Toddlers with more developed language skills are better able to manage frustration and less likely to express anger by the time they're in preschool. That's the conclusion of a new longitudinal study from Penn State researchers that appears today (Dec. 20) in the journal Child Development.

"This is the first longitudinal evidence of early language abilities predicting later aspects of anger regulation," said Pamela M. Cole, the Liberal Arts Research Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, who was the principal investigator of the study.