How Children Sign Letters and Cards: A Look into How Children Discriminate Between Expressing Emotion Towards Others
Loading...
Authors
Loudenback, Ashleigh
Issue Date
2004
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Children learn from a young age that sending cards to others for birthdays, thank you notes, or
the holidays, serves as a form of communication. They also absorb the fact that what they write
inside the cards, can often communicate their emotions and feelings about the person to whom
they are writing. The present study examined how 21 children, ranging from ages 5 years and 2
months to 10 years and 7 months, sign birthday cards to a variety of people with distinct
relationships in their lives. A private interview was conducted with each child in order to further
understand why children chose to end cards differently depending on the targeted person and
what characteristics helped them distinguish between choosing the "appropriate" ending. The
largest factors that contributed towards the expression of emotion were age and gender. A
general decrease in the expression of affection was found among older children. The gender of
the child was also found to have an impact. Females often expressed love more freely towards
others and were comfortable expressing affection to a wider range of individuals. They also
seemed to have fewer restrictions concerning how their affection towards others would be
received. The age and gender differences found in this study are important in order to further an
understanding of how children learn to discriminate between the expressions of emotion,
especially the emotion of affection.
Description
iv, 28 p.
Citation
Publisher
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.