were tested at two timepoints 6 months apart. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the unique contribution of children’s language skills to their emotion understanding increased over time whereas that of parent–child and teacher–child closeness decreased, and language skills consistently had a greater influence on emotion understanding than relationship closeness did. Cross-lagged modelling analyses showed a unidirectional link from earlier parent–child closeness predicting later emotion understanding, a unidirectional link from earlier emotion understanding predicting later teacher–child closeness and a bidirectional relation between oral language and emotion understanding. This study connects children’s emotion understanding with their own characteristics and their social relationships in the family and classroom settings, providing a fuller picture of early emotional development across multiple contexts.