Facial emotion recognition profiles in middle childhood: Links to parenting and social–emotional functioning.

Abstract

Although prior research has identified population-level trends in facial emotion recognition (FER) in middle childhood, it is unclear whether all children follow a similar developmental trajectory. To address this gap, we used a person-oriented approach to identify qualitatively distinct FER profiles based on accuracy and bias. The sample (N = 3,717, 51% girls, baseline Mage = 8.20, SD = 0.86) came from a Finnish social-emotional learning intervention study, with data collected across three waves (2013-2015). We applied latent profile analysis and random-intercept latent transition analysis to examine FER profiles and their stability across early school years. Moreover, we assessed whether parenting and children's social-emotional adjustment were associated with FER profile membership and transitions. We found five FER profiles: balanced accuracy (14%-26%), sadness bias (34%-38%), positively biased (34%-38%), anger bias (3%-4%), and low accuracy (2%-7%). While the three largest profiles showed moderate stability, children in the anger bias and low accuracy profiles were more likely to transition to other profiles. Compared with the positively biased profile, children in the anger bias profile experienced lower parental warmth and fewer peer problems and showed less prosocial behavior. These findings suggest substantial heterogeneity in children's FER development and link emotion-specific patterns to children's social functioning. Understanding that children may follow distinct developmental trajectories could help design targeted interventions to support children's social skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).