Sample A: Cover Page of Thesis, Project, or Dissertation Proposal

implemented social-emotional prevention and intervention programs and the
developmental processes that drive their success.
Social-Emotional Development During the Preschool Years: Why is social-emotional
development so important?
Because emotions influence social-emotional functioning through both
intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences, positive social and emotional development is
pivotal for children‘s navigating the social-emotional world during the preschool years
and in subsequent social relationships. Three key components of emotional competence
include emotional expression, emotion understanding, and emotion regulation (Denham,
1998, 2005). Emotional expression denotes behavioral expressions of emotions and the
realization that one can feel one emotion yet display another. Emotion understanding
denotes the recognition of one‘s own and others‘ emotions and the use of language in
order to recognize these emotions. Finally, emotion regulation denotes the contextually
appropriate use of emotions, including the ―up-regulation‖ of emotions, the management,
or ―down regulation‖ of intense emotions, and the events fostering these emotions
(Denham, 1998; see Denham, 2005).
Emotions play important roles in initiating and regulating social exchanges and in
communicating and sharing affect (Sroufe, Schork, Motti, Lawroski, & LaFreniere,
1984). Previous research indicates close ties between children‘s emotional and social
competence. Miller et al. (2006) demonstrated the importance of the three key
components of emotional competence (emotional expression, emotion understanding, and
emotion regulation; Denham, 1998, 2005) for preschool-aged children‘s social skills. In
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