Childhood facial emotion recognition: Associations with the parental emotional environment and child emotional and behavioral problems

Abstract

Abstract Impairments in negative facial emotion recognition (FER) are widely reported in children with internalizing and externalizing problems; however, it remains unclear whether these impairments reflect response biases or reduced discrimination accuracy. Children’s emotion socialization is informed by the emotional climate at home, yet parental mental health and Expressed Emotion (EE) are rarely examined together in relation to child FER. This study examined associations between parental mental health, EE, the severity of child internalizing and externalizing problems, and children’s recognition of negative facial expressions. 416 children (aged 4–8; 71.6% male) were referred for assessment by schoolteachers for emerging socioemotional and/or behavioral difficulties. Children completed a FER task from which response bias and discrimination accuracy were derived. Parents completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Child Behavior Checklist. EE was assessed using parental narratives, a paradigm known as the Five-Minute Speech Sample. High levels of EE reflect increased negativity and dissatisfaction, and reduced warmth and positivity towards the child. Hierarchical regressions indicated that child age, externalizing problems, and EE negatively predicted the recognition of negative facial expressions, with EE emerging as the strongest predictor and accounting for an additional 1.9–4.1% of variance across FER outcomes. Deficits were attributable to poorer discrimination accuracy rather than response bias. The present findings refine psychopathology-focused models of emotion recognition by highlighting the emotional climate of the home as a potential environmental correlate and possible explanation for individual differences in FER, although the cross-sectional design precludes conclusions about causality or directionality.