This sourcebook provides a comprehensive volume addressing the critical issues in the study of gender, emotion socialization, and the development of emotional competence. Each of the chapters provides evidence for the pervasive role that gender plays in emotional development and provides a framework to better understand the development of emotion in boys and girls. These include: The Role of Gender in the Socialization of Emotion: Key Concepts and Critical Issues Gender Differences in Caregiver Emotion Socialization of Low-Income Toddlers Gender and Parents' Reactions to Children's Emotion During the Preschool Years Parent-Child Discussions of Anger and Sadness: The Importance of Parent and Child Gender During Middle Childhood Emotion Socialization in Adolescence: The Roles of Mothers and Fathers Socialization of Emotion: Who Influences Whom and How? As these chapters demonstrate, gender impacts growth in a multitude of developmental domains, including the development of emotion and emotional competence. although emotions are, in part, biological, the means of emotions and appropriateness of emotional expression are socialized. In the early years of life, socialization primarily takes place via interactions within the family, and characteristics of both parents and children may affect the process of emotion socialization. Gender is one critically important moderator of what and how children learn about emotion because culture determines the appropriateness of emotional displays for males and females. This is the 128th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development. The mission of New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in the field of child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific "new direction" or research topic, and is edited by an expert or experts on that topic.

Author Biography

Amy Kennedy Root is an assistant professor of child development and family studies at West Virginia University. Her research interests include understanding how children's dispositional characteristics and caregiving experiences work together (or against one another) to impact children's socioemotional development throughout the early childhood years. Susanne A. Denham is an applied developmental psychologist and professor of psychology at George Mason University. Her research focuses on children's social and emotional development. She is especially interested in the role of emotional competence in children's social and academic functioning. She is also investigating the development of forgiveness in children.