From Labeling to Regulating: A Systematic Review of Preschool Emotion-Regulation Interventions with Explicit Emotion-Labeling Components
Keywords:
Emotion regulation, Explicit emotion labelling, Preschool, Social-emotional learning, Systematic reviewAbstract
Early childhood emotion regulation (ER) is foundational for social competence, executive functioning, and school readiness, yet strategies to strengthen ER remain under investigation. This study systematically reviewed and synthesized preschool ER interventions with explicit or embedded labeling components. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and ERIC were searched for studies published between 2015 and 2025 involving children aged 3–6 years with empirical outcomes on emotion knowledge, regulation, or prosocial behavior. From 191 records screened, 25 met inclusion criteria, comprising 19 Tier-1 intervention trials (randomized, cluster, quasi-experimental, pre–post) and 6 Tier-2 theoretical or implementation-focused papers. Due to heterogeneity in design and measurement, data were synthesized narratively. Findings indicated that explicit labeling consistently enhanced children’s emotion knowledge, while improvements in regulation and prosocial behavior were positive but more variable. Stronger effects appeared when programs had higher intensity, quality adult coaching (teachers and parents modeling emotion talk and validation), and cultural adaptation with locally meaningful language and scenarios. Teacher-led and hybrid teacher–parent–digital models produced the most robust outcomes, while parent-only and digital-only programs effectively reduced punitive responses and parenting stress. These findings position emotion labeling as a cost-effective, transferable core of early SEL curricula. Embedding structured labeling routines and visual tools into preschool programs can promote emotional competence and readiness for school, offering scalable, culturally adaptable solutions to support young children’s social-emotional growth.
References
Abela, K. R., McCabe, R. E., Bennett, T., Bock, N., & Gonzalez, A. (2025). Evaluating parent-mediated interventions to support child emotion regulation: A review of preventative approaches across childhood. Developmental Review, 77, 101218.
Aghaie Meybodi, F., Mohammadkhani, P., Pourshahbaz, A., Dolatshahi, B., & Havighurst, S. S. (2019). Improving parent emotion socialization practices: Piloting Tuning in to Kids in Iran for children with disruptive behavior problems. Family Relations, 68(5), 596–607.
Alfonso, S. V., Ortega, L. A., & Fernández, M. I. (2025). Mission FEEL!: A preschool emotion understanding program—Feasibility, acceptability, and signal of change. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 70, 254–263.
Ambrosi, C. C., Evans, S., Kavanagh, P. S., & Havighurst, S. S. (2023). Parents on the same page: Acceptability and appropriateness of Tuning in to Kids Together. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 32(12), 3714–3730.
Ambrosi, C. C., Kavanagh, P. S., Evans, S., & Havighurst, S. S. (2025). Tuning in to Kids Together: Piloting an emotion-focused coparenting program. Family Process, 64(1), e70002.
Bjørk, R. F., Bølstad, E., Pons, F., & Havighurst, S. S. (2022). Testing TIK (Tuning in to Kids) with TEC (Test of Emotion Comprehension): Does enhanced emotion socialization improve child emotion understanding? Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 78, 101368.
Blair, C., & Raver, C. C. (2015). School readiness and self-regulation: A developmental psychobiological approach. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 711–731.
Bølstad, E., Havighurst, S. S., Tamnes, C. K., Stavrinou, M., Espeseth, T., & others. (2021). A pilot study of a parent emotion socialization intervention: Impact on parent behavior, child self-regulation, and adjustment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 730278.
Chan, M., Teng, D., Teng, Y.-P. T., & Zhou, Q. (2023). Parent emotion talk with preschoolers from low-income Mexican American and Chinese American families: Links to sociocultural factors. Social Development, 32(2), 481–500. (Tier-2 support)
Chan, R. F.-Y., Qiu, C., & Shum, K. K.-M. (2021). Tuning in to Kids: A randomized controlled trial of an emotion coaching parenting program for Chinese parents in Hong Kong. Developmental Psychology, 57(11), 1796–1809.
Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Wyatt, T. (2020). The socialization of emotional competence. In J. E. Grusec & P. D. Hastings (Eds.), Handbook of socialization (2nd ed., pp. 590–613). Guilford Press.
Edrissi, F., Havighurst, S. S., Aghebati, A., Habibi, M., & Arani, A. M. (2019). A pilot study of the Tuning in to Kids parenting program in Iran for reducing preschool children’s anxiety. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(6), 1695–1702.
England-Mason, G., & Gonzalez, A. (2020). Intervening to shape children’s emotion regulation: A review of emotion socialization parenting programs for young children. Emotion, 20(1), 98–104.
Havighurst, S. S., Edvoll, M., Tidemann, I., Eikseth, H. C., & Nygaard, E. (2024). A randomized controlled trial of an emotion socialization intervention in Norwegian kindergartens. Early Education and Development, 35(3), 454–475.
Havighurst, S. S., Mangelsdorf, S. N., Boswell, N., Radovini, A., & Kehoe, C. E. (2024). A self-paced online emotion socialization intervention for parents of children with challenging behavior: Tuning in to Kids Online. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1393708.
Hollender, A. E., Elsayed, N. M., Vogel, A. C., Luby, J. L., & Gilbert, K. E. (2023). Childhood emotion dysregulation mediates the relationship between preschool emotion labeling and adolescent depressive symptoms. Emotion, 24(1), 81–92. (Tier-2 support)
Kalland, M., & Linnavalli, T. (2023). Associations between social-emotional and language development in preschool children. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 67(7), 1082–1101. (Tier-2 support)
Kogan, A.-M. (2024). Using dialogic reading and direct instruction of emotion words to increase emotion vocabulary knowledge in the preschool classroom. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning. Advance online publication.
Kusché, C. A. (2020). The PATHS curriculum: Thirty-five years and counting. In Social skills across the life span (pp. xxx–xxx). Elsevier. (Tier-2 program background)
Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428.
Mastromanno, B. K., Kehoe, C. E., Wood, C. E., & Havighurst, S. S. (2021). A randomised-controlled pilot study of the one-to-one delivery of Tuning in to Kids. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 26(4), 359–374.
Najmussaqib, A., Mushtaq, A., & Duncan, R. (2024). Effectiveness of Fun FRIENDS on social-emotional functioning of Pakistani school children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 89, 102423.
Oades-Sese, G. V., Cahill, A., Allen, J. W. P., Rubic, W.-L., & Mahmood, N. (2021). Effectiveness of Sesame Workshop’s Little Children, Big Challenges: A digital media SEL intervention for preschool classrooms. Psychology in the Schools, 58(10), 2041–2067.
Qiu, C., & Shum, K. K.-M. (2022). Emotion coaching intervention for Chinese mothers of preschoolers: A randomized controlled trial. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 53(1), 61–75.
Skåland, V. R., Havighurst, S. S., Nygaard, E., & Teig, I. L. (2023). Qualitative evaluation of the implementation of “Tuning in to Kids” in Norwegian Kindergartens. BMC Psychology, 11, 87.
Upshur, C. C., Heyman, M., & Wenz-Gross, M. (2017). Efficacy trial of the Second Step Early Learning curriculum: Preliminary outcomes. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 50, 15–25.
Upshur, C. C., Wenz-Gross, M., Rhoads, C., Yoo, Y., & Sawosik, G. (2019). A randomized efficacy trial of the Second Step Early Learning curriculum. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 62, 145–159.
Wilson, K. R., Havighurst, S. S., Kehoe, C. E., & Harley, A. E. (2016). Dads Tuning in to Kids: Preliminary evaluation of a fathers’ parenting program. Family Relations, 65(4), 535–549.
Wong, M., & Power, T. G. (2024). The efficacy of the Peace Ambassador Project: Promoting children’s emotional intelligence to address aggression in the early childhood classroom. Children and Youth Services Review, 166, 107937.
Wenz-Gross, M., Yoo, Y., Upshur, C. C., & Gambino, A. J. (2018). Pathways to kindergarten readiness: Roles of Second Step Early Learning, social-emotional, executive functioning, academic and task behavior skills. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1886.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Nurhalita Diny, Noviana Mustapa, Erie Siti Syarah, Siti Aisyah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
