A structural equation model of emotion knowledge and verbal intelligence in peer acceptance in a sample of Portuguese preschoolers

Abstract

Using a mediation model, this study examined the role of verbal intelligence and emotion knowledge in peer acceptance in a sample of Portuguese preschool children. Participants were 444 5-year-olds (214 girls and 230 boys). Emotion knowledge was assessed with the Portuguese version of the Assessment of Children’s Emotion Skills. Verbal intelligence was measured with the Serial Rapid Naming and Semantic Verbal Fluency tests of the Battery of Phonological Assessment. The Social Status Interview was used to assess peer acceptance. We observed a significant indirect effect of verbal intelligence on peer acceptance mediated by emotion knowledge. These results show that cognitive skills, namely the verbal ones, closely and dynamically interact with emotion knowledge in explaining children’s acceptance by their peers. The importance of promoting emotion knowledge and verbal intelligence is discussed, given their important contribution to social adjustment at a young age.