Gender and age differences in emotion recognition of children and adolescent: First analysis of FACS coded childrens' faces

In this article we present two studies focusing on age and gender differences in facial emotion recognition of children and adolescents. Anew set of stimuli was introduced which is characterized by presenting spontaneous facial affective expressions of children out of genuine interactive play situations. Moreover, facial expressions were coded objectively with the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In the first study, 275 children and adolescents aged 8 to 14 years (M = 10.46, SD = 1.45) rated 24 pictures that showed expressions of the basic emotions happiness, anger, sadness, surprise, fear, and disgust. The overall recognition rate was 55.4 %, with girls show significantly better results than boys. Happiness was rated best, followed by disgust, surprise, sadness, anger, and fear. No age differences were found in Study 1. In Study 2 the ability of emotion recognition was investigated in preschoolers. Sixty-two children aged between 3 and 6 years (M = 4.84, SD = 0.93) rated 12 pictures (2 of each basic emotion). Overall, 41.4 % of the stimuli were rated correctly. Happiness was recognized best, followed by sadness, surprise, anger, disgust, and fear. In Study 2, age differences between an older (5-6 years) and a younger (3-4 years) group were found. Older children showed better emotion recognition abilities and recognized surprise and sadness significantly better than younger children. No gender differences were found in Study 2.