This is just a note to introduce a guest post from a colleague looking for participants for her research. Please read and share with your networks. Thanks!
During our childhood we learn to recognise the emotions we feel. As babies, we begin to learn basic emotions such as happiness through our carer’s facial and vocal expressions. These elementary emotions act as ‘building blocks’ that can allow us to develop more complex emotions in later childhood, such as embarrassment, pride and frustration. This ability not only allows children to manage their emotions, but to understand the thoughts and feelings of their peers. Whilst as adults this may seem an easy task, our emotional development is imperative for maintaining our mental well-being and developing healthy relationships with others well into later life.
Psychologists have long been interested in researching the emotional development of children. This has not come without its difficulties however, as there is controversy in the validity of previously developed measures. Many argue that past research has failed to investigate key elements of emotional development, such as childhood depression, anxiety and self-esteem. Therefore, part of my work has been to develop a new measure of child emotional development incorporating these factors. Along with my supervisors Dr Bonnie Auyeung and Dr Richard Shillcock at University of Edinburgh, we have created a new questionnaire that we are asking local families to complete. In doing so, we can see if it is a successful measure emotional development in children that can be used to provide assistance to young people and their families as they navigate early teenage development.
If you have a child aged between 8 and 15, we are inviting your family to take part in this study. We will send you both a parent and a child version of the questionnaire by post. We will also provide you with a pre-paid envelope to send back the questionnaires for your convenience. If you are interested in taking part or have any questions regarding the study, please do not hesitate to contact me at Ruth.Brown@ed.ac.uk
