Parents are Poor Informers of Their Young Children’s Emotion Word Comprehension

This study assessed the relationship between indirect (parent-reported) and direct (4-alternative-foced choice, AFC) measures of emotion word vocabulary in 49 two-to-five-year-old Norwegian children. Six basic emotions and six complex emotions were assessed. Neither parent-reported emotion word comprehension nor production predicted children’s AFC-measured emotion word comprehension. Parent-reported emotion word production interacted with age, suggesting an alignment between direct and indirect measures in older children. The results may indicate that parental reports of emotion word comprehension and production operate at a broader representational level of emotion word vocabulary than assessed in the AFC.