Analysis of Infants’ Emotional Development

Emotion is an important aspect for children’s development both the current and the future, but there is insufficient native research on children of young age in China. This study examined 145 2–3-year-old infants in Beijing, using parent report surveys and situational tests, to explore characteristics and relationships among the development of children’s social emotions, emotion recognition, emotional understanding, and emotion regulation strategies. Findings were as follows. (1) There was a normal distribution in social–emotional development, with significant difference in age but not in gender. (2) Emotion recognition and emotion comprehension had developed with a low level, no significant gender difference, but significantly positively correlated. (3) Emotional regulation strategies could be divided into three types, such as active, seeking help, and abstracted, with significant difference in age but no significant gender difference. (4) Factors within these variables were differently related.