TY - JOUR
T1 - Face Masks and Emotion Literacy in Preschool Children
T2 - Implications During the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Giordano, Keri
AU - Palmieri, Carleigh S.
AU - LaTourette, Richard
AU - Godoy, Kristina M.
AU - Denicola, Gabrielle
AU - Paulino, Henessys
AU - Kosecki, Oscar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
PY - 2024/1
Y1 - 2024/1
N2 - With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, safety regulations, such as face mask wearing, have become ubiquitous. Due to such regulations, many children’s interpersonal interactions occurring outside of the home now involve face coverings. The present study examined young children’s ability to identify emotions in an adult model wearing a face mask. Children (n = 77) between the ages of 3 and 5 were shown 16 different graphics of a model expressing four common emotions (happy, sad, angry, scared) across four conditions: still unmasked photo, still masked photo, masked video verbally implying the emotion, masked video verbally explicitly stating the emotion. We found that children were better able to identify emotions in an unmasked model and when the masked model explicitly stated or implied the emotion. No difference was found between an unmasked model, an explicitly stated emotion, or a verbally implied emotion. Children who were older, had more exposure to adults wearing masks, and attending group care were better able to identify the emotions. No relationship was found between the type of emotion, or participant’s gender or race and the ability to identify the emotions. Implications of these results are discussed.
AB - With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, safety regulations, such as face mask wearing, have become ubiquitous. Due to such regulations, many children’s interpersonal interactions occurring outside of the home now involve face coverings. The present study examined young children’s ability to identify emotions in an adult model wearing a face mask. Children (n = 77) between the ages of 3 and 5 were shown 16 different graphics of a model expressing four common emotions (happy, sad, angry, scared) across four conditions: still unmasked photo, still masked photo, masked video verbally implying the emotion, masked video verbally explicitly stating the emotion. We found that children were better able to identify emotions in an unmasked model and when the masked model explicitly stated or implied the emotion. No difference was found between an unmasked model, an explicitly stated emotion, or a verbally implied emotion. Children who were older, had more exposure to adults wearing masks, and attending group care were better able to identify the emotions. No relationship was found between the type of emotion, or participant’s gender or race and the ability to identify the emotions. Implications of these results are discussed.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Early childhood
KW - Emotional literacy
KW - Facial expression
KW - Mask-usage
KW - Social emotional development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141050069&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10643-022-01400-8
DO - 10.1007/s10643-022-01400-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85141050069
SN - 1082-3301
VL - 52
SP - 21
EP - 29
JO - Early Childhood Education Journal
JF - Early Childhood Education Journal
IS - 1
ER -