Poster #2 - Dynamic Contributions of Cognitive Self-Regulation to Social Competence in Children: A Latent Change Score Analysis

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Attention, Learning, Memory

Integrative Statement

Upon school entry, children are expected to reflect age- and context-appropriate social behaviors. These displays of social competence can be embodied by cooperating, engaging in social cognition, and forming and maintaining positive relationships with others (Denham, 2006; Raver & Zigler, 1997). Within an educational context, these social skills build at each grade level and can provide children with a supportive network through which other academic, social-emotional, and self-regulatory skills can be inculcated (Rose-Krasnor & Denham, 2008). Moreover, the domains of social and cognitive development have been increasingly connected over the past several decades with work on external influences on children’s burgeoning abilities increasing commensurately (e.g., Denham et al., 2012a; Morrison, Ponitz, & McClelland, 2010). The goal of the current study was to examine the longitudinal interplay between cognitive self-regulatory (CSR) abilities (i.e., attentional focus and inhibitory control) and interpersonal skills, a hallmark of socially competent (SC) behavior.
Through the use of a latent change score (LCS) framework, structural equation modeling was used to examine the stability of, and dynamics between, CSR and SC. A significant advantage of the using LCS is the estimation of latent change over time. As such, one is able to examine additive (α), proportional (β), and dynamic (γ) influences on the level of change itself, incorporating the features of both latent growth curve and cross-lagged autoregressive SEM (Ferrer & McArdle, 2010). Utilizing data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 2011, data from 11, 854 children were assessed annually from kindergarten through fourth grade, the current study examined these parameters while utilizing sample (W8CF8P_2T28) and replication weights to account for the complex design and correct standard errors (Tourangeau et al., 2018).
As is common in these complex models, equality constraints were set on all slope (α), feedback (β), and coupling (γ) parameters over time to aid in model estimation (McArdle, 2009). A series of four LCS models were compared (i.e., no coupling, CSR to SC change, SC to CSR change, & bivariate coupling). Child gender and age (in fourth grade) were entered as covariates. Fit indices indicated that the model in which only the coupling parameter from SC constructs to later CSR growth best fit the data. Fit indices and parameter estimates can be found in Table 1. The best fitting model is depicted in Figure 1. Results indicate that although for both CSR and SC, greater mean levels were significant predictors of less latent change (i.e., β), greater interpersonal skills were more likely to experience greater change in CSR growth (γ). These findings are strongly supported by theories of interpersonal influence emphasizing the role of the social environment on skill growth in children (e.g., Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Denham, Bassett, & Zinsser, 2012b). That the bivariate model was not the best-fitting model was unexpected, yet suggests that social relationships play a significant role in the trajectory of CSR development that should be further investigated. These findings and their implications are discussed further.

Authors

• David E. Ferrier, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  Presenting Author

• Leslie Robertson, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mary D. Sloan, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emily M. Thornton, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  Non-Presenting Author